Thursday October 13 & Friday October 14, 0km/0mi

Alice Springs NT to Perth WA

I packed up from the hostel, said goodbye to Alex, Dana, and a few other friends I’ve met over the past week. The airport shuttle service is operated by Emu Run (same as the Uluru tour), and since they only have 4 pre-set shuttle times, I had to arrive at the airport an hour earlier than necessary…but it’s only $19! (The taxis are at least twice that). The Alice Springs airport is tiny, and I was thru security in less than 5 minutes. We even got to walk on the tarmac, since they don’t seem to have any jetbridges.

The flight to Perth connected thru Adelaide, so I had 3 hours to occupy myself in that airport. I had a nice first dinner, a chicken and leek pie.

And my 2nd dinner was a delicious fish n chips. I will never tire of fish and chips.

The 4 hour flight to Perth was uneventful, and with the 2.5hour time difference, I landed at 11pm. I spent most of the flight time on my phone, planning out my Bibbulmun food resupplies on various spreadsheets.

I was too tired to figure out the bus system, so I got a taxi to my accomodations at a nearby holiday park (fancy RV campground, kinda like a KOA). Tomorrow morning I will be doing some food shopping, then starting the Bibbulmun in the afternoon!

Wednesday October 12, 3.4km/2.1mi

Kata Tjuta National Park, Anangu Cultural Centre, Uluru National Park (NT)

I had booked a bus tour last week, as I wanted to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Uluru is a massive sandstone monolith in the middle of the “Red Centre” desert, and is sacred to indigenous Australians. The bus picked us up from the hostel 5:55am. Early!

It’s like a 5-hour/400km drive to Uluru, so there was plenty of time to stare out the window.

We made a few stops along the way, the first was for a breakfast buffet at Erldunda, the only sign of civilisation we have seen in 2 hours.

After eating way too many eggs and bacon, I wandered through the yard to see the Emus.

Our second stop was at a little rest area which had nice view of a nearby salt flat.

The road stretched into the distance, it’s the only sealed (paved) road for hundreds of kilometres.

At the break the driver asked us what we wanted to eat for lunch (beef, chicken, vegetarian), so of course I chose chicken.

Our first stop was at Kata Tjuta, to the Walpa Gorge area.

It was only a 1.2km walk (each way), and it felt good to stretch the legs after that long bus ride.

Getting closer…

The size of the rock walls is not well captured by these photos, the felt like they were squeezing the path between them.

The path ended at the narrowest point, which was probably only 20m wide. I stayed there it looked around for at least 15 minutes. Surprisingly only 20 other people showed up, even though we had 50 people on the bus. Talking to some of them later, they said it was too far to walk, haha! I got to enjoy watching the aquatic wildlife in this little pond, all to myself!

I walked back out to the parking lot, and had 20 minutes to spare before our departure time. The long view of Kata Tjuta…there are 36 redrock domes, though only a few are visible from here.

Next, we went to the Cultural Centre, which explains the importance of these areas to the aboriginal people, and their creation history. Photography was forbidden, so if you want to see, go visit yourself, ha!

We drove a few minutes over to Uluru, seeing it from a few sides as the road wrapped around the huge monolith.

First stop was the Mutitjulu Waterhole, a sacred place.

I thought the benches along the path were cool!

Along the short 500m walk, there were some very old pictographs (not petroglyphs!) on the rocks.

The tour guide explained what some of the more common symbols meant, along with a creation story of Uluru. He was a little hard to understand with his Indian accent, but I had downloaded the park brochure on my phone to help.

The water hole. It was very peaceful here, only the sounds of splashing water.

During the walk out to the carpark, the sun decided to peek out from the clouds.

Our last stop at Uluru was the Mala walk, which passed by several areas used during ceremonial times.

More cool pictographs.

I tried to get a photo of the entire rock, but it’s just too big!

Even after walking away for a few hundred meters … still doesn’t fit in the frame.

This shows the main part of Uluru, and there is a faint path on the right side of the rock. Climbing the rock had always been discouraged for cultural and environmental reasons.

And it 2019, it was legally closed to the public. There were too many rescues and safety incidents.

The bus picked everyone up, and we drove 10 minutes to a nice area for our BBQ dinner. Finally, I was able get a photo with the whole of Uluru!

The group was mostly older couples who kept to themselves, but I had some fun conversations with a guy from France, a young couple from Toronto, and a set of twins from Auckland. The BBQ pork, beans, and salad were a little spicy and delicious. They even had beer and wine!

I enjoyed a beer in front of a massive 348m (1142ft) tall sandstone monolith.

We departed at 7pm, and I mostly slept on the ride home. I was barely awake when the bus dropped us off at midnight, and I went straight to bed. What a cool place!

Tuesday October 11, 17.5km/10.9mi

Wallaby Gap Campsite (209.6/648m) to Telegraph Station/Eastern Terminus (223.5/592m) (NT) +3.6 hike to Alice Springs

I was awake at 5:30, so I could have an early start and beat the expected heat that was forecast today. I had packed up my campsite 20 minutes later, which apparently is about what time the sky starts to brighten. Sunrises are sweet.

I hiked 15 minutes and found myself on the last highpoint of the trail, Euro Ridge. The sunrise still looks glorious.

An hour later, I crossed some train tracks (I didn’t even stop and put down my windows). I believe this is the south -north passenger line that runs from Adelaide to Darwin.

Less than a km later, I crossed under the A87 highway that also runs Adelaide to Darwin.

This trail makes everything feel so polished with its signs for every little thing! Geoff Moss Bridge.

I noticed some weird tracks in the trail, like a dashed line on a road. When I looked it up online later, it turns out these were kangaroo tracks. Specifically, the kangaroo’s tail drag-marks as it hopped.

The trail began to follow the old telegraph line, which existed from 1872-1932, and is the reason Alice Springs became a hub for the region.

Only 1km to go! These markers were appreciated most of the time, but sometimes I just wanted to hike and forget where I was for more than 13-minute intervals.

Just before the finish, there was an old cemetery where like only 4 people were buried, and the sign explained that 2 of them died of tuberculosis. Sad…and odd trail placement.

The Finish! I hiked 223km on the Larapinta, including side hikes it was more like 235km.

The plaque up close. It’s a very new trail! Established 2002.

The final trailhead kiosk /infoboard.

There was a nice 3.6km concrete walkway to downtown Alice Springs, called the riverside walk. It looked pretty new, and I only saw two bikers on it.

The Riverside Walk, intuitively, followed the river. The Todd river is dry most of the year.

The path was very nice, and surprisingly, the usual morning clouds hadn’t dissipated yet, keeping the temperature rather comfortable.

This was something interesting I’d noticed all week, but didn’t get a photo until now. Most of the roads here don’t have bridges, but rather go directly thru the riverbed. It’s such a dry climate, that the rivers only have water in them a few days a year. And when they are full of water, there are roadside depth gages to help drivers decide if they should drive thru the water (depends on vehicle height). Note that there is still a bridge for pedestrians, so they don’t have to get their feet wet!

I walked directly to The Locals Cafe, as I was starving. Plus it was only 10am, and I can’t check-in to the hostel until 1pm. The salad hit the spot, the bacon was a nice meaty cut, and the fruit smoothie was legendary. I was in a happy food coma.

I dropped my backpack in the hostel’s storage closet, and walked around downtown for a couple hours. I had to buy this soda pop to find out how it tasted….terrible. Like mixing cream soda with pickle juice. Blech.

I checked in to the hostel, got a shower and laundry done, and had a short nap. The afternoon flew by, and it was dinnertime! So, I went to the only place open on a Tuesday that served a kangaroo steak.

I ordered it medium -well, not knowing how it should be cooked. Pretty good, but expensive so I won’t do it again. Altogether it was a great day and finish to the Larapinta Trail!

Tomorrow, I’ll be relaxing on a bus tour to Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park!

Monday October 10, 27.0km/16.8mi

Mulga Camp (182.6/687m) to Wallaby Gap Campsite (209.6/648m) (NT)

I naturally woke up at 5:45, I guess I’m all caught up on sleep! After packing up my tent, I walked over to the picnic table and noticed the moonset!

A few minutes down the trail, and I saw the sunrise too.

Arenge means “euro”

I cruised along on an easy trail all morning, looking around at the sights and ridges around me. After a couple of hours I came to a trail junction for the Woodland trail. It’s a 16km interpretive loop trail that starts at Simpsons Gap.

There wasn’t much notable to mention all morning, just more easy trail .

Finally, I spotted Simpsons gap in the distance. It’s another gorge cut through the mountains range, and like most of the others, it is accessible by road and is popular with tourists.

When I entered Simpsons Gap, the trail weirdly went under a roofed six-sided shelter.

Near the parking lot there were bathrooms, picnic tables, BBQs, and this cool cell phone reception dish.

It was early, just after 10am, so I decided to do the quick 10-minute side trail to Simpsons Gap.

I’m fascinated by some of the symbols on the sign. Like, who takes cats to a park? Are those two stick figures in a tug-of-war? The answers would have to wait…onward!

I walked as far as I could into the gap before I was stopped by a larger pool of water.

This was another gorge where the signs indicated no swimming was allowed. Bummer. After a nice cool morning, it’s hot now! I soaked my feet in the cold water and then hiked out.

Only 10km to Wallaby Gap! I planned on camping at Wallaby Gap tonight, which would leave only 13km for tomorrow to the finish. Perfect, since tomorrow is supposed to be brutally hot and I want to be done by 10am.

It was only 11am, so I hiked an hour to the top of a hill and had lunch in the shade up there.

I finished my lunch and now it was quite warm, like 29C. But it was only 7km to camp, so I slowly hiked onward, and it definitely helped that the trail was flat and easy to hike. I saw some tracks in the trail, I think a snake had just been here. Wildlife!

There were a couple of short side trails along the way, leading to what were probably dried up springs. Scorpion spring sounded especially unappealing.

I pulled into Wallaby Gap just after 2pm and sat in the shade of the shelter for awhile.

It was a weird wooden octagonal-shaped shelter, unlike any of the others I’d seen so far. It didn’t have the usual storage cabinets to protect your food from rodents, or USB chargers. But it was much cooler in the shade….so I laid on one of the benches and took a nap!

I woke up an hour later and decided to go check out the water hole in Wallaby Gap.

It was only a 5 minute walk, but wasn’t really worth it. The water was mostly dried up, and what remained was full of green scum.

I wandered back to the campsite and saw some large lizards crawling thru the rafters of the shelter! More wildlife! I enticed them to the opposite side of the shelter as me, as I didn’t want them dropping onto my head. I sat down and read some of my book, and eventually I started making dinner.

The temperatures really cooled down as soon as the sun went behind the hill. Today’s high temperature was “only” 29C, tomorrow is supposed to be 36C (human body temp is 37!)… glad I’m finishing early tomorrow!

Sunday October 9, 24.8km/15.4mi

Standley Chasm campground (158.2/763m) to Mulga Camp (182.6/687m) (NT) +0.4 Standley Chasm

I woke up late and went over to the cafe, which opened at 8am. I ordered a toastie (a grilled sandwich, in this case ham and cheese) and juice and enjoyed them while I updated my journal and figured out some travel logistics. I made sure to pack up my tent by 8:30 (that’s when the sprinklers come on), and I hiked out at 9am…a very late start for me. I decided to take the side trail into Standley Chasm.The path was cool with lots of shade and greenery.

The Chasm itself was still in shade (it only gets sunlight 90 minutes a day), and there were a few tourists walking about.

I backtracked a few hundred meters to the trail junction to the Larapinta. “Experienced walkers only”… I wonder how many tourists wandered down the wrong track.I immediately knew I was no longer on the tourist trail, when it climbed 50 meters in the first 10 minutes. Looking back down that what I had just climbed up.The trail then descended back into the gorge, which was now more of a valley, and followed a series of dry stream beds. Some of them were really fun, made of smooth rock, and required a little scrambling. Looking down:

I had just turned the corner around a boulder, and this enormous lizard was waiting for me. He didn’t seem too eager to move out of the way, so I had to go around. He looked about a meter long.

The trail soon left the stream beds and once again became a proper trail. I then had a decision to make… High route or low route?

I went with the high route, which is definitely more effort, but should get me good views and a nice breeze. The climb up was certainly very steep, and kept switchbacking up against a rock wall.

These flowers seem to be thriving in their little crack in the cliff….Good for them!Once I got to the top, it was as I expected, a very nice ridgewalk with some wind.

It only lasted a couple kilometers, and then I headed down. Down, down, down….Once I was back down in the valley, the trail cruised most of the way to Jay Creek campsite.The last km before the campsite was in a sandy wash.I stopped in at Jay Creek campsite to refill my water bottles and sit down for a few minutes. There were some flies buzzing around so I didn’t stay very long. (This has been the only spot on the trail so far where I’ve had to deal with flies, despite warnings from several people that they were all over the trail). It was 10 km to the next campsite at Mulga camp, which only took 2 hours, because the trail was so nice.There was one little spot where I had to walk through a wash, at Spring Gap.

Surprisingly it even had water! There was a sign warning not to drink the water, as it had been polluted by camels.I also saw hoofprints in the sand a few minutes later. HmmI got to Mulga camp at 5:45 pm, so this was a pretty short day, since I didn’t start till 9 am. It had most of the usual things – toilet, water tank, picnic tables. I’m a sucker for a good picnic table. Dinnertime!I setup my tent in a very nice soft sandy spot, with the sun setting on one side…And the (almost?) full moon rising on the other….I think the moon is full tomorrow night, which is also my last night on this trail!

Saturday October 8, 29.3km/18.2mi

Hugh Junction campsite (128.9/800m) to Standley Chasm campground (158.2/763m) (NT)

I packed up my tent by headlamp, and hiked out at 6am. It was an easy uphill walk, and felt good in the morning chill.

This was the first of three climbs today, and it was by far the easiest. It was only 6:30am, and the sun still hadn’t come up yet. And with all the wind, it was chilly at the saddle! After a quick descent down to a valley, I went right back uphill to another ridge.

This climb was quite a bit longer, I think 300m/1000ft up. And it was somehow even windier. But it was amazing to walk along a narrow ridge with steep drops on either side! At the highest point on the ridge was a sign, everything on this trail is so well signed!

The ridge-walking continued for another few km.

And then I saw something in the middle of the trail…a hat!

Some hiker ahead of me must’ve lost it yesterday (there was nobody hiking the opposite direction for days). I clipped it to my pack to bring to Standley Chasm campground, maybe someone will claim it. Eventually I descended off the ridge…

…and into Spencer Gorge!

It’s a 2km section that travels thru a rocky, talus-y, deep gorge with lots of greenery.

My ankles didn’t enjoy the rocky gorge, but I sure had fun with it, kinda feels like parkour! I had a nice break at Birthday Junction campsite, refilled my water, and even charged my phone a bit!

The next hour of hiking was amazing, traveling thru a wide sunny valley.

Eventually the valley ended, and I crossed a sandy wash to begin the next climb.

This climb was very long, I think it climbed 500m in 3km, and it became rather steep at the end. By 11:30am, I had reached the top! I was glad to finish my last big climb before the day became hot.

Many of the summits and ridges here have these funny signs.

I spent 45 minutes there, enjoying lunch, the views, and 4G reception, haha. The next hour was another epic ridgewalk, I was hoping it would never end.

Occasionally I would be distracted from all the views by a pretty alpine wildflower. These things are hardy little plants.

Eventually, the ridge-walking came to an end, and I had one last saddle to pass thru before my final descent to camp.

Once I had hiked over to the saddle, I saw they gave it a name, haha!

What does the saddle reveal? Maybe new parents have their gender reveal parties up here?!

And then the trail went down, down, down…

…all the way to the sealed (paved) road at Standley Chasm. Yes, even the remote Larapinta Trail has a short bit of road walking.

A few minutes later, I was at Standley Chasm.

It was only 3:15pm, but I was hungry so I walked straight to the cafe and ordered an early dinner.

While I was waiting for my food to cook, I enjoyed an appetizer.

I love milkshakes, but when I received this one, I realized it didn’t contain any ice cream. I asked the staff if this was an oversight or on purpose…. sadly, on purpose. So it’s just a glass of frothy milk with some flavour syrup …which of course is NOT a milkshake. (New Zealand did this too). When will people learn?! When the food arrived, it was excellent.

The potato wedges were seasoned with some addictive mixture of spices, and the red chile dipping sauce was heavenly. And I tried something new, a kangaroo burger! It was very lean and rich tasting, I rather enjoyed it.

I paid for my camping and entry fee ($18), as this is private land, not a public park. It’s run by the local indigenous tribe, and it was awesome to support their business. I walked over to the grassy area to setup my tent, and I met 4 other Larapinta walkers who are heading westbound (the opposite direction of me). They are all from Sydney and one is originally from Wellington. We spent much of the evening sitting around the picnic table discussing hiking stuff and various Australian attractions. I had a nice shower, and even did some laundry in the shower, and went to bed feeling all clean. It looks like my next shower will be in 3 more days, when I finish this trail…

Friday October 7, 32.7km/20.3mi

Ellery Creek Campground (96.2/668m) to Hugh Junction campsite (128.9/800m) (NT)

It was so hot last night that I didn’t put the rainfly on my tent, but at 4am it started to rain and I had to hurry and put it on. Ugh. I went back to sleep for 2 more hours and was up at 6am when the sky was bright. My first task for the day was to fix my right foot, which was starting to rub raw from the poorly designed shoe insole.

I taped up my foot with leukotape, and bent the insole into the correct shape. But it didn’t want to stay in that shape, so I heated it up with my stove and then it stayed. I put on my shoes and hiked out into the sunrise.

It was a wonderfully cloudy morning and I was enjoying the cooler temps. I climbed over a saddle, and saw the mountain range to the north that I was aiming for today.

Shortly after I came to the trail junction where the northern alternate rejoins the Larapinta.

By mid morning the clouds were starting to clear.

The trail was so much nicer today, and I was able to just walk and get lost in my thoughts without having to pay attention to much. Before I knew it, I was at the Rocky gully campsite, which was my first water source for the day.

I dropped my pack at the junction and jogged the 200 meters over to the water tank. Mission accomplished I continued onwards, under a completely blue sky.

At one of the viewpoints, I found something unusual… I think it’s a bra padding. Ha!

An hour later I stopped for lunch at Ghost gum flat.

It had a nice little table under a shady tree!

I arrived to the Hugh Gorge shelter pretty early, it was only 3pm. Just as I walked up a ranger was also driving up the maintenance 4wd track to check on the shelter. It was fun talking to him, he’s been to the US a few times and we discussed Colorado and Utah a bit. I saw dark clouds moving closer so I decided to stay put for awhile. Might as well charge my phone…

And fill my water bottles.

The storm moved through quickly and was intense for only 10 minutes.

I figured since it was so early, I would aim for the next camping spot, so I packed up and left the shelter at 4:30 and as soon as I did, I saw a rainbow!

The highlight of the day was the hike through Hugh gorge.

It was about 4 km of walking through a gorge, without a well-defined trail.

Sometimes it was walking in a dry wash, sometimes scrambling upon some rocks to get around a deep pool, and in one spot actually having to swim.

The particular spot proved to be quite a puzzle, as my trail notes say it should be easily waded waist-deep. However no such shallow crossing was to be found. Perhaps the winter rainstorms had re-shaped the gravel bars on the bottom? Eventually I decided to float my backpack across on my air mattress, and do the short 5 meter swim.

Overall it was a pretty fun section, and it reminded me of hiking/wading up Salmon Creek with my friends in high school. The views of the gorge walls were spectacularly red.

The trail leaves the gorge at Hugh Junction, and returns to dry land.

It was 6pm so I decided to camp just after this junction. I setup my tent on a gravel bar, and made my dinner, which was a Turkish lamb stew (I had grabbed it from the hostel’s hikerbox).

My goal tomorrow is to make it 29km to Standley Chasm, which is a tourist attraction with a campground, a restaurant, and showers. The restaurant closes at 4:30pm so I’m motivated to wake up early. And I’m glad I hiked the extra 4km today from the Hugh Gorge shelter! Tomorrow’s elevation profile looks… intimidating.

Thursday October 6, 37.3km/23.2mi

Unnamed valley campsite (63.1/835m) to Ellery Creek Campground (96.2/668m) (NT) +0.4 Serpentine Dam + 1.6 Counts Point + 2.2 Serpentine Gorge & Lookout

I knew it was going to be hot today (34C) so I got a very early start at 6am.

I cruised on easy trail for 5km, and then I got to the much hyped Inarlanga Pass.

The steep rock walls provide shade most of the time, and there is a different climate in the pass. Things are greener and wetter.

After a couple more km, I got to the Serpentine Chalet Dam campsite. It had been 29km since the last water source, so I was definitely looking forward to refilling my bottles and drinking a liter on the spot. I dropped my pack and ran up the short side trail to see the dam.

There was a big climb coming up, and I wanted to get it done before the day got hot…so I didn’t linger at the shelter. The shelter also marks the boundary between trail sections (there are 13 sections).

After an hour of flat walking, I spent another hour climbing up to the ridge.

It was starting to get warm but there was a very strong wind which kept the temperature manageable.

When I got to the top of the ridge there was a junction point, and I decided to take the side trail to see Coutts Point. But first I took a break under that shady tree….and had a snack and updated this journal.

I dropped my pack under the tree, and jogged over to Counts point, and on the way I almost stepped on a lizard!

The view from Counts point was looking back on what I had just hiked. There was even a bench!

I jogged back to my pack and then hiked the rest of the ridge walk for an hour.

I made it down to the next shelter at 12:30pm and tried to have lunch, but it was so hot that I had no appetite.

Each shelter has a cabinet where people can store their food to keep it safe from critters, and the doors are always covered in different native artwork. Cool.

I needed to cool down, so I dropped my pack in the shelter, and made the 500m stroll over to Serpentine gorge.

You’re not allowed to swim in the gorge because it’s a sacred site, but the other people there said it’s fine to dip your feet! After cooling off in the shade of the gorge, I decided to walk up to the lookout point, another short side trail.

I strolled back to the shelter and ate a little bit of food while staying cool in the shade. I waited until 3pm to get moving again, since there’s usually more shade after that time. The first hour of hiking went smoothly on a nice trail… and then the trail went to shit. The bad section started off being very rocky…

And then, inexplicably, the trail decided it needed to go over every single bump and hill along the way. The first bump was called “Trig point”, which is a weird name for a hill.

The trail went directly over another 7 or 8 PUDS (Pointless Ups & Downs), all of which were composed of some very sharp dolomite rock. Both the ascents and descents were steep and slow going.

That 5km took me an hour and a half…eesh. I was so happy to be done with that crappy section of trail. I got to the Ellery Creek Campground just after 6pm and went straight to the swimming area for a refreshing dip as the sun was setting.

I dried so quickly in this desert climate, and by the time I had finished setting up my tent and making dinner I was completely dry. (But not bone dry…bones are wet!). Even after the sun went down it was still very warm, like 27C. To illustrate, there are two other families at the campground, and all of them are walking around in their underwear. (Or maybe that’s just an Australian thing?)
With all the side trips today, it was my longest day so far, so I’m giving my sore feet some ibuprofen tonight!

Wednesday October 5, 29.6km/18.4mi

Ormiston Lookout (36.0/716m) to Unnamed valley campsite (63.1/835m) (NT) +2.5 Ghost Gum loop (NT)

I was awake and sunrise and was looking forward to some early morning hiking in the cooler temps.

The first 5km with by quickly, with some gently rolling terrain and nice views.

I stopped at the Ellery campsite and refilled my water bottles. All these campsites are so built up and look pretty new.

I saw the first Larapinta trail marker (all the markers so far have been generic).

The Ellery Gorge is a big tourist attraction, with car campsites, showers, a cafe, and a swimming area. There are a few loop hikes you can do, I chose to do a shorter 2.5km hike called the Ghost Gum walk. Based on the sign, I knew I was going to love it. “Swimming through cold water required”.

The hike started off with a few hundred stairs up to a viewpoint.

You could also see down into the gorge.

This hike is named for the ghost gum tree, which is a white tree that I think is related to eucalyptus.

I continued around the loop, which descended into the gorge.

As promised, there was some swimming required, but I found a crossing spot where it never got more than chest deep. The rest of the water is 10-15m deep.

I made it back to the campground area at 9:45 and had a quick shower. By the time I was done the cafe had just opened at 10am, and I ordered a fruit smoothie, a meat pie, and soda pop.

I thought this sign on the cafe was funny. Dingos!

I hiked out just before 11am, and it felt very hot. The next couple of hours went through some monotonous terrain that was in full hot sun. I think the temperature today was 32C.

After a steep climb, I was on top of a ridge for the next hour. It was a slow section of trail due to all the rocks.

It also had excellent views of Mount Giles, which I think is like the 4th highest peak in the NT.

And the views in the other directions:

I loved seeing this sign on the highpoint of the ridge…3G cell signal! (Which I’m told is outdated, since they have retired the 3G signal spectrum). I have Telstra service here, which had a nice 4G signal!

Far to the south, I could see someone doing a controlled burn.

Just as I was about to leave the ridge, 2 hikers came up, Emily and Stefan. We swapped trail beta for a while, poked fun at some of the silly things Americans do, and took summit photos of each other. I said goodbye, and descended 200m down, off the ridge and into the valley. I passed by a spot called Waterfall Gorge, which is confusing since it is almost always dry.

I’ve been seeing these tall dirt towers for a few days now, and I finally found out what they were. They are built by termites, who eat the tall spinifex grasses. Neat!

The last 6km of the day was uneventful, and was fairly nice hiking after the sun went behind the hillside.

After 5:30pm the temperatures are perfect for hiking, and I cruised along until I got to a campsite on the side of the trail at 7pm. I’m a little low on water, but it’s only 7km to the next water. I plan on starting at 6am tomorrow when it’s still nice & cool, so I can conserve water.

Tuesday October 4, 28.9km/18.0mi

Redbank Campsite (7.1/688m) to Ormiston Lookout (36.0/716m) (NT)

I woke up later than usual, I think I’m still catching up on sleep from all the travel. As I sat there and ate breakfast, I realized how incredibly loud all the birds are here. I packed up and was on the trail at 7:45am, and within a few minutes I had come to a sign for another campsite. The infrastructure for this trail is really well built!

There are also markers every kilometer that countdown the distance for each section. It’s kind of cool seeing how far you have to go, without needing any fancy apps or taking out your map.

The trail was pretty flat and easy the whole morning, with views mostly like these:

There seems to be tons of wildflowers here, of which I know none of the names yet.

I arrived to the Rocky bar campsite a little after 10am, refilled my water, and had a nice snack.

Surprisingly, there were bees living inside the water tap, so that was a shocking moment. Each of these campsites seems to have a toilet, a water tank, and some picnic tables… Its pretty nice! Shortly after leaving the campsite, I walked up a cool sandy wash.

Walking in deep sand is always a little slow going but it was nice to be in the shade of the trees. Just after leaving the wash I found another surprise… Some animal had forgotten their leg!

I have no idea what animal it used to belong to, and the only prey mammals I’m aware of out here are kangaroos. After this the trail started to climb, and thankfully the clouds moved into provide some shade. Halfway up the climb I looked at the view behind me and saw Mt. Sonder.

Once I was on top of the ridge the sun came back out and it got really hot, thank goodness for my chrome umbrella. I had a nice lunch on the top of the ridge and did some tasks on my phone, like uploading yesterday’s journal and booking my next plane ticket. The views coming down the ridge definitely got my attention… I have so far down to go!

At times, the trail was cut into the hillside, and there was a steep drop off on one side.

Once I was back down on the valley floor, the trail was smooth and easy, and I cruised through the nice grassland.

The day was really hot now, and even under my shady umbrella, I was looking forward to cooling off in the Finke River. When I got there, however, it was drying up.

It looked gross for swimming, and I certainly didn’t want to drink it either. In another 500 meters there was the nice Finke River campsite.

This campsite seemed especially modern and new. It had a huge covered area, picnic tables, sleeping platforms, and even USB chargers!

It was 5pm, so I figured I should make dinner here before hiking a few more miles to nice campsite on top of a ridge. While I was making my dinner a group of 4 walked in, they were the first people I had seen all day. They were all locals to Alice Springs, and they were walking a section of this trail westbound (the opposite direction of me). We swapped pieces of advice on the upcoming trail, and I even asked them where to buy packets of tuna. They are one of the foods I usually bring on hikes but they seem impossible to find in this country. I left the campsite at 6pm, knowing I had about 4km to cover and sunset was at 7 pm. I was walking faster, but a strange noise stopped me in my tracks. It was this bird, which I think is called a spinifex pigeon.

Spinifex is the sharp grass that grows everywhere around here, especially along the sides of the trail. It’s not as sharp as most desert plants, but you certainly wouldn’t want to bushwhack through it. I arrived at my intended campsite just after 7pm and quickly threw up my tent in the dwindling sunlight.

I’m seeing lightning very far to the north, I hope those storms don’t move down here, otherwise I will be moving my tent in the middle of the night…