This was our second canyon of the weekend. Albert and myself headed into Hat Hill Creek on Sunday morning to visit and photograph the canyon.
We had a nice day. The canyon is very pleasant and relatively easy. It has no abseils and easy access, but does have a fair bit of scrambling down boulders, so care needs to be taken. It is probably not a good canyon to take young kids along.
It has three constrictions, and each one is better than the previous ones. The first two constrictions are high up in the creek and fairly short. Both start with a short waterfall down a narrow slot that must be negotiated. In high water – these can be avoided – see this post. The first two constrictions have swims. The third constriction has deep wades rather than swims.
Most of the walking between the constrictions is quite delightful. Surprising open rainforest. And another thing about the creek is the thick luxuriant moss that covers the rocks in the creekbed.
The tricky bits are at boulder blockups – particularly just before and after the second constriction and one just before the third constriction.
At the end of the third constriction it is about a ten minute walk down to the Grose Valley cliffline. This is worth doing. The last part, it is best to walk through a big cave on the true right and then go under the cliffline to the views.
There are good passes out of the canyon in various places. One is not far upstream of the boulder blockup at the start of the third constriction. This starts by going up a small tributary and then goes up an easy slope to eventually reach the ridge above. There is a faint track most of the way. Another pass, is just below the third constriction. To reach this, again you go up a small tributary creek on the true right (which higher up has a nice pair of natural arches) and then follow ledges up to gain the same ridge as the first pass. It was very disappointing though to see some vandal has daubed trees on the ridge with yellow paint!
More photos of this beautiful canyon are online here on my website.
Hi David
First of all, love your canyoning photos, a real inspiration.
Just wondering how long you think I should allow to do Hat hill, allowing for good fitness but enough time to do photo faffing with a good camera.
Thanks, looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Tim
Its a good canyon for photography. The first two constrictions are short and don’t take too long to do, then a longer and rougher walk down to the last one. Most parties have lunch below it – on the ledge above the Grose Valley, so its not a long day, then go back upstream for more photos if you have time. Spend a whole day enjoying the canyon.
What a great canyon. Ran out of time in the end. Will put a couple of pics on ozcanyons group. Thanks david and keep up the great work.