KAMARAH RIDGE – CANYON COLLIERY

A layer of frost was covering the landscape when we started walking along Kamarah Ridge. The sun melted the thin layer of frost; however in the shade, danger was lurking! As soon as Bill warned me that the rocks were slippery with ice, my feet parted company with the ground… Eventually I made it gingerly to the end of what I call “Kamarah Finger” with no further encounters with the ground. The views were grand, as always!

After some tea with the secret hope that the sun and temperatures would get rid of the ice, we started our descent into an unnamed creek. It looked messy with fallen timber and thick vegetation: the no-brainer was to cross it and reach the cliffline! Walking below the cliffs was easy enough although the regrowth was a pain in places! We spotted an easy exit to the top of Kamarah Bluffs (another project). As we continued along and I was babbling that this was an easy walk, the cliffline ended abruptly – as they do! We turned back, climbed up and then climbed down and eventually we were back following the cliffline albeit lower! The cliff walls never ceased to amaze!

As we were heading north, a track started to be noticeable: climbers frequenting the area! The descent into the Canyon Colliery was eventless and we had lunch on a concrete wall overlooking a concreted creek and gazing at concrete structures! The number of trucks bringing concrete to the colliery must have been phenomenal!
Then it was up the road which is showing signs of subsidence and has three landslides of varying severity! This was followed by an assortment of weeds. The Canyon Colliery section is Crown Land and will probably never be cleaned up! Soon enough we were back at the cars after an excellent day of bushwalking!