7 days to walk the Larapinta

A last minute flurry of decisions, organising, and purchasing saw Cam and I flying up to Alice Springs with a 7 day window to walk the 220km from Redbank Gorge back in to Alice Springs. 

A few big stars had aligned to make this trip happen, namely me managing to get leave from work at short notice, Po’s mum being in town to bravely take up child-minding of the twins, and Po’s dad still being in Alice and free to help us out with transport and a food drop. A week before leaving I had suggested the Larapinta to Cam, and that was that – the plan was formed. 

We had to cover some distance so it was fast and light in terms of gear and food. Freeze-dried dinners made up all our dinners, and our gear selection kept our pack weights (dry) down at around 10kg. We had 6L of water carrying capacity anticipating some fairly warm (~31deg) weather and dry camps. 

Thursday the 10^th we found each other in the airport in Sydney and boarded our final flight to the Red Centre. Dave met us at the airport and after a little running around town for lunch, water and a replacement waist buckle, we were pootling down Namatjira Drive with the West MacDonnells shadowing us on our right. We had a quick repack at Redbank Gorge, agreed with Dave on a food drop time/place, and were off walking by about 530pm. 

Day 0 / 11.8km

We walked a quick 12km in the cool of the evening, and lay out our bags at Rocky Gap for our coldest night of the trip – dipping to about 3deg pre-dawn.

Day 1 / 38.6km

The next day was one of two longest days – almost 40km saw us climb over Hilltop Lookout, pass through Finke River and get to Ormiston Gorge for lunch. After a good break, but with no sign of the afternoon cooling off, we continued on, cresting Heavitree Range on dusk. Head torches on, we lay out the tarp for the night at Waterfall Gorge.

Day 2 / 26.7km

Our second full day saw us walking the rest of the beautiful valleys of Heavitree to Serpentine Chalet Dam. It was a hot day so the lure of a swim in the dam at lunch was our carrot. Now while not technically incorrect – there indeed was a dam – it was more akin to a cold scummy pool populated with scorpion schwanger-bugs. But a swim is a swim. A few more kms saw us pass Counts Point and finish the day for a proper swim at Serpentine Gorge. This ended up being our only night sleeping on one of the 4 new trail shelter platforms, shared with a nice couple from Scotland and some characters from Melbourne.

Day 3 / 29.1km

Another hot day was forecast so we got an early start and made Ellery Creek by about 10. It was an easy decision to while away the hot hours of the day here – swimming, reading, and chatting to the tourists who endlessly walked down to photograph the beautiful waterhole. We met some nice people (a young couple who gifted us some fresh snow peas) and some dickheads (a guy with a drone, and a drum-and-bass loving git): fun for all! Once the day showed signs of cooling down, we were on our way to Rocky Gully, 6 hours after arriving at Ellery.

Day 4 / 15.9km

We only had a short distance on flat terrain before our rendezvous with Dave and the food drop, but faced with another hot day we got going at our usual time. We made Hugh Gorge by about 10am and after some wishful searching for a shady waterhole in which to set up in, we settled for the small rectangular patch of shade under the information sign. Luckily Dave had been watching our Spot progress so we only waited 30 minutes before the low drone of the 4wd could be heard in the distance.

Day 5 / 23.7km

The sections between Hugh Gorge and Standley Chasm rated pretty highly for us – rocky bluffs, tight gorges, broad valleys, steep climbing and rocky descending. Very enjoyable walking which made the day tick by quickly. We had a great lunchtime siesta under the shade of a large Ghost Gum at Birthday Waterhole, and managed to time the end the day perfectly, summiting Brinkley Bluff right on sunset. With good phone reception we called home and got the exciting news that Abbott had been ousted. Winner!

Day 6 / 35.4km

We ‘woke’ after a pretty sleepless night atop Brinkleys, having been buffeted from all directions throughout the night. Never-the-less, we were treated to a stunning sunrise as we descended in the cool wind. At Standley Chasm we treated ourselves to coffee, cake and takeaway lasagne, but didn’t rest too long as we’d now decided to make Alice by the 17^th. We ate the lasagne at Jay Creek and finished the day in the dark at a nice flat spot a km or so past Mulga Camp.

Day 7 / 37.1km

Only 37km to go! It was fairly basic walking to Telegraph Station, made interesting by the very cool Euro Ridge. We motored this bit and made the finish by about 430pm, making the time cut for a 7 day walk;)

All up it was a comfortable walk. The weather (day time temps ranged from mid 20’s to max 37degC) largely determined our walking hours – most days enforcing a long midday siesta, so the books and music Cam brought were a great move! The tank water located at the trail heads was reliable and clean. Most times we were only carrying 2L each, but the most we carried was 5L each for the dry camp on Brinkleys. We took a S2S tarp which can pitch as a fly using Cam's walking poles, but we only ever used it as a ground sheet. We burned through about 1 and a third Jetboil cannisters, boiling water for dinners and hot drinks. Lastly, the long pants, long shirts and window licker hats were essential!