It’s hard to resist a bushwalk in the Upper Blue Mountains that offers such delightful landmarks as Dismal Dingle and Camels Hump… Led by Onni Elliott, our small group of five bushwalkers heads down into the scrub from our starting point along Bells Line of Road.
Down Dismal Dingle
There is thick scrub for the initial part of our descent into Dismal Dingle, an offshoot drainage to Claustral Brook.
The terrain gets a little bit easier as the thick undergrowth is replaced by ferns once we reach the flowing creek. Dismal Dingle was named by George Caley in 1804 when he camped next to the creek about halfway into his three week expedition from what is now Richmond; he continued a little further to the top of Mount Banks (which he named) before turning back.
The roughness of the country I found beyond description. I cannot give you a more expressive idea than travelling over the tops of the houses in a town… In speaking of the toil of the journey, exclusive of the danger, I think [I] may safely say, it was the most laborious man ever went to.
George Caley
We follow Dismal Dingle downstream, mostly staying close to the creek as we clamber over a series of obstacles. Perhaps “dismal” is a little unfair an adjective for this place… but I could imagine this term and far worse coming to mind if I was navigating through this deep gully with three weeks of supplies on my back and grumbling convicts who “were heartily sick of the seemingly futile expedition”!
Enormous eucalyptus trees tower above us tryig and reach for the sun above the gully, as we gradually transition to a rainforest environnment.
Soon the towering trees above us are Coachwood, which can grow up to 25m in height, while at the bottom of Dismal Dingle the creek cascades over moss-covered rocks.
It’s more picturesque than dismal, despite the never-ending obctacles that we need to navigate.
Up Claustral Brook to Camels Hump
We soon reach the junction of Dismal Dingle and Claustral Brook where two of our group exit, leaving Onni, Lenka and me to continue the loop. We now head up Claustral Brook; although we don’t see any other bushwalkers for the entire day, this is one of two exit routes for the challenging Claustral Canyon. (Although we are are all wearing canyoning helmets, there are no technical sections on the two parts of Claustral Brook which we are undertaking.)
It’s a very picturesque canyon, and if it was easier to reach it would no doubt see a lot more traffic.
While fairly short in length, it’s slow-going with a few constrictions; the first one is traversed by a narrow, ledge.
The next deep and narrow section of Claustral Brook has a log conveniently wedged in the middle, allowing us to carefully shuffle up getting only wet feet.
I should perhaps add that progress is also slowed by me constantly stopping to take photos, as Onni and Lenka patiently wait for me…
The last obstruction is a large boulder blocking the canyon; again nature has conveniently provided a sturdy “ladder” of tree roots that are used to climb up.
From here the canyon opens up as we continue up Claustral Brook past a tributary creek on the left.
The exit up the side of the gully towards Camels Saddle is not obvious, and there’s an initially some bush-bashing through dense undergrowth…
…but we’re soon on a distinct path that ascends steeply up from Claustral Brook.
We have a break just before reaching Camels Saddle, where a large rock platform above the track offers a view of Mount Banks to the south-west – the last point that Caley got to on his 1804 expedition.
To the north-west is Mount Bell; in the foreground are some Aboriginal axe grinding grooves.
The track drops down towards Camels Saddle, with Camels Hump directly ahead.
From Camels Saddle there are some nice views as we approach Camels Hump, and another set of axe grinding grooves next to the trail.
From a rock platform just below the top of Camels Hump we stop for lunch. Mount Banks stands out prominently to the south-west, while to the south is Mount Strzelecki, Mount Caley and Mount Hay.
From here we leave the Claustral Canyon exit trail behind, as we continue towards Camels Hump. There are interesting, windswept rock formations as we head in a westerly direction, along the side of Camels Hump.
It’s fairly easy walking through grassland below the top of Camels Hump, with some impressive caves and cliffs above us.
Below is the dissected plateau of the Blue Mountains extending to Mount Banks, and Claustral Canyon below which Caley had to negotiate as he tried to follow the ridges to Mount Banks.
We scramble up to the overgrown summit of Camels Hump, before commencing our descent back to Claustral Brook.
We’re soon out of the open grassland (and howling winds) and entering the scrubby lower slopes of Camels Hump, where we pick up a faint pad used by canyoners. (We soon leave this track, as it requires an abseil to reach Claustral Brook – the only non-technical access into Claustral Brook is from near where it meets Dismal Dingle.)
A couple of tape-assisted drops brings us back to the junction of Claustral Brook and Dismal Dingle.
Exit via Claustral Brook
Our route back to the cars now follows the Claustral Canyon exit route, as we follow Claustral Brook downstream.
It’s initially easy walking along the picturesque creek.
Claustral Brook soon becomes more canyon-like, with one slightly awkward clamber as the walls of the creek get taller and narrower.
The best (or worst) section is next, as a short but deep and narrow section of Claustral Brook requires a swim. We strip down to the bare minimum, pack our clothes in dry bags and plunge into the icy water…
There’s a couple more deep wades, but no more swimming as we continue down Claustral Brook.
We’re soon Claustral Canyon exit track, which follows a tributary of Claustral Brook up a steep gully.
For canyoners who’ve just completed Claustral Canyon the exit route is likely an anti-climax, but it’s quite a spectacular climb out through the narrow gully, with soaring Coachwood trees and moss-covered boulders.
As the gully widens, a well-constructed track built in 2020 goes all the way to Bells Line of Road.
It’s a relatively easy end to the walk, with a last look at Mount Banks from the top of the Claustral Canyon Exit Track.
We’re back at our cars at 4:30pm, having taken about 7.5 hours to cover the 9km loop.
Getting to Dismal Dingle and Camels Hump
The starting point for this loop walk is along Bells Line of Road above Dismal Dingle around -33.547720, 150.410029 – there is parking for one two cars here, but no defined trail. The end point is the Claustral Canyon carpark, which is also along Bells of Line Road and has a signsposted trail. If you are not doing a car shuffle, it’s about 1.4km along the road between the start and end points. The start/ebd points are about 16km (15min drive) from Bilpin.
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