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| The descent on to Razorback Ridge - if you zoom in a lot there are actually a group of people descending and it really is at least as steep as it looks. Some spots short legs like mine are better off sitting down to drop down to the next level rather than trying to step. |
Last night was clear and cold with a lot of stars visible. Drew found last night colder than the night on Brinkley Bluff, whereas I found Brinkley Bluff much colder, perhaps I was more affected by wind chill than he was. We woke this morning to dew on our sleeping bags.
We were packed up and away about 7:10am. We stopped about 45
minutes into the walk for me to remove my thermal pants and beanie. The walk to
the start of Spencer Gorge took just under an hour, giving our muscles the
opportunity to warm up. It was relatively dim still when we entered Spencer
Gorge, I think I would have enjoyed its beauty even more with a bit more light than
8am offered.
Spencer Gorge is both beautiful and rugged. It took us about 90 minutes to traverse, with most of that being bouldering. There were lots of spots requiring hands, and several parts where I needed to put my poles up where I was going, climb up and then collect my poles. I really enjoyed this section, but it is fatiguing with a pack. We stopped for our first break near the top of Spencer Gorge.
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| Beautiful |
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| and Rugged |
We then did a solid climb to Windy Saddle – where there was no wind today. We stopped at the lookout to enjoy the view and give our gluteus muscles a well-deserved break after the bouldering and climb.
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| The path is neither smooth or flat, but it is worth the views |
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| Tenacity to survive |
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| Yes that is a person, on the trail, top left |
The descent onto Razorback Ridge was precarious and steep - in hindsight this was far scary than the ridge itself. There were sections of this where I needed to sit down to drop my legs down to the next level. I relied a lot on my poles to help me down. This would be terrifying in high wind. Razorback ridge was generally wider than I had expected. It had several very technical spots that required considerable care and your full attention. I was very grateful for the lack of wind today, either of the previous two days would have been quite scary.
We arrived at Fringe Lily Creek campsite about 1pm. There were some patches of water in the creek, however I was glad we had water from the tanks, rather than relying on this as it did not look appealing.
From here the walking was along a relatively easy creek line
followed by climbing over a saddle, along a spur and then down into another
relatively easy creek. By relatively easy I mean there were normal sized rocks to contend with, but nothing that required use of hands.
We arrived at Hugh Gorge Junction about 3:20pm and setup camp. So far, we have the area to ourselves. It is very pretty. The cliff face of Upper Hugh Gorge is impressive. We went exploring up Upper Hugh Gorge – it has stunning red walls with pink and grey rocks and boulders making up the floor of the gorge. Bouldering is definitely a lot easier without a full pack.
https://northernterritory.com/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/hugh-gorge-junction
When we made dinner, we thought it seemed rather small. It was only after eating that we realised we must have accidentally got one single serve dehydrated meal, rather than a double. If we had realised before preparing it, we would have left this for a different night where we had not exerted ourselves as much during the day. We went to bed very tired and will probably wake up very sore from today’s activity – but happy! So far, this was our most challenging day.
Statistics
Hike Distance 13.34km
Hike Time 6h
46m
Ascent 672.3m
Descent 568.3m
Walk Distance 1.95km
Walk Time 1h
17m
Ascent 30.0m
Descent 27.4m
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