Located between Picton and Bargo, and just a 75 minute drive from Sydney lies the small town of Tahmoor. And on the outskirts of this pleasant little community, you’ll find a stunning natural wonder known as Tahmoor Canyon which features the impressively sized Mermaid Pool and perhaps lesser known but equally beautiful Little Mermaid Pool.
While the main attraction here is of course, the lovely natural environment surrounding you, there’s a bonus…. Or should I say 4 bonuses, being that you’ll have the opportunity to hunt down 4 quality caches whilst enjoying a fantastic bushwalk which offers incredible scenic views along the way.
To get there: navigate towards Tahmoor and then head out along Rockford Rd. After you pass over the Old Rockford Bridge, turn onto Charlies Point Road and park your geo-mobile in the rustic carpark. At the end of this, you’ll find a trailhead which leads you back under the bridge. The tracks leading out to Mermaid Pool and the canyon are well marked, and you can find printed maps in letterboxes (no – not that type!) along the way.
First on offer is the super fun Whereigo cache 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑾𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇’ (𝑮𝑪5𝑿𝑬𝑷3) by 𝑵𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔22. Do you have what it takes to help the local law enforcement save the village folk?! Arooooooo! Careful, this one bites back!
If you live to tell the tale, continue down this undulating trail to find one of just 3 remaining 𝑻𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔 caches still in action: 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒅 (𝑮𝑪56𝑨𝑩). While you won’t find a blender to make mango smoothies, what you will find at this historic May 2002 cache are breathtaking views of Mermaid Pool. You’ve got to hand it to the guy – he knew how to pick a cache location.
If you haven’t yet succumbed to your mango smoothie craving, continue on along the trail and you’ll find yourself awestruck by the views to ‘𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅’ (𝑮𝑪2𝑱𝑨𝑵𝑮). If you manage to tear yourself away from the magnificent vista in front of you, you’ll have your work cut out for you trying to spot this very well camo’d 2010 cache by 𝑳𝒊𝒎𝒆𝑺𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒓𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒌. Good luck!
Now… the 3 caches we’ve discussed along this track so far are all rated a 2.5 – 3 for terrain. The trail to these could be considered moderate, and shouldn’t be a problem for experienced bushwalkers. The final cache in this series ‘𝑷𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌- 𝑹𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 2’ (𝑮𝑪5𝑴𝑪𝑬𝑮) by 𝒄𝒂𝒛_𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 does step it up a notch with a 3.5 rating. It was definitely the most challenging cache to reach out of the 4, but it was also this intrepid reporter’s favourite of the day. The walk along the gorge was nothing short of stunning. The route we chose took us past Little Mermaid Pool which drew cries of ‘Wow!’ from our party. Mother Nature…. she’s pretty cool hey. If you fancy a dip on your journey this is the place to do it.
So… If you like a good bushwalk and spectacular views to go with your cache – check out Tahmoor Canyon!
