West MacDonnell National Park - Ormiston Pound, Mt Giles, Chewings Range and Heavitree Range
Rutefotos
Ophavsmand
Rutestatistik
- Afstand
- 78,09 km
- Positiv højdeforskel
- 2.660 m
- Sværhedsgrad
- Kun eksperter
- Negativ højdeforskel
- 2.528 m
- Max Højde
- 1.365 m
- TrailRank
-
97
5
- Min Højde
- 664 m
- Rutetype
- Ensrettet
- Koordinater
- 7520
- Uploadet
- 6. september 2013
- Optaget
- august 2013
tæt på Glen Helen, Northern Territory (Australia)
Vist 11314 gange, downloadet 122 gange
Rutefotos
Rutebeskrivelse
BE WARNED
- This walk is off track through rugged, remote and mountainous terrain. You must be confident at navigation, and route finding. The GPS track may be inaccurate in some of the gorges due to poor signal.
- While we found adequate water in the gorges of the Chewings Range to replenish supplies, depending on season water can be hard to find and of variable quality.
There is no water on the top of the Chewing or Heavitree ranges. Plan to carry an extra days water and have an exit strategy worked out if you can't locate further supplies.
- You need to be fit enough to carry everything you need for a week over and up/down rugged terrain.
- The area is very isolated we saw no other living souls for the entire trip after leaving Ormiston Gorge, there is some phone reception on top of the mountains but elsewhere a PLB is required in case of emergency.
- to complete this route we did a fair bit of advanced scrambling (AKA rock climbing with a pack). You must be happy with scrambling and exposure to negotiate the gorges.
- one of our party, a wild hairy beast called Garn still wanders the Chewings Ranges looking for lost Bush walkers to eat.
We started at Ormiston Gorge and finished at Serpentine Chalet Dam (arriving around midday). With an extra day it could converted to a circuit returning to Ormiston Gorge via the Larapinta Trail.
Waypoints
Udsigtspunkt
0 m
ORMISTON GORGE
Ormiston Gorge was our starting point and is easily accessed by road.
Campingplads
0 m
BOWMANS GAP
Bowmans Gap is only a few hours walk from Ormiston Gorge. It has a semi-permanent waterhole and comfortable camping in a sandy river bed.
Bjergtop
0 m
MT GILES
Mt Giles is the NTs 3rd highest mountain at 1389 metres. It is cold, wind swept and rocky but has fantastic 360 degree views. There are a few 'shell scrapes' left by previous campers where you can roll out your sleep bag. Not much room for tent.
Springvand
0 m
GILES YARD SPRING
Flod
0 m
PORTAL GORGE
We descended via this gorge. At several points you need to climb out of the gorge to bypass steep drop offs. At the bottom it is a narrow 'slot'.
Flod
0 m
FALSE GORGE
We had intended to ascend via Red Rock Gorge (which would have been much easier) but in our enthusiasm we went up the wrong gorge
Foto
Sø
Kommentarer (19)
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Looking West from near Mt Giles, Mt Sonder and Mt Zeil are on the horizon. https://www.wikiloc.com/mountaineering-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560/photo-2690991
Mt Giles in the distance. https://www.wikiloc.com/mountaineering-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560/photo-2691005
Star trails in an unnamed gorge. https://www.wikiloc.com/mountaineering-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560/photo-2691006
Bowmans Gap https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191563/photo-2691026
Bowmans Gap https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191563/photo-2691033
Summit Mt Giles https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191564/photo-2691039
My Tarptent Moment atop Mt Giles. It looks serene but it was hard to sleep because the tent was flapping around so much in the wind https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191564/photo-2691044
Once the wind picked up, Shawn packed away his tarp and slept in the open. https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191564/photo-2691049
We had an ice cold swim through here. https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191568/photo-2691293
Red Rock Gorge from above. https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191570/photo-2691308
Fish Hole. https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191571/photo-2691318
Narrow section of Serpentine Gorge. https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/west-macdonnell-national-park-ormiston-pound-mt-giles-chewings-range-and-heavitree-range-5191560#wp-5191572/photo-2691319
I'd agree this is a very hard walk for experienced bushwalkers with good rock scrambling capabilities and familiarity with the Australian semi-arid countryside.
Great trail. Nice photos.
Did a member of your party lose a phone on this walk? I was following your route and I found an iPhone just west of where you took the photo of the pillars of Hercules. Unfortunately, this year's bushfires have damaged the phone beyond repair.
No not ours, how's the country this year, I understand it has been pretty dry?
Thanks for the reply. I'll do some more searching on the internet, and also check the Mt Giles logbook for people who got there via the skyline ridge.
To my astonishment there's plenty of water around. Lots of good water around Bowmans Gap. All of the gullies on the south of the Giles massif have pools, half of them have seeps, and a couple have babbling trickles. The waterfall at the top of Giles Yard Springs is flowing sweetly.
The bushfires earlier this year have burnt the south slopes of Giles totally. There's nothing but rock. It's actually quite amazing because it makes interesting rock features visible, amd the going is so easy that it's worth investigating even minor canyons because it's not too much trouble to get to them. A great trip!
what a beautiful trail marklov
Wow. Further south than Eungella and 100m higher. Surely it snows there at least once a century