I can’t believe I’ve never done this wonderful little gem until now. Whilst contemplating which canyon I would do solo the following day, I received an unexpected invitation to join a party doing Arethusa canyon. I jumped at the chance to check it out. So it was that I met Michael, Jill and Alan for the first time. We parked on the Mt Hay Rd, and after only a 30 minute walk, were harnessing up for two beautiful 30m dry raps down to the creek where we girls suited up. The boys didn’t bother and the water turned out to be much warmer than expected. We waded and scrambled down the creek, swimming sometimes, finding the going very slippery. It was a perfect day. Clear blue skies overhead, lush green vegetation, and soon the high sandstone walls began closing in on us. Then we heard the unmistakable roar of water pounding into a slot. The first abseil in the canyon took me completely by surprise. It was most unusual. We rapped off a log on the right, down into a hole and out a window into a dark slot with a fantastic waterfall cascading from above. Sunlight above filtered through the spray that drifted upwards off the waterfall. It was a beautiful place and my camera worked overtime. From here we waded and swam our way through this beautiful narrow dark section and through a small cave back into the sunlight. And then we were back in a darker narrow section where a long wall curved high over us. This was a special place. More swimming through beautiful pools, one interesting little downclimb which ended in a slide at the bottom which threw us sideways into the water. A small jump or two, then we reached the junction with Alpheus canyon. Our exit. Three pitches of rock climbing up the cliffs which Michael led, one deep pool to cross, then climbing and scrambling up through the cliffline using the fixed ropes that were in place. An relatively short easy walk back to the cars, arriving there 6 hours after we left them, and just as the first drops of rain fell that preceded the afternoon’s thunderstorms. Fantastic little canyon, and one I’ll do again.
Photos http://imageevent.com/jburton/canyons/arethusa08112011
Julie
RAM
Jules
The chill of winter was in the air today, except in direct sunlight. Your description of warm water, waterfall spray and the pictures of an exotic far off place was just lovely. Thanks from the break from packing winter gear for the coming canyon trip. Sigh
Ram
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Jules” wrote:
I can’t believe I’ve never done this wonderful little gem until now. > Whilst contemplating which canyon I would do solo the following day, I received an unexpected invitation to join a party doing Arethusa canyon. I jumped at the chance to check it out. So it was that I met Michael, Jill and Alan for the first time. We parked on the Mt Hay Rd, and after only a 30 minute walk, were harnessing up for two beautiful 30m dry raps down to the creek where we girls suited up. The boys didn’t bother and the water turned out to be much warmer than expected. > We waded and scrambled down the creek, swimming sometimes, finding the going very slippery. It was a perfect day. Clear blue skies overhead, lush green vegetation, and soon the high sandstone walls began closing in on us. Then we heard the unmistakable roar of water pounding into a slot. > The first abseil in the canyon took me completely by surprise. It was most unusual. We rapped off a log on the right, down into a hole and out a window into a dark slot with a fantastic waterfall cascading from above. Sunlight above filtered through the spray that drifted upwards off the waterfall. It was a beautiful place and my camera worked overtime. > From here we waded and swam our way through this beautiful narrow dark section and through a small cave back into the sunlight. And then we were back in a darker narrow section where a long wall curved high over us. This was a special place. > More swimming through beautiful pools, one interesting little downclimb which ended in a slide at the bottom which threw us sideways into the water. A small jump or two, then we reached the junction with Alpheus canyon. Our exit. > Three pitches of rock climbing up the cliffs which Michael led, one deep pool to cross, then climbing and scrambling up through the cliffline using the fixed ropes that were in place. An relatively short easy walk back to the cars, arriving there 6 hours after we left them, and just as the first drops of rain fell that preceded the afternoon’s thunderstorms. > Fantastic little canyon, and one I’ll do again.
Photos http://imageevent.com/jburton/canyons/arethusa08112011
> Julie >