Day 10 – Rocky Gully to Ellery Creek North (Section 6 Larapinta)

 

https://nt.gov.au/parks/find-a-park/tjoritja-west-macdonnell-national-park/larapinta-trail

https://nt.gov.au/_media/docs/parks/bushwalking-and-hiking/larapinta-trail/larapinta-trail-section-6-information-sheet-and-map.pdf

Last night was much milder, I slept only in underwear, no thermals or layers.  We were up this morning at 5:30am and away just after 7am.

https://northernterritory.com/cn/zh/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/rocky-gully

The start of this morning’s walk started with a solid climb in which we quickly gained height. It was up and down over rocky terrain, with the odd short patch of trail that allowed a free stride. There were less wildflowers on today’s walk than yesterday, however there were a lot of Zebra Finches about this morning.

Once we reached Alice Valley View, it was generally free walking to East Junction, with fewer rocky outcrops and more wildflowers. There were several dry creekbeds to cross that were picturesque. We stopped for morning tea at East Junction and saw a Ringneck Parrot. We stayed on the new alignment of the Larapinta Trail heading for Ellery Creek North, rather than turning towards Ellery Creek Big Hole and Ellery Creek South. Between East Junction and Ellery Creek North there are several large areas of piled rocks where sections of the Heavitree Range have broken off. The noise that must be generated when these chunks break away and crack into pieces as they land must be impressive. We arrived at the Ellery Creek North Trailhead at 12:30pm.

https://nt.gov.au/parks/find-a-park/tjoritja-west-macdonnell-national-park/ellery-creek-big-hole

https://northernterritory.com/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/ellery-creek-big-hole

We enjoyed lunch and had a wash and rinsed out our hiking clothes before heading out to explore.  Ellery Creek Big Hole is beautiful, and cold as has been our previous experience. We had previously seen it from the southern side, and I had not realised it was as long as it is. From the northern side there is a fair distance that you can wade out before reaching the deep section that separates the northern and southern sides.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading out books, and charging our devices.  This evening a fellow hiker, Toni, removed the splinter that I had thought was a blister starting from the base of one of my toes – much more comfortable. Thank you Toni! We opted to sleep in the shelter, which looked out over the plains between the Heavitree and Chewings Ranges – picturesque!

Statistics

Hike Distance                 13.66km

Hike Time                        4h 38m

Ascent                              325.0m

Descent                           410.1m

18 July - West MacDonnell Ranges – Serpentine Gorge, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Standley Chasm

18 July 2016 – 179 210

West MacDonnell Ranges – Serpentine Gorge, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Standley Chasm

This morning we went to Serpentine Gorge and did a short walk to a waterhole and lookout (2.7km, 204m ascent, in an hour).  
http://traveloutbackaustralia.com/serpentine-gorge-west-macdonnell-ranges.html/
We returned to Ellery Creek Big Hole where Hayden and I did the Dolomite Walk; we saw tiny spiders’ webs in the spinifex, crickets, and some new flowers that we haven’t seen anywhere else.  Apparently this area has very high biodiversity because on one side of the gully is the red rock common to the area and the other side of the gully is dolomite; as a result the soil produced is richer in nutrients than most local areas.  This walk was 2.8km, and involved 179m of climbing.
https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/200036/ellery-creek-big-hole-fact-sheet-and-map.pdf

We packed up and headed to Standley Chasm, where we have camped the night.  We headed straight into Standley Chasm as the light only penetrates into this deep narrow chasm in the middle of the day.  This is impressive and the photos don’t do justice to just how narrow and deep this is – it would be amazing to see this with water flowing through. (2.4km, 50 minutes)
https://www.standleychasm.com.au/

The next walk went straight up, and I do mean straight up, to a lookout with an amazing view – Larapinta Hill Lookout – this had views in multiple directions.  This is part of section 4 of the Larapinta Trail, it looks like this would be a challenging section, very steep up and down.  Last up for the day was the Loop walk, which took us through a different type of country and again up to a lookout.  These two walks combined were 4.4km and took about an hour and a half, with 522m ascent.  Then we got to have showers, I feel so much nicer clean!

Mum

17 July - Ochre Pits and Ellery Creek Big Hole, West MacDonnell Ranges

17 July 2016 – 179 141

Ochre Pits and Ellery Creek Big Hole, West MacDonnell Ranges

This morning we packed up the van and headed East.  Our first stop was the Ochre Pits, these contained a wide range of colours and shades, from white through yellow, orange, red, brown and almost black.  It appears to be quite chalky in texture.  From here we did the Aranda Walk which

took us from the Ochre Pits to the Larapinta Trail.  This was 8.8km and took a bit over two and a half hours.  This was an enjoyable walk with a lovely mountain pass at the end, however it was not on the scale of beauty of the last two days' walks.  Hayden spotted a small reptile on the path on the way back which was happy to let us observe for a while. 
http://www.macdonnellranges.com/ochre-pits-visitors-information-guide.htm 
After lunch we moved on to Ellery Creek Big Hole where we have camped the night. https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/200036/ellery-creek-big-hole-fact-sheet-and-map.pdf
After setting up camp we went for a swim

(primarily to get clean), we went completely under water and scrubbed ourselves down – the water was freezing, although maybe slightly warmer than that at Ormiston Gorge yesterday.  Thankfully the air temperature today has been much warmer than the last few days and we quickly warmed up.  It is actually warm enough to consider a single short sleeved top, rather than five long sleeved tops at once which has been the norm for the last few days.  Time to relax this evening, ahh!

Mum