The 18th of January 2013 has gone down in history as (so far) the hottest day on record in Sydney which had a temperature maximum of 45.8°C. It was a good day to be down a canyon.
The party was Chuin Nee, John and heir young baby, Jasper, and visitors from Germany – Chris and Suzie. We wanted a canyon that was relatively easy and baby friendly – so chose Clatterteeth Canyon which is a section of Du Faurs Creek at Mt Wilson.
The canyon has some long pools. I was the only one that took a lili. Jasper had a new boat to try out – and it went well. The others swam through. Not too hard to do on a hot day.
We entered the canyon at the second (lower) entrance – the one that is the same as the crossing point for many parties that visit Bell Creek Canyon. The upper entrance enters via the same track but at a small saddle goes to the left to enter Du Faurs Creek via a small tributary – October Creek.
Between our entry point and the Bell Creek junction – there are four constricted sections in the canyon. The creek is a bit scrubby in the section between the first and second of these constrictions. The other non-constricted sections are more open and shorter.
The first constriction is very straightforward and tends to have shallow pools. Part way down – a tributary creek joins on the right. This is a small canyon – well worth walking up.
The second constriction has a boulder blockage in it – but it is easy to negotiate – even in high water. The third constriction has a tree stump blockage. This can be a little tricky in high water.
We only went a short way down the fourth constriction. We climbed out a convenient side canyon – Joe’s Canyon – and then walked back up to Mt Wilson.
More photos are on my website here.