Three Day Hike In Wollemi Wilderness on the Colo River

We headed up into the NSW Blue Mountains again recently in search of a longer hike to take the four younger kids on. You can read about my previous trip here. We have planned this trip many times, but fire, breakdowns, and floods have prevented us for 2 years! We were headed for Tootie Creek along the T3 Track near Mountain Lagoon. The T3 Track leads to a walking track to the Tootie Creek Junction on the Colo River, in Wollemi National Park. Wollemi National Park is home to the famous Wollemi Pines, trees thought to be extinct on Earth until they were discovered growing in a grove in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. It's also one of our favourite places to hike!

The rushing rapids at the Tootie Creek Junction on Colo River

We knew this would be a hard trip and we expected to spend 3 days out hiking and camping in some very remote wilderness. The weather was predicted to be sunny and between 28-32C, perfect for hanging out on the riverbank.

Gear Prep

Shelter & Sleeping Gear

The hike down to the river includes a very steep descent so we had to pack as lightly as possible for a 3-day trip, but also make sure we bought everything we needed! After much debate, the kids agreed to share two small tarps between the 5 of us instead of carrying tents and poles. We took a handful of rope each and about 6 tent pegs. The kids spent some time researching "Tarp Tents" and how to construct them before we headed off. They were confident they could manage to erect something suitable once we got there. We packed some summer sleeping bags and everyone had a pillow. We have decided we cannot live without some kind of pillow when were camping.

The view from my "Flying A-Frame" Tarp Tent at sunrise

Cooking Gear & Food

We ended up bringing one set of ultra-light pots with the metho stove and someone carried in the camp kettle for the campfire. We find it much easier to handle when it's full of boiling water than a traditional billycan. We mostly took dried food that needed only boiled water to reconstitute and loads of prepacked energy bars, crackers, chips, noodles, soup, fresh bread for toasting, and other dried snacks that would hold up in the heat inside our packs for 3 days. 

There's nothing like a nice cup of coffee by the river first thing in the morning.

We should have checked our notes from last summer when we went to Berowra Creek on the Great North Walk, we didn't eat most of the food we took with us... I especially had a lot to carry home!

Extras

The usual things like the mini first aid kit, folding shovel, I carried in (and out) the Nikon digital camera but it wasn't worth the weight). I took a book I didn't even open, and a headlamp we used once (it didn't get dark until 10pm and we were asleep by then!).

The Trip

Day 1

We drove to the head of the T3 Track and parked in the parking area under the trees. From there we walked along the top of the ridge following the track past some of the most stunning vistas to the east and west. It was much cooler as we walked in so this part was actually quite pleasant...

We looked pretty happy walking in

Eventually, you start descending, and sometimes it feels like you'll never get to the bottom. At two points we completely lost the trail as it exited off a saddle and once we had to backtrack 20 minutes up a rocky scramble to relocate the proper track. There are warning signs around the place that the track has been impacted by recent bushfires, floods, and land movement. Some parts of the track are unrecognizable these days as all you can see is burnt trees for miles on either side. 

Jaxon (11), Shelby (11), Cady (9), AJ (9) at T3 lookout, Colo River

The lower parts of the original trail have been relocated completely and it will take some time yet until the undergrowth is trodden down, clearing the new trail. For now, it is marked by hikers tape in some places and there are potholes, fallen trees, loose rocks, low branches, and impressive shoulder-high vegetation to tromp through before you finally exit onto the sandbank south of the Tootie Creek junction.

I was the only one willing to stand right out on the edge here. You could hear the thundering rapids from the river 350m below!

We finally hit the sand after about 5 hours of walking with plenty of rest stops and snacks along the way. Everyone was looking forward to a dip in the river but it was actually a little too high to swim in. So we kept walking north and headed up to the junction to see if the creek was better (it was!). 

After a splash, we headed back to the sand to set up camp and get the fire going. Some of us got to work setting up the tarps while others went to gather firewood and kindling. We set up some rocks to contain the fire and block some of the wind coming off the river. Despite the recent rain, the fire caught well and we had no trouble lighting it or cooking on it the whole weekend. 

The kids couldn't wait for their noodles, I was just interested in the most well-deserved cup of tea I'd had in a long time. Everyone was exhausted after the climb down so before the sun even set everyone climbed in their sleeping bags and said good night! Unfortunately, I didn't get many photos of the sleeping arrangements but there is footage in the video posted below so make sure you watch it to see the awesome Tipi Tarp Tent the kids built with a single stick! Everyone hurt, everywhere. Our legs and arms hurt and we all nursed various cuts and scratches by this point. A good night's sleep is hard to get on the sand and I'm not sure if the rushing water of the rapids in the river helped or hindered... But I slept terribly!

I took my favourite cup on its first long hike!

Day 2 

Hot toasted sourdough cooked in a campfire with melted butter 😋

It dawned beautiful and clear. Perfect for shenanigans on the river, in the creek, and up and down the banks! We explored plenty of the area around the creek junction and spent lots of time walking up the creek to get to a gorgeous gushing waterfall. We had some very close encounters with some angry wasps which ended our playing as the kids were too scared to go back to the area! By the afternoon we were getting too hot to be comfortable around the camp so we spent a few hours sitting on the edge of the river splashing and eating snacks in the shade of a sandbank. When it finally cooled off we set about getting the fire lit again for dinner. After another full day outside, more cuts, scrapes, stings, and sunburn, we called it another early night!

The dying embers of our last night's campfire

Day 3

The kids' breakfast cooking over the coals

We had planned to stay later into the day but it was hot from early in the morning and I again had barely slept. So we broke camp around 8am and by 9am we were putting our packs back on and starting the hike back up the mountain. We started strong but after an hour on the trail it was becoming unbearably hot and humid, our packs suddenly felt like lead weights and the steep climbing was wearing on everyone. We loaded up on water at camp before we left and filled every bottle for the trip up but somehow we were still out of drinking water after the first 2 hours! That left around 3 hours walking in the heat with no water... This was the most uncomfortable and stressful hike I've personally ever done and I did apologise to my kids many times for bringing them on such a hard track in the middle of summer with full packs on! It's been much more comfortable in wintertime, or liloing down to Lower Colo would have been a better option, but the kids aren't quite all old enough or competent enough to make that trip without some additional adult supervision. We made it back to the car in around 5 hours. We drove straight to the nearest shop for water and electrolytes then headed straight for McDonald's to treat everyone to a burger and chips for their amazing effort.

click here to watch the video!