Walking the Trail: Day 4 Standley Chasm to Birthday Waterhole
Today’s start on the Larapinta trail was early and under headlight with a continuous climb to Brinkley Bluff (1209m) ahead. Although it was great having charging facilities, a hot shower, and eating something other than rehydrated meals, I was pleased to exit Standley Chasm due to the strong sewerage smell. Here’s hoping it’s not always like that; it might just need some maintenance or a pump out.
The climb up the quartzite ridges of the Chewing Range was made all the easier as I had a hiking buddy for the day. Thanks, Amy, you are a great conversationalist and superb travel companion. We followed the undulating high quartzite ridge, with accompanying razorback dropoffs, combining to provide stunning 360-degree views of the West MacDonnell National Park.
This section is rated as Difficult due to the trail’s roughness and long, steep sections. The distance for the day was 19km and took around 9 hours. After the final descent, we left our gear at the Junction 4/5 Shelter and walked to Birthday Waterhole for a refreshing dip as the sun started to settle in the west. It was fresh and so beautiful.
Beware. The ravens hanging at Junction 4/5 Shelter have superpowers and know how to unzip packs to extract food bags. While I lost some wraps (Amy to the rescue), it didn’t diminish what was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding days on the whole trip.
Walking the Trail: Day 5 Birthday Waterhole to Ghost Gum Flat
Word along the trail indicated that Day 5 involved negotiating some water bodies of varying depth and length, plus potentially tricky ingress and egress points in Hugh Gorge. For this reason, although only 20km in length, it was rated Difficult, and some references suggested allowing 2 days.
I loved it!. Coming off the ridges, Spencer Gorge was the first of many sections that involved rock hopping over river stones, picking your own route and generally having a great time. It was very much like all the coastal rock hopping I have done my whole life. Other hikers moaned about all the gorge and riverbed rock hopping (I call it rocking), but with dry rock, grippy rocks, it was fun.
Pretty much the whole Larapinta Trail heads west. The walkable gorges, such as Spencer, Hugh, and further on Inarlanga, are different and therefore very special. Long before the Larapinta Trail existed as a marked hiking route, this landscape was crisscrossed by traditional pathways used by the Western Arrernte people (pronounced “Ah-run-da”). These weren’t random walking routes but carefully planned travel corridors connecting water sources, sacred sites, and seasonal food gathering areas across their traditional country.
The Western Arrernte people have inhabited this region for at least 30,000 years, developing an intricate understanding of the landscape’s seasonal rhythms, water sources, and ecological relationships. Their traditional paths often followed ridgelines and valley systems—the same logical routes that modern trail designers adopted. These ancient highways were embedded in complex cultural knowledge systems, including the Dreamtime stories that explain the formation of every significant landscape feature along the Larapinta Trail.
The name “Larapinta” itself comes from the Western Arrernte language, meaning “snake creek” or “salt water creek,” referring to the Finke River system that drains much of this region. This linguistic connection reminds us that every feature along the hike has a name, a story, and cultural significance that predates European arrival.
On entering the Hugh Gorge system, the water bodies became longer, deeper and more prevalent. It wasn’t long before I had wet feet and had to perform some weird water avoidance dances involving tree trunks, but it was great fun. I passed a local who was doing a day walk from the Hugh Gorge Shelter and heading further north up Hugh Gorge to a waterfall and additional soaks. It sounded fascinating, but I had a timetable to stick to.
With a long day ahead, I didn’t stop at Hugh Gorge Shelter, but struck out, aiming for the Ghost Gum Flat campsite; however, I never made it! My legs and the light faded, so I bush camped. It wasn’t until the next morning that I found I was only 400m from the Ghost Gum Flat campsite!
Walking the Trail: Day 6 Ghost Gum Flat to Ellery Creek South
Day 6 was my halfway point on the Larapinta Trail. It was another early start, as I had a long day ahead and needed to cover some distance before the heat and flies became active. It’s worth mentioning that my flynet became my most prized possession after 10 am. Moving on….
I had been on the lookout for reptiles, and I was surprised that 6 days in, I had seen none at all, until today. We have western bearded dragons where I live, and walking around the farm, I will often find them hanging on a branch, motionless on a fence post, or just frozen in front of my next footfall. It seems it is just the same in Central Australia. This guy became my next bestie and wasn’t camera-shy at all.
The day’s walk was rated Moderate – Difficult, and approximately 10 hours in duration. The trail wandered up and down through spinefix country, with relatively few rocky climbs of note, but some beautiful Ghost Gums living their precarious lives on hillsides. These magnificent white-barked trees are perhaps the most photogenic feature of the MacDonnell landscape. Their ghostly white bark isn’t just beautiful, it’s a sophisticated cooling system that reflects heat and light (think SPF 100) while allowing the tree to photosynthesise through its bark when leaves are scarce. Ghost gums have incredibly deep root systems that can extend down 30 meters to reach groundwater, and they can store water in their trunks during good times. Sometimes they were near a gorge, but often just on a high rocky flat, where their roots can access water trapped in rock crevices.
I had decided to stay at Ellery South (food drop point), which added 1.5 hours of walking and a pretty steep ascent to a saddle in the Heavitree Range at the end of the day, followed by a 6-7km traverse that seemed to drag on, before finally dropping down into Ellery South. To see the waterhole in the distance was a very welcoming sight. Can you see it?
