Larapinta Trail Day 5

The generator for the kiosk and facilities ran all night, couple that with so many people squashed together and my sore hips resulted in the worst night’s sleep so far.

Alarms went off at 5am for people pushing past Brinkley Bluff and I’d ended up camping near one of the picnic tables that people were using to pack and have breakfast so at 5.30am I just joined the action.

I followed my now regular routine – pull down tent, breakfast and patching feet. Still a 2 hour exercise. A quick stop to the real toilet, the last for a while probably day 14 when I arrive at Ormiston Gorge, and headed off to climb to Brinkley Bluff on the Chewings Range. Today was the first of the Very Hard days as rated in the John Chapman book and Difficult on the NT Parks maps.

The first few kilometers was easy walking down a river bed before the climb began – to 1,209m after starting at about 750m.

Up and up and up I went until arrival at Reveal Saddle just of 5km into the day. From here I could see the Alice Valley to the south-east and further out the Heavitree Range and west the first views of Brinkley Bluff but only half way there.

The next part of the climb was undulating with many false summits and some very steep sections with lots of loose rocks and dirts so going was slow to ensure no falls. The last 2km was had work, stopping regularly to re-gain my breath and have a drink. I did wonder was 8L of water enough for the 2 days as I felt like I was drinking a lot. But the ever-expanding views keep you moving on, well there really isn’t much choice to be honest.

The only way to describe the scenery is epic! Views for kilometers, incredible rock formations, and mountain tops every where. Everything I had imagined it would be.

I arrived at the summit around 12pm with very sore feet after about 10.4km of walking. It’s probably a good idea to highlight the elevation gains and how they differ from what is listed in books and maps. From Standley Chasm to the summit I climbed 658m and descended 224m, based on my Garmin watch, where as today was listed as 560m climb with 110m descent. The undulating hills really impact the actual elevation changes vs the listed changes.

While a lot of people had said they were heading to the summit I arrived to find only one other group there – Keith and Lola a father daughter pair doing the trek for the second time. They had taken the “best” spot so I grabbed one just near them and setup camp in doing so I found out I’d only drunk 1L of water on the climb no wonder it was hard. Also the issue with hydration packs you can’t see how much you’ve drunk. Time to get H²O into me!

The rest of the day was spent just absorbing the views, so so worth the extra weight carried up.

Ann Marie and Katrina arrived along with the mother and daughter (now better). I found out the two other ladies were doing sight seeing for the next few days with plans to rejoin them at Ormiston Gorge and walk the final few days with them. Katrina had struggled with the climb due to the heat and her diabetes, a sign of things to come.