BushwalkBushwalk
Cooling Off in The Colo
Text and photosRob Wildman
Descending to Wollemi CreekClay O’Brien
Walkers Rob Wildman, Helen Jones, Christine Smith and Clay O’Brien were cooling off in the Colo from Friday 28 Feb 2025 to Sunday 2 March 2025.
14 | Bushwalk April 2025
Day 1: Colo Heights to Wollemi Creek and Colo River Junction, 10.5km, 6.75 hours
We were crisscrossing the boulder strewn creek bed looking for easier routes to an exit point. This took us up sloping, fern covered, vine strangling stretches that used up a lot of energy. Clay was just ahead of me and about to negotiate a log that blocked his path when his left foot, which was unknowingly on a litter-covered sloping rock, started to slide. In his rush to stop the slide he reached out, only to find his right foot now sliding quickly as well. In a second he was flat on his face heading down the rock. I looked up to see him disappearing over the edge and just held my breath. The ledge revealed a three metre drop to the creek bed below where he landed feet first and then toppled backwards onto his pack. All we heard then were his screams of pain.
The Colo River is a magnificent gorge slicing its way from the western part of the Wollemi National Park right through to the Nepean. It is the playground for many adventurous walkers, especially those with climbing skills to match the sheer vertical cliffs which line the river for long stretches.
We had decided to make what Anthony Dunk calls a 'two day hard' walk into three days and to also cut it short. Yes, wimps! The next few days were forecasted to be oven hot so taking a few short cuts was definitely part of the plan. The beaches along this very beautiful watercourse are so inviting that you just want to spend as much time as you can on them and avoid thinking about the climb back to the car.
As much as the walk is difficult, so is the access road to get to the start. After driving seventeen kilometres north of Colo Heights petrol station, the indistinct turnoff to the Culoul Range trail sneaks off to the left. This is actually a quite pleasant twelve kilometre road but it does have some short steep sections and another part where it passes over the basalt layer which is soft and potentially very boggy. While it is not strictly 4WD territory, it is when conditions are wet.
We arrived around 9:15 and pulled up at the turning circle. This spot is the logical place to leave your car but, of course, we foolishly thought it would be better to drive to the actual start of the ridge track.
Clay, Helen and Chris at the startRob Wildman
Chris and Helen stopping for morning tea high above the river by Rob Wildman
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Pressing on, with the acacia closing in and seriously scratching both sides of the car, we sheepishly decided to back out – not so easy. With more damage done to the poor old car, we parked and headed off, by now around 9:45.
The first five hundred metres is a gentle downhill along the old 4WD track which, after our turnoff, eventually continued to the helipad, but once, implausibly, went much further. At the junction the right turn takes you onto another old 4WD track, barely recognisable as once being a road. This was our track. The walk out along the ridge is delightful, with views popping up at every rise and vistas of the cliffs along the Wollemi Creek suddenly giving us an idea of what we were in for.
The vegetation started to become more sparse as we neared the cliffs and then suddenly we were starting to drop through the first small cliff lines, views of the gorge ahead opening up everywhere.
Deceptively, the route (sometimes indistinct in this area) falls down to what can only be described as like being on the rim of a Venus Fly Trap. Both Clay and I were both feeling vertiginous. The creek could be seen a very long and steep way down.
Looking down from Crawfords Lookout to Wollemi CreekClay O’Brien
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Deceptively, the route falls down to what can only be described as like being on the rim of a Venus Fly Trap.
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Almost by accident, we stumbled onto the track which swings around the front of the ridge and brings you to the fabulous Crawford lookout. It’s a lot to take in as you are both amazed at the closeness of the river almost directly below and the very rocky and broken ridge leading down to the bottom. It just looks so inviting, especially on this day which was expected to be hot.
Heading back along this track, we found the first of the pack-passing drops onto the next level. This pass is unusual in that it literally swings to the right to lower altitude and this then allows another pack passing section to take you under the cliffs. It gradually works back under the overhangs and heads back towards the brow of the ridge.
At the second large drop, Clay was again the keen explorer and dropped his pack before climbing down after it. Except that it didn’t stay there and rolled over slowly, and then rolled again, picking up speed as it rolled and bounced toward the next cliff. It did stop, propped between two saplings on the edge of the next major cliff. We did retrieve it but it zapped lots of energy from our dehydrating bodies.
And energy we really needed. By the time we had got to the top of the cliffs, the temperature was nudging thirty-two degrees and we were now directly under the sun’s midday rays. Unknowingly we were getting quite dehydrated and had to stop several times on the way down just to rest and fill the tank. Hitting the creek at the bottom saw us do full immersions in the cool water.
It had taken us only about an hour to get to the cliff tops but almost an hour and a half to descend to the welcoming creek below. Despite the short walk we were exhausted and really needed the long break we took for lunch. The one kilometre walk from the creek down to the Colo junction consisted of half a kilometre of rock platforms (nice!) and
Resting at lunch on Wollemi Creek. Note the wet gear. By Chris Smith
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Unknowingly we were getting quite dehydrated and had to stop several times on the way down just to rest and fill the tank.
Chris and Clay at 1st CampRob Wildman
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half a kilometre of big boulder hopping, up and down the slope on the side of the creek (not so nice!) but, like the happy ending on a Disney movie, the last short section leads onto a high grassy flat on the corner of the junction (very nice!). The hills were alive! But seeing the open and inviting flat sandy beach on the other side of the river, we decided to move on and spread ourselves there.
Most of us had decided that the hot weather was going to continue through the night, so we erected our tarps, stripped off the flys of the tents and looked forward to a benign but humid night.
Except for the burning log! For whatever reason, habit or desire, Clay gathered firewood and started a small fire. But, with the weather being so hot, we couldn’t get near it. There was, however, a tree stump which was near it and part way through dinner we noticed smoke emitting from the stump.
After dousing it and then heading to bed, I was woken in the night to the sight of flames licking the side of the trunk. I guessed that the stump was already alight down in the bowels of its roots in the sand, possibly from the last bushfire, and it was now hot enough
to actually start burning. In the morning we poured as much water on the stump as we could and left, wondering if the burning would linger on in places we could not reach.
Day 2: Colo Junction to Pass 6, 2.8km, 1.15 hours
So now we had a choice; we were either going to plough down the river six or seven kilometres to the Boorai Creek junction and take the steep but safe route back to the car or we would brave the unknown Pass 6, one of Bob Buck’s original passes out of the Colo. Mr Buck had spent many years in his early life exploring and documenting all the passes he could find out of the Colo (there are over thirty). Some years later, poor Bob was involved in a car accident and could never walk his wonderful Colo again. None of us had been through here so we decided to go early to Pass 6, have a look and then if impassable, trudge on to the Boorai Creek camp spot.
The river at this point, and for the next two kilometres, is silted up with sand. Which means that you can just walk down the stream, avoiding the deeper pools and skipping along the many sandbanks in the middle of the river. The walk is spectacular. You are surrounded on both sides by towering
Colo river at Camp 1 looking downstreamChris Smith
Colo and Wollemi Creek Junction. Crawfords Lookout is visible high on the ridge behindRob Wildman
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cliffs, broken up into all shapes and colours. We were early enough to enjoy this in the extensive shadows of the cliffs. With the day promising to be another hot one, we had pitched camp and were at Pass 6, two kilometres downstream in just over an hour. Pass 6 is marked in the river by a massive rock fall which spills right across the river and onto the other side. This is visible from a fair way upstream and is intriguing in its structure, very large boulders falling into and across one another.
The next hour or so was critical. We had expected some difficulty in scaling this pass and with Clay being an amputee (with one arm) we had to find a way which would be acceptable to him and to which he would feel comfortable. We found the first, professionally installed rope, which allowed us to scale the fissure up to the first platform. Helen and I then pushed on directly up the creek, crawling on all fours through a small cave, until we came to a massive blank wall. Wasn’t going to be this way!
Coming back down, we then saw the second rope hanging down over on the southern side of the ravine. Following this led to a ledge
which had another rope dangling over the edge but this one looked like it had been a Bunnings special and not a climbing rope. With difficulty, as the wall of the ledge sloped backwards, we managed to get up and over. Helen checked that this had broken the back of the climb and we now had to ascertain whether Clay would be able to get through what we had just been through.
Looking up into Pass 6Chris Smith
Clay and Chris at Camp 2 - in the distance is the entrance to Pass 6 Rob Wildman
Camp 2 and Helen at edge of large swimming holeRob Wildman
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With a lot of help and heart-in-mouth bravery, he did mount almost all the route and then confidently decided that it was acceptable. This would then be tomorrow’s exit.
With the worst decision now over, we stripped down and spent the next few hours either swimming in the very large and deep pool right next to the beach or snuggled up to the rockfall in the river to experience the ‘spa’. The water was by now quite warm; we realised that the sun did a great job of being a heater the day before and we kept returning to the water between meals, just lapping up the fact that we had the rest of the day to frolic.
Day 3: Pass 6 to Hollow Rock Car Park, 6.3km, 4.5 hours
Given there was no relief from the heat during the night, we decided to head off as early as we could, starting at 7:30. Wanting dry boots to use on the climb up through Pass 6, we crossed the river hanging onto boot laces
and all the other gear. I was the only one to fall into one of the quicksand spots, which are prevalent all along this part of the river. It is impossible to tell where they are and this time, I went down to my waist, wetting almost everything including the camera bag. No pictures of the pass!
Even though we had scoured the pass route the day before, it still took us about an hour and a half to get through the first hundred metres of the creek and start to feel we were past the ravine- blocking boulders. The creek still presented lots of sections where we were crawling halfway up the slopes on either side in order to move to the next flat section. At least it was cool and we weren’t getting blasted by the sun. The rainforest surrounding us was a delight with lots of soft earth, mosses, rotting logs and vines looping down from coachwood trees above. And of course leeches!
Crossing the Colo on last day before hitting the quicksandChris Smith
Looking down the Colo from Pass 6Chris Smith
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We passed the first creek which swung off to our right, and which can be followed up to Boorai Ridge (leave that for a later trip) and in the small cave which formed the dry waterfall we found evidence of earlier human habitation: a tuna can. Luckily there was a pad most of the time and interspersed between it disappearing and re-appearing, we found useful cairns to reassure us that this was indeed the right way.
And then the fall.
We all were standing there horrified at Clay disappearing over the edge and rushed down to the creek bed to find him still talking but lying very still. Chris, a registered nurse for many years, used all her skills to assist him with pain relief and to check out what damage had been done. He had fallen onto a sandy patch of creek; to the right, a metre away, was a spear-like branch sticking out of the sand and to the left was a large awkward shaped rock, both of which would have meant much worse injuries.
We emptied Clay’s pack and shuffled everything into each other’s packs, then strapped his empty rucksack onto the back of Chris’ pack and helped him up. He was obviously in pain but at least he could walk, even over the rough surface we had to negotiate. By the time we had found the exit from the creek and then were halfway up the slope, which was still covered in after-fires regrowth, Clay was able to take the empty pack back from Chris.
Suddenly we burst out of the vine-filled undergrowth and dropped onto what was the original old timber getting 4WD road, almost unrecognisable now as a road. We rested as we were now getting into the sun and had been drinking lots of water to get through a very humid morning. The packs weighed a ton with the extra weight but just then, the track turned up the hill in order to scale the ridge and to reach the old helicopter pad at the top. I had a navigational embarrassment at this point and kept telling everyone we were almost there, forgetting that there was at least another kilometre to go to the turnoff we took on the way in. "Never mind" I was told but I know I didn’t want to do that extra kilometre as much as anyone else. The sun was now relentless and the slog to the car seemed to take forever.
In the end, the walk from the river to the car took us only about four and a half hours; we were quite happy at this point to be out of the sun and in the air conditioning and on our way back to refreshments.
This is the shortest loop walk in this part of the Colo but there are several others which would make great weekend walks or, as we did, leisurely 3 day walks. The tracks that are there are now negotiable and not filled with the horrible vines we had for several years after the fires.
The Colo gorge is quite special; the depth of the gorge, the sheer ferocity of the rock walls above you and being part of one of the largest pieces of wilderness in Wollemi National Park leaves you wondering what else is out there to be found.
The ledge and patient ClayClay O’Brien
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