Blue Mountains Canyoning
The Best Canyoning in the Blue Mountains

There’s nothing like a challenging session of canyoning in a wild, untamed terrain – something that you will undoubtedly experience as you visit these exciting Blue Mountains attractions.

The Blue Mountains National Park has over 900 amazing slot canyons, carved over millions of years by rivers cutting through the sandstone.

Advanced Canyoning in the Blue Mountains

Because of its rocky plateaus, sandstone ledges and multiple-tiered waterfalls, the Blue Mountains is ideal for anyone who wants to experience that unique burst of adrenaline as they take on some of the world’s most challenging canyoning trips.

These mountains, towering sandstone cliffs, and slot canyons hold some of the best adventure experiences that you could hope for, in one trip.

Since the Blue Mountains is bursting with some of the most intricately carved canyons in the world, you can be sure to enjoy unparalleled beauty.

Grand Canyon in Blue Mountains Australia

From spectacular sandstone plateaus to gushing streams like at Grand Canyon (pictured above), canyoning is undoubtedly the best way to make the most out of such wondrous local attractions.

Many visitors wanting to go canyoning in Sydney visit the Blue Mountains as it’s so close, and easy enough to do as a day trip.

As with many outdoor activities there is an element of risk with canyoning. While it can be a great adventure, if you don’t have the proper training or backup, your canyoning trip may quickly turn into a difficult situation if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Avoid doing a canyoning trip on your own, and go with a trusted local canyoning guide.

Best Blue Mountains Canyoning Tour Guides

These trusted canyoning operators have all been around for a while, are experienced, and are the best for canyoning tours in Blue Mountains:

  1. High and Wild – Australian Adventures.
  2. Australian School of Mountaineering.
  3. Blue Mountains Adventure Company.
  4. Blue Mountains Guides.
  5. Blue Mountains Climbing School.

High and Wild

Very few companies embody the best of Blue Mountains tourism like High and Wild. Located in Katoomba, this canyoning tour company specializes in a wide range of guided adventures such as fantastic abseiling, rock climbing, survival, navigation and obviously canyoning.

All the proper equipment is provided and an experienced Blue Mountains canyon guide is always around to make sure that you’re having fun in all safety.

What to bring for Blue Mountains canyoning adventure? As a guide, all you need to do is dress for the weather and bring running shoes that can get wet, swimwear, a litre of water and a camera.

High and Wild provides everything else on these canyoning tours, including a gourmet lunch on all of their full-day trips.

Blue Mountains Adventure Company

In addition to abseiling and climbing, the Blue Mountains Adventure Company also specialises in canyoning and bushwalking.

Many of Sydney’s best outdoor adventure activities take place in this place of breathtaking natural beauty, which offers the perfect backdrop for an entire lifetime of exploration!

The Katoomba-based canyoning experience was founded in 1984 and is one of the Blue Mountains’ most seasoned and long-standing adventure guided tour providers.

From beginners to advanced level, the professional guides got you covered with over 30 years of expertise.

Blue Mountains Adventure Company

In a genuinely unusual location, a day exploring canyons requires a sense of adventure, but promises to be a memorable one.

If you’re brave enough to test the water, you’ll be suited up in a wetsuit and helmet and escorted around the canyon floor by a team of skilled guides. Enjoy short swims in the clear, cool pools. As the stream slowly erodes portions of soft sandstone in the Blue Mountains, towering cliffs, stunning boulders, and a natural playground of water slides and jumps are the results.

Prices for these short and full day canyoning trips include a guide, all necessary equipment, lunch, beverages, and snacks, as well as admission to National Parks.

Canyoning for beginners

Created over millions of years, the running streams have methodically carved their way down through the Blue Mountain’s sandstone plateau to form what is one of the most complex, intricate and visually spectacular canyon systems in the world!

If you’re still a beginner, and keen to do some canyoning in Australia, you will be able to choose from different trips to some of the area’s easiest trails with High and Wild: Wollangambe Canyon and the Rocky Creek Canyon, perhaps the most impressive slot canyon in the Blue Mountains.

Rocky Creek Canyon trips

These popular tours are an ideal introduction to the world of Blue Mountains canyoning experience. Sheep Dip is another canyon near Rocky Creek, that doesn’t involve any abseiling, however it does have lots of slippery dips, rock scrambling, and water jumps.

Rocky Creek is a magnificent canyon and a short walk leads to Twister Canyon. A great trip for those who don’t want to abseil.

Intermediate Canyoning

Intermediate visitors can normally choose from some stunning canyoning locations such as the Serendipity Canyon, Bowens Creek Canyon as well as the Tigersnake Canyon, which offers breathtaking views in the winter.

In fact, the Tigersnake Canyon is also reputed for the stunning bushwalk that you will need to adopt to reach the canyon.

Canyoning for beginners

Consequently, visitors will be able to see amazing sights that are normally concealed from most tourists. Empress Falls Canyon is an incredible experience for intermediate canyoners and the Empress Canyon highlight is the epic 30m Empress Falls abseil which is one of the most popular in Australia.

It is recommended to have a medium level of stamina and fitness to book a trip to this beautiful canyon, which can take the best part of a day. May until August there are trips to winter canyons. These have the same adventure and excitement of canyons in summer, but without getting wet.

Where to go canyoning in the Blue Mountains?

More experienced canyoners will be able to explore the multiple Blue Mountains attractions from far higher up as they book a trip to the Claustral Canyon.

It is advisable to set aside an entire day for this gloriously challenging canyoning experience. Most expeditions start off from Mt Banks and will take you to the summit of Claustral Brook. If you want, you can blend canyoning with some abseiling and descent into a truly stunning set of waterfalls known as the Black Hole of Calcutta.

Not far from this is another stupendous Blue Mountain attraction known as the Ranon Canyon. With a junction measuring 700m long, this is undoubtedly the perfect place for anyone who wants to experience wonderful thrills and exciting adventures.

After you’ve completed your trip towards the end of the canyon, you can climb your way back up by passing through the Rainbow Ravine. As far as Blue Mountains attractions are concerned, you really can’t go wrong with this ravine that catches the sunlight and reflects it back in wondrous hues.

In spite of its soothing name, however, the ravine is quite tough to escalade, but it’s certainly worth it. From an altitude of 220m, most of the stunning Blue Mountains attractions will be laid at your feet.

Grand Canyon – Blackheath

One of the prettiest canyons to explore in the Blue Mountains, is a day trip to the Grand Canyon at Blackheath. At the end of a fun morning abseil down towering sandstone cliffs, you will stroll through a rain forest gully and running streams before your afternoon trek. Your experienced local Blue Mountains canyoning guide will go over the area’s history, geography, and a diverse range of flora and wildlife.

There is a 16-meter abseil down to the canyon bottom near the beginning of this canyon. For two hours, you’ll be wading, swimming, water jumps and clamber through caves of rock formations, fern-covered walls, and small passageways.

Grand Canyon Blue Mountains

A 30-meter swim to the canyon’s apex marks the end of the adventure. For the 45-minute hike up to Evans Lookout, you’ll be rewarded with breathtaking views of the Grose Valley. Yileen Canyon, another fantastic experience is in the Grose Valley near Blackheath.

Mount Wilson Canyoning

There are hundreds of canyons in the Blue Mountains National Park and many great canyoning spots to choose from near Mt. Wilson.

Below is just a small sample of some of the popular canyons in the Mount Wilson area.

Joe’s Canyon

Suitable for the whole family, Joe’s Canyon is a charming little canyon, great as an introduction to canyoning in the Blue Mountains. It a medium grade hike, just one hour from the Mt Wilson Fire Brigade Shed on Mt Wilson Road.

There are no abseils to get to this canyon (so no previous abseiling experience or abseiling skills are needed) and if you are cautious you can get away with just getting wet up to your knees. To amp up the fun, you may want to bring a tyre tube for each person canyoning.

Serendipity

Serendipity near Mount Wilson is an intermediate level canyoning trip that features a number of abseils to negotiate, and an exciting water jump. It is a fairly short canyon, on the south side of the Wollangambe River.

Serendipity Canyon

This trip is ideal for canyoners with a little abseiling and canyoning experience or part of an experienced canyoning tour group. Although the abseils are not lengthy, they give access to the deeper areas of the canyon.

The tightness of the rocky walls and water throughout the abseil sections contribute to their attraction. It closes with an exploration of portion arriving at the beautiful Wollangambe River.

Wollangambe River Canyon

The Wollangambe is a river that flows roughly west to east close to the north of Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine. Many people enjoy taking a leisurely stroll to the river and then sloshing their way between the massive cliffs that rise above the water before retracing their steps back.

Canyoning in the Wollangambe Canyon involves a variety of challenges- plenty of hiking, swimming in sometimes cold water, climbing over slippery surfaces and some rock climbing. Enjoying a picnic lunch on the edge of Wollangambe beach is brilliant experience!

Secret Gobsmacker

Mount Wilson’s southern edge is bordered by the Secret Gobsmacker Canyon (the Lower Section of Bowens Creek’s North Branch). To get to the canyon you drop through a magnificent temperate rainforest.

Once within the canyon, you’ll find gorgeous fern and moss-covered walls, exciting abseils, and a plethora of wildlife, including Yabbies. Expect short climbing portions and look out for stunning views on the return trek.

Map of the Blue Mountains

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Blue Mountains Facts + Weather

How big are the Blue Mountains? What is the tallest mountain? Where are the Blue Mountains? Why are the Blue Mountains blue? This special iconic place invokes so many questions – see our Blue Mountains Facts page to get all the answers.

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bluemountains-australia.com is a 'Web Magazine' website that is dedicated to all things related to Australia's iconic Blue Mountains. We are passionate about Australia's great natural wonder, its vast mountains and waterfalls, its incredible vistas, its natural beauty and the unforgettable experiences that are waiting for all who visit. Our aim is to discuss the Blue Mountains, its history, its environment, its wildlife and its spectacular destinations. We hope that this website will inspire all who visit, just as much as the Blue Mountains have inspired us.

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