There is No "Back", Only Forward

Australia Travelog #25
About to leave the hotel - Fri, 29 Dec 2023, 8am

I was stiff last night when we got back to the hotel after dinner. With two descents into the canyon followed by two climbs back out, along with all the miles I walked, my legs are sore and one of my ankles aches. I feel a twinge of pain when I walk, particularly when I flex it with pressure as when I'm ascending or descending stairs or a ramp. I think I may have slightly pulled a muscle.

"Maybe I shouldn't hike today," I thought this morning.

"Hahahahaha," I answered myself. "No."

This isn't going to stop me from hiking today. I have spent too much money and, more importantly, too much of my limited free time, getting here. I'm not going to let it stop me. It's only going to slow me down— and even then, I'm determined to minimize how much it does that. I am dosing myself with ibuprofen and acetaminophen and I will play through the pain.

Update: "Are you sure you want to keep going?" Hawk asked during our first hike today, before we'd even reached the main waterfalls. "In for a penny, in for a pound," I answered. Later she suggested again that we could turn back. I thought of an even better aphorism to describe my determination. "There is no back," I thundered. "Only forward."

Descent into Valley of the Waters

Australia Travelog #26
Valley of the Waters, NSW - Fri, 29 Dec 2023, 9:30am

Our main hike today is to see Empress Falls and Sylvia Falls. They're in the dramatically named Valley of the Waters branch of Jamison Canyon near our hotel. I've been pretty achy this morning and not sure how much I wanted to commit to hiking, but Hawk flagged this trek as one of her top priorities in the Blue Mountains National Park, so I agreed to give it a go.

The trail starts near a place called the Conservation Hut. The map indicated that food was available there. We assumed that meant it was a nature center/historical exhibit that also sold some food, maybe sandwiches and sodas out of a reach-in fridge. Nope! Other way around. It's actually a full service restaurant with a few historical signs outside its doors. I guess I'm glad to see that crass commercialism in national parks is not a uniquely American thing. 🙄

Anyway, the trip into the Valley of the Waters starts with a descent. Right away there are stone steps going down, down, down from the Conservation Hut. Ugh. Just what my aching ankle hates, I thought. And I'm going to have to climb all this on the way out! 😓



After several long flights of terraced stairs the trail levels out for a bit. There's a vista point just off to the side, Queen Victoria's Lookout. It provides a beautiful view out across Valley of the Water, which is really just a side canyon to the much larger Jamison Valley. From here we can hear waterfalls but not quite see them. There are actually something like seven waterfalls within the space of a mile or two in this canyon. Only the first few are reachable on the trail right now as there's been damage due to a landslide.

Soon enough it's down, down, down again.



There were even more steel staircases after these. A few were extremely steep, like stairs aboard a naval ship. So much for my desire to take it easy with lighter hiking today. I am trusting that the falls will make this all worth it!

Speaking of falls....



...There's this small falls splashing directly across the path. This is not Empress Falls, nor is Sylvia Falls (either of the two we've set out to visit today), nor does it have a name or even a marking on the map.

Speaking of things not marked on maps: elevation. We're finding that Australian maps and guideposts are terrible at indicating elevation changes. Basically they don't. And US based map services that do indicate elevation, like AllTrails.com, have wildly inaccurate data here. This trail has already involved more elevation change than we were led to believe. With my sprained/pulled ankle muscle I expressed concern.

"We can turn back now if you need," Hawk offered.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," I countered. I'd come too far to give up now. I'd play through the pain. Then I thought of an even more apt aphorism for my determination: There is no 'back', only forward.

In beauty I walk, forward.

Stay tuned for some amazing waterfalls... yes, forward of here. 😂

Update: Three beautiful waterfalls on the trail ahead.

Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, and More

Australia Travelog #27
Valley of the Waters, NSW - Fri, 29 Dec 2023, 10:30am

The first part of our hike down into Valley of the Waters was not exactly fun. The sky was gray, casting a pall over everything. And there was lots of descent— which not only ached my injured ankle going down but made me dread the pain I'd endure climbing back up. That cast a further pall over things.

The pall of pain I couldn't do much about except grit my teeth in determination. There is no "back", only forward.

As for the pall of the gray sky... well, that's actually good for visiting waterfalls. The dimmer sky creates a more intimate atmosphere down underneath the tree canopy. Moisture on the leaves from fog or light rain makes everything glisten. And the dimmer, more even light from the overcast sky makes waterfall photography more vibrant. ...That sounds paradoxical; dimmer equals more vibrant? It's because, technically, the dimmer light makes it easier to capture the the contrast of the scene with a camera's limited range of brightness sensitivity.

Now about those waterfalls....



Empress Falls (above) was the nominal star of the trip. She's the tallest on today's trek, with the upper set of cascades being about 80' tall. I thought this lower vantage point, showing the wider, shorter lower tier made for better composition. Update: I'll come back to the upper part in my next blog.

Below Empress Falls the trail kept going down, down, down. I wasn't sure how well I could make it back up but... in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. Or, there is no "back", only forward.



I was glad I kept going forward, as Sylvia Falls is quite beautiful. At less than half the height of Empress Falls I found it more enchanting, partly because it's right there next to you. And the gentler flow of water makes it even more intimate.

Trail reports had warned us that the trail is blocked below Sylvia Falls by a landslide. We didn't see any signs of closure of danger, though, so we continued forward.



We found one more falls (above) before the trail was blocked. This falls was much smaller than the others but even more intimate. Intimate, as in you could sit right next to it.

We weren't the only ones here. A family had arrived just ahead of us. An adolescent girl posed for pictures in the water (we waited for her to finish) while her older brother snapped lots of pictures with his DSLR camera.

Keeping Australia's Kids Off Drugs

I noticed the boy balancing his camera on his dad's shoulder. "I see you've got an impromptu tripod there," I ventured. "Are you using with a neutral density filter to take slow-exposure pics?"

"Nah, I need to buy one of those next," he answered.

"What filter size does your lens take?" I asked, seeing already that it was likely the same as mine. Once we confirmed it was the same size, I offered him my 6-stop ND filter (some technical discussion in this blog and another blog it links to) to try shooting some silky water pics. He enjoyed capturing several frames and then passed the filter back to me. Well, if he got some Amazon gift certificates for Christmas, I know one thing he might want to buy now. 😅 There's an old saying, "If you want to keep your kids away from drugs, get them interested in photography. Then they'll never have money left for drugs!" 🤣

Update: On the way back up we saw an amazing sight— climbers rappelling down the face of Empress Falls!