A campsite sits tranquil and calm, a bare handful of campers
spread out across the wide clearing. The air lies cool and still, laden with
the promise of rains to come, but content to hold back its damping mists for
now.
Gravel crunches, light flaring and sending shadows dancing
through and around the trees. A car swings off the road, headlights sweeping
across the campsite as it weaves its way to a halt. The engine’s rumble cuts
off, plunging the campsite back into silence. Serenity returns, darkness creeping
in to cover the camp once more.
Another droning engine cuts through the night, then another
and another. Trickling slowly at first, but soon rising to a torrent, they
stream into camp. Headlights blossom, chasing the shadows and pushing them back
into the trees. People are everywhere, the beams of their headtorches rounding
up the remaining shadows. All remnants of tranquillity are gone; the ANU Mountaineering Club has arrived in force.
The Blue Mountains Extravaganza is one of several annual
mass-migrations from Canberra, filled with adventure seekers. In winter, they
migrate south to the frozen landscape of the Snowy Mountains, bearing skis and
crampons. Late spring sees them carrying their cocktail dresses and suits into
the Budawangs. Summer finds them in Namadgi, feasting atop Baroomba. Autumn
carries them east to the coast with kayaks and climbing shoes in tow. In the
shoulder season, as summer relinquishes its grip, the pilgrims seeks the Blue
Mountains with every canyoning and climbing rope they have. A long weekend in
the ACT provides ample incentive for the trip, while a lack of a corresponding
public holiday in NSW means the mountains aren’t overly crowded. Perfect.
The basecamp location changes every few years, meandering
between those large enough to contain the mass arrival of cars and people.
There are many such campsites, of course, but few that are conveniently close
to canyons, sport and trad climbing, but aren’t so far down back roads that the
convoy arriving late on Friday night risks getting lost on the way there. This year’s choice was Megalong Valley, near the town (and bakeries) of
Blackheath.
Every morning for three days, a dozen different trips set
off into the surrounding wilderness, a scatter of beginners among participants
largely made up of trip leaders. This is their weekend, a chance to plunge into
a canyon that’s been lurking on their to-do list for a few seasons, spend a day
working on a multi-pitch climb whose top has thus far eluded them, or enjoy the
novelty of taking part in someone else’s trip. There are still beginner trips
but, more so than on most mass-pilgrimages, they are in the minority.
Attending with virtually no canyoning experience in 2013, I
had spent most of my weekend on two beginner-friendly bushwalking trips. This
year, I was preparing myself for a few new challenges. Among the many trips on offer, most of them heading to destinations on my
to-do list, I set out with the aim of conquering Claustral Canyon, BowensCreek, and doing my first lead climb at Dam Cliffs.
Tent pitched after the long after-work drive, and the
weekend ahead filled with the promise of adventure, I slept soundly on Friday
night... at least until the alarm raised its voice in the darkness, a harbinger
of troubles to come.
Day 1: Claustral Canyon
Day 2: Bowens Creek
Day 1: Claustral Canyon
Day 2: Bowens Creek
