Waterfall of Moss Canyon - track notes

17/01/2009 - report - photos

28/02/2003 - photos

Waterfall of Moss Canyon is more of a chasm than a canyon. It flows into the Wollangambe River near the Big Bend, down a very green waterfall - the Waterfall of Moss. It is a pleasant trip, but not the best canyon in the vicinity. It is a good choice for a trip for a cooler day or near the ends of the season as there are no swims except in the Wollangambe itself.

From Cathedral Reserve, follow the track that reaches the Wollangambe at the Big Bend. This starts by heading north up the hill from the NW corner of Cathedral Reserve. After passing through a gate, continue up the hill on the fire trail, before heading left, and left again at junctions. At the next intersection take the right branch to the north, down the ridge. When you reach a large clearing the fire trail ends, however, you should notice a track leaving to the left just before the fire trail enters the clearing. Following this track. It shortly crosses a barbed wire fence. Be careful at this point, as there is a slightly hidden fork in the track. Take the right fork, which heads along the left side of the ridge following the barbed wire fence for a short way. If you take the left fork, you'll drop quickly off the side of the ridge, and probably end up in Why Don't We Do It In The Road? (Serendipity) Canyon.

From there the track continues down the ridge, with a little bit of scrambling down to the Wollangambe.

Swim across the Wollangambe and climb up the gully on the other side. There is a climb of about 3m which hopefully has a fixed line hanging down. Once above this climb head left and around along a ledge above the Wollangambe. The track shortly heads up to the main cliff line.

If you head left at this point, a vague track goes for some distance around the base of the cliff line until it reaches a creek crossing. This is in fact the top of the 4th abseil, so you could use this as an early entry/exit if you wanted.

Otherwise head right, and up through a break in the cliffs and up the ridge. Drift off the left side of the ridge and into the creek at about AMG569926.

The first drop is about 8m from a slightly dodgy tree, overhung a bit at the bottom. The second is also about 8m from a tree, with an overhang near the top. This abseil could probably be scrambled on the left without a lot of difficulty. The third abseil is about 20m in a couple of stages. There is a tricky overhang at the start, and then it goes through an arch and over another overhang near the bottom. We did it on a 60m rope, but a 50m would reach comfortably, and possibly a 40m (but don't quote me!). The next abseil is only about 8m again, but with the anchor set back, it's about 16m. This brings you into the main creek.

The fifth abseil is from a tree, down between two angled rock faces to an overhang - about 6m. This is somewhat tricky. The next is from an tree anchor a long way back, over a chockstone and then an overhang. The abseil is only about 10m, but it is about 7m to the anchor. The seventh is down a narrow 10m slot from a chockstone near the edge. The last is 8m down the Waterfall of Moss, although the anchor is at least 8m back.

All bar the last abseil have overhung sections, and the overhung sections are rarely easy. A lot of the abseils also have potentially tricky pull downs, so it is important that the last person down sets the rope to minimise any difficulty.

Swim down the river for about 200m to the point where you reached the Wollangambe on the way in, and follow the track back out.

Waterfall of Moss is a nice trip but not a great canyon. Most of the abseils have overhung starts so it is not a good choice for beginners.