28/02/2015 - report - photos - Breakfast Creek Canyon track notes

Participants: Tom Brennan, Scott Kirby, Ed Squires, Josette Squires

There was no-one else at the track head of the old Galah Mountain Fire Trail, which is now more of a foot track as it slowly revegetates. After a short walk, we turned off it on to the Rocky Creek exit track and then veered off again on to a minor track that came and went, but generally headed into Breakfast Creek Canyon. A scrubby push through wombat tracks in the hanging swamp brought us to the top of the first abseil into the creek. With me going last on the abseils, Jo and Ed had to step up and lead off the abseils, which they handled well.

Some easy walking brought us to the start of the canyon. At the main abseil we were greeted by a rope already in place. A party ahead of us? No, just a single line that hadn't been correctly set to be pulled down. Presumably the party still had enough rope to get through the rest of the canyon as we didn't find any stranded canyoners or skeletons in the next section! We derigged the abseil and lugged the heavy rope out with us for a bit more exercise!

The main abseil is a beauty, down a curving water chute. The canyon itself is spectacular but short, and all too soon we were out at Rocky Creek for lunch. I pointed out a side canyon on the way up Rocky Creek, and we left packs to explore. The narrow slot was one of the highlights of the day. There were a number of short drops requiring some ingenuity to scramble up, and we got to the last of these before being blocked by a waterfall.

Some more pleasant creek walking took us to the exit, up a long gully, then some easy but exposed climbing up a slab. The group ahead of us took a wrong turn at this point, and we were back at the cars and almost ready to head off by the time they returned. The others headed back to Sydney, while I headed to a nice spot near the cliff edge for some sunset photography and another canyon the next day. A good day in the bush.