Coachwood Canyon

The next morning we woke up to the deafening din of the cicadas. It turned out the group next to us was Dave Noble, Rob, John and Chuin Nee! They had thought we were a bunch of panhandlers. They were off to do Crikey, while we set off for an easy day down Coachwood.

We managed to navigate in down a gully, avoiding a time consuming abseil high in the creek. The creek is quite beautiful up high, with excellent walking through open coachwood forest between massive cliffs. After quite some time it started to drop through boulders, and then a short drop. I demonstrated how not to descend by slipping off the edge as I tried to bridge down a tree. Luckily it was not far to the ground, but I copped a few scrapes and bruises.

It was easier to see the best route up and down from below, and we set up a rope for people to climb down. A little more scrambling brought us to the start of the canyon. Coachwood is quite an open canyon, a contrast to the day before in Tigersnake.

We set up the rope on the first abseil and then all scrambled around the pool to the lower ledge. The abseil was quite slippery and there were a few mishaps. Carlie showed her gardening skills at the bottom, falling in to the mess of branches!

A short scramble brought us to the second abseil. I insisted we descend from the anchors through the little tunnel, which was good fun. Some people managed to stay dry on the abseil while others got a bit wet!

Finally we had one more abseil out to Rocky Creek, a relatively straightforward one. Then it was a wander down Rocky Creek to the exit. There were plenty of fallen trees making progress a little slow at times. After keeping my feet dry in Coachwood, I thought I should keep my feet dry for Rocky Creek, which I managed - only just at the end!

We climbed up the gully and up the exposed slab when the rain started to come down. Luckily we were all at the top and we retreated to a convenient overhang for lunch. The rain passed and we had an easy walk back to the cars.

A very enjoyable weekend.