Pipeline and Nightmare Canyons

Up early the next morning, the plan was first to visit Pipeline Canyon. Who should rock up but Caoimhin - they had been camping just across the road only 30m from us! So after the usual disorganised start, six of us headed off up the Pipeline Track. We passed a slow moving group along the way, also heading for Pipeline. This was less than half way up, and a couple of them already looked likely to turn around and go back to camp!

We dropped into the creek down the tributary near the watershed, and did a few short drops to the main creek. The boys had done without wetsuits, so were bridging the whole way to stay dry. This was mostly successful, although a bit groin stretching at times, with the exception of James who fell in just before the last abseil! Rachel and Ella both had wetsuits, but had to swim at a couple of places.

The slow group actually caught us just at the end of the canyon, although they were looking pretty cold - probably due to the fact that they were mostly wearing heavy cotton clothing! After lunch, Rachel and Ella headed back to camp, and the rest of us climbed out to do another canyon. This one also had quite a few abseils, and was good fun although not especially spectacular. The last drop was a beauty, 30m straight down into a shallow pool. We made our way back to camp in good spirits after an excellent day. The Andys had another long day on the cliff - we saw them topping out their climb at 6pm on the way back, and yet it took them til nearly 9pm to get back to camp!