Coachwood Canyon is a pleasant but fairly open canyon flowing into Rocky Creek. The coachwood forest higher up in the creek is impressive, and the abseils are interesting.
Entry
See Newnes Plateau & South Wolgan Fire Trails for information on how to drive to the starting point.
From the Rocky Creek car park, head N, then NE, and finally E along the ridge towards the 973 point. There may be a track in places. Head NE down into the creek, just below the junction at MGA479142, trying to avoid cliff lines. Various entry points exist.
Notes
There is a 35m waterfall in the eastern branch of the creek, just above the junction at MGA479142. If you follow the entry directions you should come in just below this. If you come in above the waterfall you will need to abseil. The abseil can be split into shorter drops, but the middle anchor point is off to the left about 20m down, and difficult to get to. It is also possible but difficult to scramble off from this lower anchor.
Follow the attractive creek for some way. This involves a couple of scrambles after the creek drops through boulders.
Eventually you hit the canyon proper. There may be a 10m hand-over-hand or abseil. Then, from an anchor above a pool, there is a 4m drop into the pool, usually waist deep, continuing on the same rope with an 8m drop with a tricky start due to the angle of the rope. This requires about 40m of rope all up as the first drop is set back. You can stay dry by a tricky scramble along a narrow ledge to the right around the 4m drop.
Then scramble through a hole, and from inside there is a 6m drop down a waterfall into a shallow pool. Alternatively, you can do a 14m abseil from a tree on the left.
Finally a 12m drop from a thread on the right, or tree on the left, gets you to Rocky Creek.
Exit
Downstream to the normal Rocky Creek exit, or upstream to the Rocky Creek climbing exit, or upstream through Rocky Creek Canyon. Upstream through the canyon is highly recommended, but you should bring wetsuits or warm clothing as you will almost certainly have a few cold swims.
Comments
- Difficulty: EM
- Abseils: 3-5
- Longest abseil: 25m
- Quality: 4/10
- Time: 5-8 hours
- Distance: 7km
- Ascent: 250m
- Wetsuits: Not required
- Maps: 8931-2N Rock Hill
Coachwood Canyon is a nice trip, with an impressive coachwood forest in the upper part of the creek. The canyon itself is of lower quality, with a few nice abseils. With care, it is possible to stay almost completely dry. For a good summer trip, it is worth taking wetsuits and exiting by reversing Rocky Creek.