After a quick stop for a great meal at the Railway Hotel in Beaudesert, we arrived at Tooloom Falls just outside of Urbenville. The camping area was pretty busy for a Friday night, be we found a spot to pitch our tents and settled in for the night.
The next morning we drove back north past Woodenbong, veering off along Mt Lindsay road to find the 4wd track that would take us towards the canyon. We left the black top and started up Dead Horse Mountain Road, slowly along the rutted tracks, the encroaching lantana leaving my 4wd with a fresh batch of scratches.
After forty-five minutes we arrived at the border fence which marked the start of the trail, we shouldered our gear, jumped the fence, and followed along the faint path to a small river bed. There were two parties of canyoners in front of us, so we went at a slow pace and enjoyed the setting.
The first couple of abseils were only short but there was enough water and height to make things interesting. A couple of swims followed before three abseils in quick succession, the last being a really fun 23m drop. One final short abseil followed by a couple of short jumps and we were out of the canyon.
We warmed in the sun before following the river bed downstream until it intersected a fire trail. Following this uphill we came upon the familiar track which took us back to our car.
We had just changed into dry clothes when the skies darkened, no sooner were we packed and ready to leave when the rain began. It came down quickly and heavily, turning the dirt road out of the forest into a slick and greasy mud track. Thankfully aggressive tires and locked diffs made it easy to get through, a bit of unexpected adventure to finish off things.
By the time I was back on bitumen the sun was out and I was off back towards the camp site to relax, only stopping to help a turtle / tortoise / terrapin make it safely across Mt Lindsay Road.
More light rain came and went for the rest of the afternoon, but dinner was hot, the beers were cold, and the roaring camp fire wasn't troubled by the drizzle.
The next morning was more of the same, no rock climbing was to be done in the wet, so I slowly packed up camp in between bouts of drizzle.
I took a quick swim and sat for a little while under the Tooloom Falls before setting off home. Half and hour with a pressure hose removed most of the mud plastered to my chassis, the lantana pin stripes will take a bit more work...
A really enjoyable weekend, look forward to more canyons in the near future!
More photos here
