Friday 10 June 2022
Ellery Creek North to Rocky Gully – Section 6 Part 1
Distance 13.6km
Moving time 3:35
Track time 4:57
Temp -1′- don’t know’
Up 327m Down 216m

“Section 6 is the longest section of the Larapinta Trail, but much of the trail winds up, around and over undulating and boring terrain for no particular reason (David’s words exactly). That said, it is a pleasant walk across Alice Valley and a welcoming change after the rugged mountainous terrain of S5. Excellent walk for bird watching. Rocky Gully is a nice half way campsite.”

What a spacious beautiful camp on the river bed at Ellery Creek North. We both had a pretty good sleep. Enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise and breakfast in the river bed. A bit of a chat and we got away at about 10.04am. We had a very chatty morning on the trail. We passed about 10 through hikers and 10 day packers in the first 5km which with all the talking took us about 2 hours. Very slow. The going was pretty easy up and down slightly undulating pathways. The last 3km was a few bigger hills and it got rockier with lots of quartz on the path as well. It was a pretty good day. Slow in total time for the distance but lots of rest time talking. We walked through the Alice Valley from the Heavitree Range towards the Chewings Range. On to Hugh Gorge tomorrow. We have a couple of groups of 3 plus a solo lady at camp. So not too busy tonight.

David has improved today.
– Right Ankle good
– Left Quad minor issues
– Hips good.
The wonder Physio cream and sticky tape are working wonders. David is looking forward to the tougher stuff in the next few days, today was a bit same same for him but I still love it.

We met some youngsters (mid 20s) at Rocky Gully today who have been on the trail from east to west for 7 days, going hard right from the start. Unfortunately they are all struggling with blister issues, lost toe nails and are leaving the trail tomorrow. They are very sad and were asking advice as to how to overcome this. It is such a shame.

We shared a round table dinner without the table with some interesting people. A couple and a female friend of theirs and a solo lady. They were all our age and a bit older. Once we got talking about travels and other hikes, life etc we found out we shared more common interests. The guy was Steve McBean who came 2nd to Guy Leech in the 1st ever Coolangatta Gold race after the movie. He was also Lenny Cooks nemesis. It was interesting conversation and a great night that ended at 6.30pm as the sun set and everyone went to bed. We are still going strong and looking forward to the next 10 days.