Ashley Burke's Web Page Canyoning Page Select an area of interest:

General Trip Information Home Page Email Me

 

Welcome to my canyoning page

A canyon is a creek, river or watercourse that is constrained by vertical walls on both sides. In the Blue Mountains, the deepest and narrowest canyons are those that are formed from sandstone. There are also canyons of quartzsite, primarily in the Kanangra Boyd National Park, though these tend to be steeper and less enclosed than their sandstone cousins. Both sandstone and quartzite canyons are spectacular and beautiful in different ways.

The activity of canyoning involves following canyons along their course. Usually this involves abseiling, as many canyons contain waterfalls that cannot be descended without rope. There are varying levels of difficulty. Some canyons can easily be walked or swum through without the need for rope. The easiest of all can be done as relaxing day trips, whereby you paddle down long, still pools on an air mattress. At the other extreme are canyons that contain several large waterfalls, and only experienced canyoners with rope and abseiling gear can attempt them.

Canyons in the Blue Mountains also vary in the degree to which they have been exposed to human impact. Many of the most popular canyons have well marked trails at the start and finish of the canyon, and may have dozens of people passing through them every weekend during summer. Other canyons are remote, little known and rarely visited, with little or no evidence of humans having gone through them. In some extreme cases there may still be some small canyons in remote areas that no one has yet visited. In the interest of keeping these remote canyons in their pristine state, this web site does not contain any information that can be used to identify such canyons. I have had the thrill and joy of discovering pristine canyons that only a handful or possibly even no one at all have ever seen before. I would like to think that other people could experience the same thrill and joy in the future, so for this reason I believe in leaving the locations of some of the remotest canyons as a secret.

I do include some photos and writeups of past canyoning trips on this web page, in the hope that people may appreciate the wildness and beauty of the canyons in the Blue Mountains. If you are new to canyoning and want to visit some of the canyons in the Blue Mountains, then a great way to start would be to join a bushwalking club such as the Sydney University Bushwalkers. I regularly take interested people with me on my many canyoning trips during the summer months, normally November to March. I do most of these trips with the Sydney University Bushwalkers, of which I have been a member since 1985. If you are interested in coming along, check out my General Trip Information page or you can drop me an email.

I tend to enjoy incorporating an element of exploration to most of my canyoning trips, and thus many of my trips are to lesser known areas. On the other hand, revisiting some of the more popular canyons is often a great way to spend a weekend away from the heat and hustle and bustle of a Sydney summer.

Here are some photos and trip reports from a few canyoning trips. I am gradually adding to this gallery as I develop this web site.

Index to Photos and Trip Reports