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canyonwalkerAustralia Travelog #38
Leura, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 12:30pm
The steep trail down to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls was worth it. And the climb up on the return I knew I'd have to do was worth it, too. I knew both of these things as soon as we got to the foot of the falls.
From this angle down here at the bottom of the falls we couldn't see most of the falls. They were way above of us. But this little bit we did see— this little bit that's still a towering massif with water pouring over it— was amazing. We found a flat rock off to the left in the sun to sit on.
We explored a bit around the foot of the falls. The rocks were slippery, of course, with all the water and spray pouring over them, so we stepped gingerly. And, honestly, we didn't explore that far. We were already past the safety fence anyway. WIth my already sprained ankle I didn't want to risk slipping and having to do the ascent in worse pain.
Back on the other side of the safety rail some fellow hikers offered to take our picture.
Then it was time to make the slow ascent up the canyon.
The ascent, too was worth it. And not just because we had to get home eventually but because it brought us new views of Bridal Veil Falls. The photo above shows a view from above it and to the side.
The trail wound down from this viewpoint to the top of the falls itself. Of course right at the top there isn't much to see. There's just a stream until... there's not. So we headed upstream to the Leura Cascades.
The Leura Cascades are a set of small, stair-step falls. Again we climbed around the safety rail and perched on large rocks to enjoy the falls from a closer vantage point.
We looped around from the Leura Cascades to Cliff Drive, the part of the road that's closed off as you can see in the barricade picture at the top of part 1 of this trek (previous blog). Oddly this last 1/2 mile or so on paved road was the hardest on me. It's not because it was a paved road but because it was steadily uphill and my sprained ankle was asserting itself pretty hard. Well, the next stop is lunch!
Leura, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 12:30pm
The steep trail down to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls was worth it. And the climb up on the return I knew I'd have to do was worth it, too. I knew both of these things as soon as we got to the foot of the falls.
From this angle down here at the bottom of the falls we couldn't see most of the falls. They were way above of us. But this little bit we did see— this little bit that's still a towering massif with water pouring over it— was amazing. We found a flat rock off to the left in the sun to sit on.
We explored a bit around the foot of the falls. The rocks were slippery, of course, with all the water and spray pouring over them, so we stepped gingerly. And, honestly, we didn't explore that far. We were already past the safety fence anyway. WIth my already sprained ankle I didn't want to risk slipping and having to do the ascent in worse pain.
Back on the other side of the safety rail some fellow hikers offered to take our picture.
Then it was time to make the slow ascent up the canyon.
The ascent, too was worth it. And not just because we had to get home eventually but because it brought us new views of Bridal Veil Falls. The photo above shows a view from above it and to the side.
The trail wound down from this viewpoint to the top of the falls itself. Of course right at the top there isn't much to see. There's just a stream until... there's not. So we headed upstream to the Leura Cascades.
The Leura Cascades are a set of small, stair-step falls. Again we climbed around the safety rail and perched on large rocks to enjoy the falls from a closer vantage point.
We looped around from the Leura Cascades to Cliff Drive, the part of the road that's closed off as you can see in the barricade picture at the top of part 1 of this trek (previous blog). Oddly this last 1/2 mile or so on paved road was the hardest on me. It's not because it was a paved road but because it was steadily uphill and my sprained ankle was asserting itself pretty hard. Well, the next stop is lunch!
