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Category: Larapinta Hike July 2017
The Larapinta Trail follows the West McDonald Ranges from Alice Springs to Redback Gorge, some 240km to the West. It’s a well marked track, but due to the arid conditions, rough terrain, and scarce water, it’s only for the intrepid – or those in a tour group.
As always, holidays and mini breaks are always over much quicker than one hopes. The trick is to be able to switch into holiday mode as quickly as possible – stay ‘in the moment’ I believe is the phrase.
The Larapinta Trail follows the West McDonald Ranges from Alice Springs to Redbank Gorge, some 240km to the West. It’s a well marked track, but due to the arid conditions, rough terrain, and scarce water, it’s only for the intrepid – or those in a tour group.
We were the latter and joined Trek Larapinta for a supported 6 days hike. It was mostly fun, and any bits that were not fun were my own fault for not being fit enough. The guides, fellow trekkers, campsite, food and transport were all excellent. The bonus was that Kerry joined me, a first for an overnight hike.
This is a collection of photos from the next six days. We hiked for most of the days. Okay, we had two rest days out of six. Both of us enjoyed our rest time and don’t feel bad we missed on something. In reality, our fitness and desire to punish ourselves was lacking. The ground was rocky which means you take many short steps and somehow I became quite slow and not enjoying it one little bit. Once on the flat, I stretched out with long strides and regained some of my own perception of dignity.
We both enjoyed our week. I’m pleased to have done it. Pleased Kerry joined me. No regrets for not climbing Mt Sondor to see the sun rise. This involved getting up at 2am, hiking 800m vertical over 8kms, then waiting in the desert chill to watch the sun rise.
We stayed at Chifley in Alice, a decent hotel that served our needs.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos!! Your enjoyment is why I take them.
Hiking along the Larapinta trail in the West McDonald ranges, Central Australia, has been something to do for a while.
The distance, lack of nice campsites, and water had put me off, as had the need for food drops. All too hard, like the harsh inland environment.
My lovely wife Kerry however has given me the impetus to get on an do this walk, but she had provisos. She would walk with me if we did a supported walk, one where we only carried a small Day pack during the day and our other needs were met by people we paid money to.
For a little moment I felt like I was moving to a next stage of life, from a tent to a caravan, from a house to ‘downsize’. I quickly stepped over that threshold when I heard the bit about her walking with me. This was going to be nice. And truthfully the idea of not carrying 20kg each was very appealing.
So after a bit of googling, we booked with Trek Larapinta. I’d also looked at Inspiration Outdoors who I came across when looking to become a tour guide a little while ago. But their tour was longer and included places we didn’t need to pay to be taken to again.
Today we fly to Alice Springs, and we’ll be home again in a week. Not sure how regularly the updates will come, it is the outback after all!!