Conseulo Camping Zone to Carnarvon Visitor Centre (Carnarvon Great Walk Trip)

 https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge

Thursday 14 September

Day 5

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-great-walk/walking

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/164159/carnarvongw-topo.pdf

Part 1 Conseulo Camping Zone to Cabbage Tree Camping Zone

We set an alarm to be up at 5am this morning for an early start.  We could hear a lot of dingoes in the area at dawn.  We started our hike with our jumpers still on at 6:30am due to the cold. The track was firetrail and easy walking, with a lot feral pig damage and forest litter. The area from this campsite all the way to the next campsite had clearly had a fire through in the last few years.  We saw a lot of fresh, and old, horse droppings. This section of the track has more consistent vegetation with less variation than other days. It is predominantly rolling hills.  About nine to ten kilometres from camp we saw a solo brumby and a small group of brumbies.  The path for the walk repeatedly criss crosses the fire trail and many of the arrows have been burnt. The newer arrows appear to be on the fire trail, with the older arrows sometimes 20m from the path.  At one stage we did not see an arrow for more than 500m , so doubled back, to find we were on the right path already.  The campground at Cabbage Tree Camping Zone is a nice open area with flat spaces.

15.18km,3 hours 55 minutes, 158m ascent

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-great-walk/camping/cabbage-tree

Part 2 Cabbage Tree Camping Zone to Carnarvon Gorge Visitor Centre

This section of the walk has a great variety of microclimates and ecosystems due to the constantly changing altitude. At the four kilometre mark we disturbed four cattle, two adults and two calves.  Between 4 km and 5.5km it is very steep up and down.  We saw several small pools of stagnant water. There was also evidence of a more recent fire and continuing evidence of feral pigs.  This section, not surprisingly, is predominantly down hilss, with the steepest sections having steps and some walking along narrow ledges.  The switchbacks marked on the map include a long continuous uphill on a spur in full sun.  At the top of this is an area very dessert-like in appearance with red rock and high temperatures.  This is thankfully followed by a long smooth downhill for at least a kilometre with good views in a number of places. Th Boolimba Bluff lookout is well worth the detour, even at the end of a long day. The afternoon light lit up different parts of the cliff face.  The descent from the lookout involved four ladders and hundreds of stairs, which was tough on tired legs.  We arrived back at the Visitor Centre just before last light and had dinner at the picnic tables in the day use area before moving on.  A very long day!  As we finished we saw three people heading out for a night walk.

17.83km, 5 hours 50 minutes, 375m ascent

Total for the day: 33.01km 9 hours 45 minutes, 533m ascent

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/attractions/carnarvon-gorge-visitor-area#:~:text=Carnarvon%20Gorge%20Visitor%20Area%20is,road%20from%20the%20park%20entrance.