Water at Mt Giles

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SA, WA & NT specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Water at Mt Giles

Postby bigkev » Mon 23 Apr, 2018 8:58 am

Hi All,

I did a quick two day walk out to Mt Giles on the weekend (21,22nd April 18'). The country west of Alice hasn't had any good rain since the big rains of Christmas 16/17 according to the ranger. So anyway, as you'd expect things are pretty dry. The waterholes in Ormiston Creek (in the vicinity off Mt Giles are all dry) I found water in the second and third gullies draining the south face of Mt Giles. The second gully was probably the best (It's the larger slot canyon on the south side of the mountain to the right of the usual climbing spur). Temperatures are still pretty warm up here so it was tough walk, I'll post some more details with some photos when I get home.

Cheers Kevin
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby ribuck » Tue 24 Apr, 2018 8:36 am

Thanks Kevin, I'm looking forward to your report as I'll be out that way in May. On a May trip some years ago, I found plenty of water above Giles Springs, but it was high up and took a bit of time and energy to find it.
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby bigkev » Wed 25 Apr, 2018 3:44 pm

ribuck wrote:Thanks Kevin, I'm looking forward to your report as I'll be out that way in May. On a May trip some years ago, I found plenty of water above Giles Springs, but it was high up and took a bit of time and energy to find it.


Hi ribuck. I climbed above the waterfall in the second creek (which I'm guessing is Giles Spring?) as there was water seeping down the rock face, but it was pretty dry above the waterfall - I didn't push up further though.

The third creek had water a lot further up but it was pretty festy, there was good water trickling down through crevices in the rock but you'd probably need a small cup, or a bit of tubing to access it.

The waterhole on Ormiston Creek (about where you leave the creek and head towards the base of Mt Giles) had a couple of inches of green slime in it, I could see where the roos had been digging in the sandy creek bed to get water but we weren't that desperate.

It looks like the NT Parks people have re-routed the pound walk since I was last out there. I'm sure it use to drop straight into the pound from the lookout? It now heads another half a kilometre or so east before dropping into the pound (this is good as it gets you another half a kilometre closer to Mt Giles before you have to start to push through the spinifex :D

Speaking of spinifex, the first 1 or 2 kilometres across the pound are the worst, after that it thins out a bit and the walking was pretty good (we contoured about half way between Ormiston Creek and the south walls of the pound).

I'll do a decent trip report on my blog in the next month and post a link when I get it up.

Cheers Kevin

DSC_0056.JPG
My mate James, resting in the shade in the second creek.
IMG_9618.JPG
The waterhole/spring in the third creek was a little to festy for me - it was also further up the creek.
IMG_9603.JPG
It was a fairly hot walk, and then there was the flies!
DSC_0057.JPG
I'm thinking this is Giles Spring ? It's at the first big waterfall as I climbed the second major creek draining the southern side of the mountain.
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby ribuck » Wed 25 Apr, 2018 8:18 pm

Thanks, Kevin. I love the photo with the flies. Even at one gram per fly, that's adding a fair bit to your load.
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby bigkev » Mon 21 May, 2018 5:22 pm

DSC_0109.JPG
Ormiston Pound in the middle distance, Mt Sonder in the distance on the left and Mt Zeil a bit further away on the right - from near the top of Mt Giles.


DSC_0076.JPG
The view over towards Mt Sonder was pretty sweet as we climbed.


I've finally got around to writing up a bit of a report from my Mt Giles walk early last month. If anyone is interested here's the links to the two posts :D

https://goinferalonedayatatime.blogspot ... to-mt.html

https://goinferalonedayatatime.blogspot ... ls-to.html

Needless to say it was a fairly tough two days, no track, mid thirty temps and a lack of surface water all added to the hardship. The views from the top of Mt Giles and on the climb, more than made up for any discomfort though I reckon. Although I do have a soft spot for this kind of country.

Cheers Kevin
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby ribuck » Tue 22 May, 2018 5:48 pm

Very cool, thanks for your report. It's wonderful country.

I lost a day on my itinerary during the hot spell so I didn't make it to Mt Giles. But I did follow Ormiston Ck upstream towards the base of Mt Giles and was amazed how much water there was. Even the waterholes that were in full sun, i.e. those that were not shaded by a cliff, were wet.

But obviously it must be a different story closer to the mountain.
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby ribuck » Tue 03 Jul, 2018 4:21 am

Hi Kevin,

You captioned one of your photos "I'm thinking this is Giles Spring ?". I just found one of my photos from April 1987 which is captioned "Giles Spring". It took me a while to convince myself that it's the same spot as your photo, but it definitely is.

Roger
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Giles Spring 1987
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Re: Water at Mt Giles

Postby bigkev » Wed 04 Jul, 2018 7:10 pm

Hi ribuck, yeah I think we were both at the same spot. We were very happy to find it :D
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