Bell Creek Canyon – 13 March 2016

Su Li was keen for some canyoning on Sunday, and suggested Bell Creek at Mt Wilson. She was joined on the trip by Brent, Stacey and myself.

Bell Creek is the most spectacular canyon in the Mt Wilson area. On this trip, we only visited the lower constriction of Bell Creek – which makes an excellent day trip. 

Belfry Canyon

We set of from the carpark at the RFS building around 10 am, and headed down the road to Du Faurs Lookout, and then turned off and followed the Mt Wilson perimeter fire road south and then turned of along a track that heads down to Clatterteeth Canyon in Du Faurs Creek. We soon crossed the creek and then scrambled up the other side. It was shaping up to be a hot day, and it was a struggle climbing up to the crest of the ridge and then descending down the other side to the small Belfry Canyon which provides a good route to Bell Creek.

The route over the ridge, is a bit scrubby. There is a fair bit of regrowth since the bushfires of October 2013, and no track. I can remember in my early days of canyoning, back in the 1970’s – it was common for parties to make a navigational error crossing this ridge – and descend back into Du Faurs Creek (upstream of the crossing point) by mistake – and think they were in Bell Creek. It seems people still make this mistake. On my last trip through Bell Creek, back in 2010, we had encountered a party in Clatterteeth Canyon who thought they were in Bell Creek. So watch your navigation. A GPS is a useful aid if you are not good with a compass.

Su Li in Belfry Canyon

We soon arrived at the small creek – Belfry Canyon. I’m not sure who found this route. It is likely that it was SUBW parties in the early 1970’s. One friend, Chris Cosgrove, remembers being a on a trip that headed down to this creek. They must have been well downstream from where we enter it today – because when they got to the creek – they found no creek. They had stepped across it! The creek lay down a narrow crack – far below. They then walked upstream and found there way down it.

I am also not sure who were the first party down Bell Creek. It seems that SUBW parties around 1960 were the first down Wollangambe Canyon – they called this activity a “swalk” – a cross between a swim and a walk. And it was a SBW party that was first down Clatterteeth Canyon in Du Faurs Creek in 1964. Then the smaller tributaries were descended in the 1980’s – such as Why Don’t we Do It In The Road, Whungee Wheengee and Waterdragon. Bell Creek was a well known canyon back in the mid 1970’s when I canyoning – at least it was well known in SUBW. The canyon is not mentioned in Rick Jamieson’s guidebook of 1964 nor in his Outdoor Senior Scouting Near Sydney (1968).

On our trip, we arrived at Belfry Canyon around 11:30 am and had snack and put on wetsuits. The start of the canyon is a short climb down using a sling around a log. Then ledges are followed around the side of a large chamber above a pool. The canyon then narrows and there is a swim. Shortly after you arrive at Bell Creek – at a nice place with a campsite and cave – often used by parties doing a two day trip all the way down Bell Creek.

Shortly after the creek passes through a narrow sandy section – called “Quicksand Alley” – normally only a problem for the first party to visit each season. Further down Bell Creek are two sections where you need to scramble down through boulders. Care needs to be taken here. We stopped for lunch between these sections.

Tricky boulders

Then some nice walking before you arrive at the constriction. Here I inflated my lilo. The others swam through. This long constriction is one of the finest and most sustained of any in all the canyons. It is very spectacular and very beautiful – with amazing sculptured rock formations carved by swirling water. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to photograph this section of the canyon. Most of the best parts are along deep pools – very difficult to photograph even from a lilo. The lighting is very subdued.

There are several places in the constriction where you need to climb down on logs to a lower level. If some of the key logs moved then these could be quite tricky. It is a good idea to have a handline in the party.

After the last long pool – the creek is still in a  canyon – not as constricted as before, but still deep and spectacular. Nice going.

The canyon conditions end a short way above the junction with Du Faurs Creek.

From that point, you can continue downstream to a little past the junction with Wollangambe Creek and then climb out up the tourist track, or head upstream and climb out via Joes Canyon. We chose the Joes Canyon route. To get there, you need to go back upstream through the last constriction of Clatterteeth Canyon – more swimming or liloing.

At Joes Canyon, we had a long rest and a snack while we took off wetsuits and I deflated my lilo. Then we climbed up through the canyon and along the  rough track to join the tourist track back to Mt Wilson. We arrived back at the carpark about 5:45 pm. A great day.

More photos from the trip are online on my website here.