Dangars Falls to Salisbury Waters:
It is cool in the morning starting out
and before heading out on our overnight walk, we wander along the
short tourist walks that go to a couple of lookouts over Dangars
Falls. The falls are spectacular and fall steeply down to a deep
canyon with cliffs on either side. A little bit downstream there are
a series of jagged spires on a spur ridge that are known as The
Pinnacles.
Dangars Falls
Back to the car and we picked up the
packs and started out on the walk. There are another couple of view
points over the gorge where we spent time viewing the falls and
looking for possible descent routes. Heading out along the Salisbury
Waters track we took a side track to Rock Wallaby lookout which
offers views down the Salisbury Waters gorge.
The Pinnacles
The track continues east along the
ridge that separates Salisbury and Mihi Creeks. There are two more
lookouts along the way, one at Sarum Hill which looks over Salisbury
Waters and one which looks over Mihi Gorge.
Mihi Gorge
The track switchbacks down to Salisbury
Waters but, despite the switchbacks, it is still a bit steep in
parts. At the bottom, there is a bit of roughly flat ground and we
smoothed out a section for a tent pad and put the tent up.
Pool on Salisbury Waters
After tea and lunch, we walked up
Salisbury Waters gorge for about 2 km getting almost to McDirtys
Creek. The going was easy if slow. Lots of slabs along the river,
boulders, rock hopping, crossing from one side of the river to the
other. There were many big pools but all passed easily on one side
or the other. Also, some short cliffs down by the water but the
bigger cliffs are further upstream near Dangars Falls. After about
1.5 hours, we stopped for a break on a big slab overlooking another
pool which marked our turn around point.
Night comes early in the gorge
Back at camp we had some hot chocolate,
dinner and retired to the tent soon after dark. With our new jumbo
sleeping pads we slept well and it was relatively warm and no dew
overnight.
Boulders in Salisbury Waters
Salisbury Waters to Mihi Gorge to
Dangars Falls:
We are up around 6.30 am after a good
sleep and it is a relatively warm morning. We have breakfast. I
have some new quinoa flakes which are bland, bland, bland. We pack
up and begin walking down Salisbury Waters to the junction with Mihi
Creek. Quite soon we come to the "big pool" and a dodgy
climb up a little notch to scramble around the pool (river left). I
go up first but Doug balks at my route and climbs back down with out
doing the last bit. He looks around for another option, but there is
none so he comes back up again and I haul his pack up the dodgy step.
Past this, it is an easy traverse along ledges above the pool and we
are soon at the junction with Mihi Creek.
Reflections on Salisbury Waters
Mihi Gorge is a mini Salisbury, very
similar but just slightly easier travel with many fewer pools,
smaller boulders - generally - and not as many slabs. The water is
much clearer too as the water in Salisbury is green with some kind of
algae. Travel is still slow, however as we cross and recross the
river and scramble around rocks. About two hours from camp we have a
break and note that we have about one kilometre in the gorge to go.
Heading up Mihi Creek
There are two prominent ridges which
lead out of the gorge to the south and we have information on the one
closest to Mihi Creek so decide to take that one. However, the more
southeasterly ridge actually looks better on the map. It is,
however, an unknown entity so we decide to go with the one that we
know leads out.
So, another 40 minutes of creek hopping
taking a turn to the right and then the left and passing the obvious
drainage and we are at the bottom of the ascent slope. I have a dip
before we head up and put on long pants as I am worried about
scratchy grass, nettle and burrowing grass seeds.
Big boulders in Mihi Creek
Initially, all goes well and, although
the ridge is steep, we are making reasonable progress, there are no
nettles and very little grass seeds. Perhaps 200 metres from the top
we run up against the cliffs mentioned in the track notes we found
on-line. The instructions are to sidle around left which we do. At
first this works very well and we scramble around to the left
climbing up to keep to the base of the cliffs. After a bit, we
scramble up onto the ridge top which is narrow and bristling with
rocky pinnacles. Progress, however, is still possible and is pretty
easy just below the ridge crest. We scramble up to the ridge again
and find a big pinnacle with sheer walls on all sides and no easy way
up.
We have to drop down back the way we
came and traverse across steep grass and vertical dirt on the south
side of the ridge. All the time we can see the ridge we thought we
would go up looking very easy! It is hard not to wish we were there.
Mihi Falls
After traversing 100 to 200 metres we
see a spot where we may be able to regain the ridge crest above the
big pinnacle however it is impossible to tell if it will work without
going right up and sticking our noses against it. There are two
tricky sections where we pass the packs and then we scramble up, the
terrain getting easier until we are on top of the escarpment with all
the difficulties over.
Looking over Mihi Gorge
We have topped out at a good viewpoint
by a big granite boulder so we stop for lunch here over looking the
steep Mihi Gorge. After lunch, we walk along through light bush
until we come to paddock land and begin hopping a series of fences
each one harder to get over than the last. At Mihi Creek, we manage
to cross without getting our shoes wet by pushing through a thick
tangle of fallen trees laced with blackberry bush. On the other side
of the creek we meet up with yet another fence which we need to cross
to get back onto the National Park. This fence, like all the others
is about 5 feet high and the top is laced with rusty barbed wire. We
walk along it until we see a big tree which has fallen onto it and
manage to climb over the fence by climbing the tree being very
careful not to touch the electric wire at the bottom.
Wild dog fences
A short walk across open paddock and we
finally reach the parks track. We drop the packs and detour to the
viewpoint over Mihi Falls. These falls are quite spectacular falling
down in a series of cascade that change direction and drop along
fault lines in the steep cliff walls. Another couple of kilometres
along the parks track and we are back at the car park, tired, but
happy.
Among the boulders of Salisbury Waters
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