Day 3 - Simpsons Gap to Jay Creek Campground (Section 2 Larapinta)

Spring Gap

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-2-information-sheet-and-map.pdf

Sleeping in the shelter worked well for us. It rained about midnight and there was a lot of wind. We were up at 5am, with no wet tent to pack down or wait for it to dry.  This was fortunate because it rained again just after we woke. We were ready by 6:20am and watched the dawn come in. It was light enough for me to start walking about 6:45am and we headed off.  After about 45 minutes walking we stopped to add thermals due to the cold wind.  The first two hours of hiking was through undulating grasslands and light woodland.  Once again, we saw Australian Ringneck Parrots (Barnardius zonarius).

Bond Gap

The side trip to Bond Gap was very pretty, however the water looks like it would be very cold.  Today we saw several pairs of hikers going eastward.  Sections of the track were through regrowth after fires – the track was very clearly marked with blue flagging. The trail continues near to Rocky Creek. There are lots of small undulations as we made our way across open country.  We arrived at Mulga Camp at 12:45pm. This was our planned destination for the day. It is an open campsite with picnic table, water tank and toilet.  It had very little shade and very many flies. We took our boots off, had lunch and a rest.  We then decided that there was nothing to keep us here for the afternoon, so we would continue to Jay Creek, allowing us more time to potentially do the high route tomorrow.

We left Mulga Camp at 1:45pm, just before the first few of the group we started the trail with arrived.  The first part of this afternoon’s walk was a “choose your own adventure” rock scramble through Rocky Creek. 

Spring Gap itself was very pretty.  

Once on the northern side of the MacDonnell Range the pollen smelt different. There was also evidence of cattle throughout this area.  We arrived at Jay Creek Trailhead about 5:15pm as the light was dropping.

There were so many people in camp that we initially thought we may have walked into a group site. There were at least thirty tents set up, but nobody wished to sleep in the shelter. Many hikers were young people heading East and heading West, as well as a few more mature hikers going each direction. We had a quick wash in the creek and then listened to various people’s accounts of their hike thus far while we prepared and ate dinner. From this group of people, it appeared that everyone under 40 years of age was opting for the faster low route, and those older were opting for the high route.  There were a lot of young people doing much shorter time spans for the distance, but at the cost of lots of foot problems from blisters and the hardness of the ground. I heard several people complain that because the track was so technical they were not getting enough opportunities to look at the views. I was glad we had chosen to take a longer period and not have to rush. Plenty of time to stop and take in the amazing scenery.

Well after dark two of the group we began the trail with arrived, very tired. They were happy to join us in sleeping in the shelter but did need to spread out their wet tents from this morning. Jay Creek Trailhead has a shelter with a picnic table, water tanks and a toilet. There are lots of tent sites, some close to the shelter and some a little further past the shelter.  Jay Creek itself had several pools of water for a quick bird bath and freshen up.

https://northernterritory.com/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/jay-creek

 

Statistics

Hike Distance                 27.41km

Hike Time                        8h 27m

Ascent                              644.0m

Descent                           526.8m

Day 2 - Wallaby Gap to Simpsons Gap (Section 1 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-1-information-sheet-and-map.pdf 

Many people walking the Larapinta Trail choose to do it much faster than we have for a variety of reasons.  As a result, there were other campers up and preparing for the day from 4am, with some leaving by 5:30am (still dark). We trialled sleeping without the fly on our tent last night. We got up about 9pm and put it on – too cold and too much disruption from other peoples’ lights. We rose at 5:30am to a very cold wind. We were packed up and away at 7:15am.

The walking today was much easier, both in terms of less ascent and descent and less technical than yesterday. The path had more sand underfoot which was less hard on the soles of the feet.  We were last able to see Heavitree Gap about 10am. 

The Scorpion Pool was a pretty little gorge, however the water was stagnant and reportedly unpalatable due to a high level of calcium. While we were at the Scorpion Pool, we saw two wallaby sized macropods up high on the rocks having what appeared to be a heated exchange.

The Fairy Spring was a very picturesque waterhole with water that looked clear.  We saw a lot of native tomatoes today, the plants look more like a potato vine than a tomato, however the fruit is abundant and unmistakably tomato. Given several species of native tomato are poisonous we elected not to test these.

The second part of the walk was largely uphill over rocks. The vegetation was varied and the views amazing. 

We arrived at the Simpsons Gap Walkers Camp about 12:15pm.  We enjoyed lunch and filled up our water bladders.

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

https://nt.gov.au/_media/docs/parks/find-a-park-to-visit/central-australia-region/simpsons-gap-fact-sheet-and-map.pdf

https://northernterritory.com/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/simpsons-gap

After lunch we went exploring in Simpsons Gap – this is beautiful. The colour of the rocks changed over the course of the afternoon as the sun shifted across the sky.  We had also planned to do a side trip to Cassia Hill Circuit, but discovered that it did not actually start from Simpsons Gap, but rather a few kilometres down the road (Darken Drive) into Simpsons Gap from Namatjira Drive, and decided to give this a miss.  Simpsons Gap is one of the features of the Larapinta Trail that is easily accessible by road for day visitors.

We spent some of the afternoon chatting to our fellow hikers. We met a couple from NSW who have previously done the Bibbulmun and picked their brains for our future reference. We talked to a lady who was repeating this section, as she had tripped further along the trail and split her head open and had to return to Alice Springs for stitches. Given how technical the path is and how sharp and rough the rocks are, I think this would be easy to do. My strategy thus far is if I want to look around, I need to stop moving. It would only take a moment of inattention to the trail while admiring the view to fall over and there is nowhere soft to land.

We opted to trial sleeping in the shelter.  The shelters are located at the end of each section and include a sleeping platform and shelf for packs. Each shelter also has a cupboard with local artworks on the doors, and information about the art and artist on the inside of the door.  We found we slept well in the shelter. The walkers camp also had water tanks, a toilet and many tent sites.

 

Statistics

Hike Distance                 12.82km

Hike Time                        4h 29m

Ascent                              324.4m

Descent                           359.3m

Walk Distance                1.06km

Walk Time                        18m

Ascent                              9.4m

Descent                           13.0m