Larapinta Trail – Tjoritja Ranges NT – Day 5

Monday 06 June 2022
Ormiston Gorge to Mt Giles lookout – Section 9 Part 1
Distance 14km
Moving time 3:48
Track time 5:20
Temp 8′- maybe 19′
Up 562m Down 182m

Section 9 is one of the longest sections of the Larapinta Trail and offers some spectacular views. Grade: 5 – difficult. This is one of the more difficult sections of the trail and takes you into the rugged heart of the range country. There is no reliable surface water along the way, so people contemplating this section must be prepared to carry a heavy pack with a considerable amount of drinking water. Allow 2 days to comfortably complete the walk.

Happy birthday Gavin!

We endeavoured to get an early start. We got up at 6.30am and started packing up, we were going really well but once again got chatting which is all part of the journey. You meet some really interesting characters along the way. We have been travelling along with an older guy named Jim meeting him at camp each night. He sets out before us. We catch up to him at lunch time and then he gets in a little later than us. We also met a couple of older ladies who have had to stop with injuries. Frances walked 29km with sprained feet and can now hardly walk, she is waiting for a friend to go home. Jocelyn has hurt her back but is hoping to continue slowly west tomorrow. Penny and Eric from the bus arrived last night so we caught up with them as well. So we set off at 9.15 am. Closer to 8 but not quite. Anyway it was better than 9.50am so we are improving. It is a big day. New food supply – 3 days, extra water as we have a dry camp tonight and a huge climb. DBs pack is 17kg and mine is about 14kg. It is amazing when we both put them on they didn’t feel too heavy. We must be getting some conditioning. Anyway, off we went, firstly along the sandy river bed, then we slowly started to ascend over undulating terrain for the first 9km but still ascending all the same. From the base of the hill up it was about 333m in elevation over 5 km. It was quite tricky, there were rocks to climb over, layers of loose shale and a continuous up, up and up. I seemed to power up the hills today. Just moving along with smaller steps but stopping a lot less and keeping my heart rate quite low. My fitness must be improving which is great because the next few sections are very tough. Today’s was up 562m and down 182m. We had a couple of stops, one for hydralyte about 11am, 2km from the base of the hill and then about 2km from camp which was almost at the top at 950m. We then struggled a little to climb the last 50m on wobbly legs. This always happens after a break but we couldn’t wait. We were starving. We did really well arriving at Hermits Hideaway camp at about 2.45pm. This section was labelled Difficult and about 6.5hrs. So we are really happy with our progress. Hermits Hideaway has about 8-010 camp spots mostly protected from the wind with great views of Mt Giles.

We only passed 3 End 2 End hikers and a tour group of 6. They are doing the E2E over 14 days with a guide, transfer support, permanent campsites with stretcher beds, gourmet food and showers. At a small fee of $4000.

We had a lovely afternoon setting up camp and as it started to get late we began to worry about Jim who still hadn’t turned up. Hopefully he had stopped at an earlier camp but we were a bit concerned as his plan was to hike further than us today. At 5pm David decided to do a quick walk before sunset to see if he could find him as it had been a really hard day. So off he set with first aid, sat phone and warm clothes. He is only going for 30 mins and then turning so he gets back in daylight. Well, true to his word he is back at 6pm after running part of the 2.5km each way, he managed to see Jim’s tent set up about 2/3rds of the way down the descent. At least he is safe. We can continue without worrying now. DB may be injured from his run but hopefully he will have good karma and will be fine. We ate dinner watching the sun set over Mt Sonder and then for another hour after that, then headed to bed as the temp is already only 10′. Hopefully it doesn’t get too cold tonight as we are at 1015m above sea level. We are on our own on the mountain tonight which is so much better than last night where there were many tour groups and about 20 self reliant E2E hikers.

: Trailhead notes – Section 9 Ormiston Gorge to Serpentine Chalet Dam is one of the longest sections of the Larapinta Trail and offers spectacular views of Mt Giles, the Alice Valley and Ormiston Pound. We are doing it over 2 days.

: Sunrise from our campsite at Ormiston Gorge

: We were going so well, almost packed up and ready by 7.25am

: Most of the other campers were still in their tents..

: ..but unfortunately chatting was our undoing again and we only set off at 9.15am.

: At the trailhead – we will do the Pound Walk when we come back to collect our boxes. So off we go!

: The first part of the trail is along a soft sand river bed. It is a hard slog with restocked food and 2 days water supply.

: As we continue along the sandy river bed with Ormiston Gorge in the background,

: About a km along the track with the trail marker indicating 28km to go for the section (lucky we are only going half way) we leave the river bed and start climbing the uneven rocky path up and up and up..

: The scenery is beautiful as we continue climbing up..

: ..and the scenery is changing as we go along, the cliffs are a salmon/pink and ochre colour against the green grass and blue sky. It is very beautiful..

: ..as the path meanders through the trees dotted along the hillside with the range in the background..

: ..as I continue along the trail with Mt Sonder still in the background and the magnificent range beside with changing darker red rocks..

: ..and the vegetation changes some more..

: ..and again – the change of scenery. I love the burnt trees with the yellow grasses and rich red path..

: ..such diversity as we continue towards tonights camp..

: Little yellow flowers along the trail..

: Another beautiful scene along the trail, a little downhill slope for a moment. Yay!

: David sneaking around the corner as I quickly snap another gorgeous view.. The sky really is that colour and the clouds are amazing..

: So picturesque..

: A tricky climb down. The downs are much harder than the ups with a heavy pack on your back..

: And the loose rocks along the trail are also very difficult to negotiate.

: Pointing to Mt Giles, Mount Giles is one of the highest mountains in the NT at 1,389m. Climbing the mountain requires a hard two or three day hike – maybe next time.