Publishing track notes and making route information public has long been a fairly divisive topic in the local canyoning community.

There is a range of views from the publishing of little or no information to that of making just about everything public. People advocating for limiting the amount of information get accused of gatekeeping.

My personal view, which is the position I've taken on my canyoning website, is not to add to the information that is already publicly available. Note that this mainly applies to the Greater Blue Mountains area, where there are already many canyons with published descriptions. So:

  • where there is significant information already available:
    • for more popular canyons, you will mostly likely find relatively detailed track notes
    • for less well known canyons there may just a grid reference and a brief summary
  • where there is brief information or just a grid reference, you will probably find a trip report with photos, and possibly a grid reference, but no detailed track notes
  • where there is essentially no information, you will probably get some photos and a vague trip report, probably only naming the area rather than the specific canyon(s)

This attempts to balance the desire of people for information, with the need to minimise impact in less well known areas and to allow opportunities for other people to rediscover new canyons for themselves.

There are 100+ canyons with reasonably detailed descriptions in published guides, and 60 of those are on my website. There are at least another 100-150 canyons with grid references or brief descriptions in published guides. The vast majority of canyoners will not have done all of these. By the time they have, they should be well equipped to explore for canyons on their own. There is also a wealth of information on the internet, in the form of reports and photos, that provide pointers of where to look for new canyons.

I should also note that the NPWS view is (slightly changed from earlier versions):

Be mindful not to publicise 'new' canyons or routes, particularly those in wilderness areas, to preserve opportunities for discovery and to minimise environmental impacts.

An expanded version of this piece can be found here.