Rocky Creek Dome Road to Coramba Road

Copyright 2023 Brian Cork All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. To request permissions contact the publisher at: nymboidaguidebook@gmail.com For sales and guidebook updates, visit www.nymboidaguidebook.com ISBN: 978-0-646-87871-3 First paperback edition September 2023. Brian Cork Printed by Lismore City Printery, Lismore, Australia
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A tight, tree-choked section that features some fun drops and one of the best, runnable waterfalls on the plateau.
Rocky Creek crosses the Waterfall Way near the top of the Dorrigo Mountain, passes under the road to the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre (where a cool drop can be seen below the road) and enters the Bielsdown River below Dangar Falls.
This trip starts off with a bang. After a few warm-up strokes, the first rapid (just downstream of the bridge) is a vertical, five metre drop over some cool basalt columns. What would otherwise be a nice run is somewhat compromised by the masses of privet trees that have invaded the watercourse, leaving tight, technical tree tunnels with mostly grade II+ rapids. There are several nice, harder rapids along the way though, including two (700-800m into the trip) where care must be taken on the lead-up. The second of those rapids consists of a stepped slot (un-run at the time of this book) followed by an amazing 8m drop - AM/FM Falls, that drops into a large plunge pool. This rapid/drop combo can be partially or fully portaged with some difficulty on river-left.
The lower portion of the trip tends to open up somewhat, with some more fun rapids until the Bielsdown is reached which is fairly flat at that point.
Popularity:★★
Quality:★★★
Reliability:★★
Grade:IV
Length9km (8km to the Bielsdown Junction plus another 1km down to Coramba Road)
Elevation and average gradient730m at put-in, 640m at take-out, 10m/km average
Paddling time:3 hours
Gauge and level:Visual from the put-in. If you can paddle over the first basalt pillar drop without stalling, there should be enough water for paddling the rest of the section. As a rough guide, this would correspond with a level on the Bielsdown@Charlstd electronic gauge of about 1.5m.
Put-in:The bridge on Dome Road, which is the road to the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre.
Take-out:Bridge where Coramba Road crosses the Bielsdown River, about 4km north of Dorrigo.
Shuttle:Easy 2WD on sealed roads. 10 minutes each way via Waterfall Way, the Dorrigo Bakery and Coramba Road.
Maps:Map 11 Bielsdown River and Wild Cattle Creek
Dorrigo 1:25,000