Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

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Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby Dreamer » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 11:45 am

Successful completion of Larapinta Trail in 8 nights/9 days. Total of 243km walked including 20kms of side trips. GREAT TRAIL! After first day only came across about 2 walkers per day on trail, no-one else at camp sites.

DAY 1: Transport from Alice to REDBANK GORGE by Alice Wanderer. 8 people on board - group of 4 woman planning to take 17 days, a couple just camping, myself & a Swiss guy. The Swiss guy & I ended up walking whole trail together. Ascended Mt Sonder - took 5 hours return (16km) including 1 hour of breaks. Hot weather made the walk tougher than I expected.

DAY 2: 7.5 hours/26 km to FINKE RIVER Shelter. Slept on the platforms provided. Love this type of shelter. Easy walking except for Hilltop Lookout ascent.

DAY 3: 8.5 hours/33.6 km to top HEAVITREE RANGE (near Lookout). Lots of PUDS. Great camp site there, spectacular views but no facilities. Had junk food lunch at Ormiston Kiosk (open 11am to 4pm closed Wednesdays) after completing pound loop walk. Saw our only Dingo here.

DAY4: 12 hours (2 hour break in middle of day)/ 24.5km to SERPENTINE GORGE. Large but ordinary camping here.

DAY5: 11 hours (2 hour break @ Ellery Big Hole)/ 29.1km to ROCKY GULLY. Collected food drop and had a (quick) swim at Ellery Big Hole. Good camping with facilities at Rocky Gully.

DAY6: 12 hours/ 23.2 to BIRTHDAY WATERHOLE. Tough day over Razorback Ridge & descent through Spencer Gorge (slow). Departed Rocky Gully @ 6am with headlamps. Great walking towards sunrise.

DAY7: 12.5 hours/ 31.3km to JAY CREEK shelter. Had pastie and chocolate cake lunch at Stanley Chasm. Huge day with tough Brinkley Bluff ascent, lots of rocky creek walking and 7pm arrival at Jay Creek via headlamp. Platform sleeping at Jay Creek like Finke River. Dingoes howling at night & dreamt(?) I heard corroboree sounds floating in on the wind.

DAY8: 7.5 hours/ 24.5km to SIMPSON’S GAP. Easy (boring) walking which loops around hills. Good campsite here with seats/shelter and picnic platform. Access to public toilets and town water. Bond Gap is worth the side trip.

DAY9: 7 hours/ 23.8km to TELEGRAPH STATION. Easy to moderate walking with ascent of Euro range. Bought drink at Telegraph kiosk and they called taxi for us.

EQUIPMENT: No major failures. As thought, did not need rain shell. Gaiters not necessary IMO. Down jacket useful as temperature dropped to minus 2 on two nights. Gloves very handy when walking with poles on cold mornings. 4.5 litre water capacity enough.

FOOD: Desired SALT & hydrolite or staminade powder for hot days (did not have). Ramen noodles, dry biscuits & cheese good as usual. Certain Tasmanian dried food company meals were complete failure...took forever to cook & tasted awful. Luckily picked up a certain NZ company’s food packs in surplus food bin at Ellery Creek food drop!

MEDICAL: Minor heatrash, 2 small blisters, bruised in rib area due to clash with a branch. Sore feet due to very, very rocky trail. My Swiss friend lost a toenail.

PHOTOS (ONLY IPHONE4 QUALITY) HERE IF INTERESTED: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 8f3a3de3b5
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby forest » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 1:07 pm

Thanks for the report and walk times Dreamer.

Sounds very, very similar to what I have planned for May/June 2013.

I'm thinking about just buying one of those cheap, breathable Driducks rain jackets the guys in the states rave about on BPL.
160g rain shell with excellent breathability. If it dies on the trip ??? Who cares, Chances are it will see no use anyway.
Was there any scrub etc on the trail that might rip up a crappy jacket.
I am a GEAR JUNKIE and GRAM COUNTER !!

There, It's out. I said it, Ahh I feel better now :lol:
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby Dreamer » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 2:36 pm

When there is a clear trail it is relatively clear of scrub. We walked at just over 5km/hour on clear flat trail. No gaiters needed IMO...a few spinifex pricks but nothing to cry about. You may have problems where the 'trail' follows gorges and creeks...where only directional arrows are provided. This type of walking is slow and tedious at times (eg 1-2km/hour!) and can involve some scrambling under & over objects which may snag your clothing. Having said that I did not suffer any clothing or equipment damage. A great adventurous trail...whoever planned it knew what they were doing!

PS TIP: What saved me was having a relatively light pack...enabled me to move quickly for long periods.
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby Dale » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 6:11 pm

Nice trip - sounds like you really kicked up the pace on this one !

I agree about the campsite at Serpentine Gorge - the gorge itself is a picture but the camp site was fairly pedestrian. It's great you took the time to do the sidetrips - I spoke to quite a few hikers who were blazing the main trail and forgetting about everything else.

Forest re: raingear - you could probably chance it with a windshirt with good DWR and a synthetic base layer.
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby Dreamer » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 7:06 pm

Yes...we really put in some serious km's (often more than 10) early morning 7 -10:30. It started to get hot after that. The worst end to a day was DAY 7 - I arrived at Jay Creek in the dark at 7pm totally exhausted. I felt slightly sick and could only manage tea & dry biscuits before crawling into my sleeping bag on the shelter platform. Felt fine in the morning and ate the previous nights unused dinner before heading off. The high detour around Fish Hole also threw me off as I had not read the trail notes for that section. My 28yo Swiss friend was like a machine even though he was carrying a 23/24 kg pack (twice as heavy as mine!).

To take a rain shell or not is a dilemma. I decided to take a 200g rain jacket and dry bags for gear as I did not want to stop walking if on the rare chance it did rain. It would be amazing to see those gorges after a decent rain - might make it A LOT more difficult to get through mind you!
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby north-north-west » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 7:21 pm

Dreamer wrote: It would be amazing to see those gorges after a decent rain - might make it A LOT more difficult to get through mind you!


One of my visits to Redbank, a group was setting off towards Glen Helen early in the morning as I was heading up Rwetyepme. There had been a fair bit of intermittent rain over the previous week, and the creek crossing was hip deep. And COLD!
Even Standley Chasm had water in it. More than just the usual little puddle, I mean.

Wish I'd paddled up Redbank that trip, but didn't get around to until a couple of years later, when the water level was lower. But it was still *&%$#! COLD!
"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens."
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Re: Larapinta end to end 8 nights August 2012

Postby bigkev » Sun 19 Aug, 2012 6:35 pm

Well done Dreamer, that's a big effort. Your right about going light being the key.
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