Larapinta Trail: Section 4 -False summits
Day 6 of 18 Saturday
Bridle Path lookout, looking East. Spot the Irish woman
Waking today I felt a bit rough. I didn’t sleep well after the relative quietness of the trail, and in comparison Standley Chasm was a thriving and annoyingly bustling metropolis with people coming and going at all hours of the night. I kind of almost wished I was with my furry friends again and sharing a Vegan curry.
It’s not a place you come to catch up on your beauty sleep but rather to see the chasm, which incidentally is spectacular and best visited in the middle of the day when the light for photography is directly overhead and allows for penetration into the chasm to capture the colours of the rocks. It’s an easy walk into the chasm and is foot pathed to suit all types of tourists, it’s all very well set out.
As you are aware from Day five , we arrived late in the afternoon and it was still very popular and way too peopley for me. The tourists were there in their designer clothes, safari outfits, immaculate hair and makeup, all amusing to us. I guess as amusing as we looked to them in our dishevelled, sweaty, dirty clothes hauling our eye watering heavy packs and looking shattered. Irish and I had both been there before and had played tourist so for us Standley Chasm was now playing the important role of replenishing ones supplies ahead of the gruelling and picturesque Section 4 of the trail. This was now its primary draw card. The chasm itself is well set up and caters for all walks of tourist from the frail and elderly to the young and has an easy walk from the café into it. This was the first place where our drop box was located.
The campground is best described as tiny and housed about eight tents all crammed into an area about the size of a tennis court. It is sandwiched in next to the main thoroughfare to the access road into the parking area and the ablutions block. It’s not very inviting but in all fairness has everything we needed and craved after five days in the wilds. Whilst some of my readers wouldn’t really classify flushing toilets, hot showers, washing machines and functioning café as luxuries to us it was on par with five star glamping, just without the glamping bit. Stanley Chasm also serves an important point for thru hikers on the Larapinta Trail, it acts as a drop off point for the Food resupplies. Most of the major resupply companies drop off here and it’s all stored in the ablutions block. We accessed our drop off box yesterday and restocked our packs with all the supplies and goodies we would need to get us through the next four days or so. I was so looking forward to tearing into a different type of Muesli bar, as well I could barely contain myself and just wanted to hit the trail at a million miles an hour. The down side of a resupply is the leaving of creature comforts and of course the heavy packs. Last night there was a lot of discussion around the campsite of pack weights and trying to cut it down pack weights as we went into the designated “Difficult” section on the trail. The maps were reinforcing this scuttlebutt telling me that Section 4 & 5 were designated “hard”. Fuck me!! I refused to believe it could get any harder after nearly being broken yesterday by my own personal heartbreak ridge. But there was very little I could do about it as I wasn’t carrying any luxury items and the only way I could cut down on pack weight was carry less food and water - not an option for this hiking machine. So adopting the glass half full method we stepped off back into the wilds. Did I do my fair share of pissing and moaning about our packs and the hurt that lay ahead, yes I’ll confess to that. But you know what, in a sick sadistic way I was kind of looking forward to it all.
Leaving the campsite we headed off south for a leisurely 550m warm up stroll along the road before trail head came into sight with a blue arrow and trail marker letting us know we’d reached Section 4. A brief discussion and reinforcement of goals we set off. Today’s destination Brinkley Bluff. If you are on this trail or planning to do this trail and you haven’t heard it’s name whispered in the hallowed halls of eternity then you are either living in a cave or you have your head up your proverbial arse. Brinkley Bluff to Larapinta Trail hikers is like Mt Sinai to Moses, with the two stone tablets old man Moses carried representing the modern day hikers pack stuffed full of granola bars and vegan meals. To reach this holy grail of the LT, it’s a 10km straight up hike and I mean straight up. Today I was going to learn the meaning of switchbacks and ridgeback walking but I was pumped and in a bring it on bitches kind of mood, after yesterday’s meltdown. It’s amazing what a good feed, rehydration and 12 hours of rest can do to a ‘hikers’ spirit.
Top of the world feeling
Our first destination was essentially halfway there at Brindle path lookout. Setting off the spirits were somewhat dampened a little as the first part of the trail was a creek bed walk. Described as leisurely on the trail map. My deep seated distrust of national parks and wildlife maps descriptions of walks was niggling me and what can I say, I just love my bouldering, but for once they got it right and after a kilometre or so we left the creek bed to scramble up onto a more defined trail that pushed westward with the gradient rising steadily and towards the mountains.
The mountains today were the goal so seeing the goal ahead even though it looked formidable didn’t really phase me. I was actually loving life, the sun was out gently warming me and the light was amazing giving the surrounding mountains glorious shades of red. Stopping briefly for a five minute break to look back on the trail, left me feeling elated in spirit. I could see the trail meandering behind me, rewarding me for my efforts, I simply felt happy and cliché I know but at peace. I almost wondered if they slipped me a chicken flavoured Prozac burger at the café yesterday. Sitting on a large flat rock that was conveniently perched on the side of the trail and being warmed by the morning winter sun was truly a humbling experience. The light was dancing off the nearby mountains and a whistling kite circled overhead seemingly effortless on the thermoclines, watching and waiting for his next meal. It’s hard to not be drawn into an endless day dream because time really doesn’t mean that much here, that’s what I love about this trail. One of the few governing factors is daylight, time sort of stands still.
Looking Back on Reveal Saddle
Pushing onwards to the top of the saddle I felt like I made good time and the body felt fine. No hint of the meltdown I had endured the day before, the trail was giving back. The view was amazing, I sat down on a ledge overlooking the valley and zoned out again. Looking back on what I’d achieved was rewarding. It was a steep climb up here but the switchbacks made it a little more bearable. Until now I didn’t really know what that term meant but in essence it’s the zig zag of the trail as you assault a mountain. It serves a twofold purpose, the first being to reduce the gradient for the walker making your life that much easier and the second it helps to reduce the impact of the hiker to the surrounding environment through the minimisation of erosion on a mountain from water and the passage of time from the boots of the hiker. Sitting up here on my eagle’s perch staring out into space day dreaming I could see down the entire length of the valley I had come up. Every now and then I would catch a brief glimpse of Irish and her neon blue hat as she popped up out of dead ground, way off in the distance as she meandered slowly up the zig zaging trail. Like me she was taking her time and soaking it all in. My friend the whistling kite had returned and was soaring high above me circling waiting for his next meal. Wait, surely, he wasn’t waiting for me to go belly up so he could get a free feed. Not today buddy I thought, maybe tomorrow. One thing that really hammered home to me was how surreal to look around and have not another sign of human life for as far as the eye could see, just you and your thoughts.
Shortly thereafter Irish arrived, she was in good spirits as well. We had a brief chat about the weather. The wind was picking up as the day went on and that added a little coolness to the elements as we were pretty exposed up here and nowhere to get out of the wind, essentially, we were walking a ridgeline. It almost encouraged you to hustle along a little but only really became an issue if you stopped and cooled off. Besides the majestic views were constantly distracting you and taking your mind off it. The morning passed and by lunch time I was getting buffeted by the wind, it had picked up considerably to the point I was having to use my chin strap to stop my hat flying off never to be seen again.
Ridgeline walking near Reveal Saddle
Another False Blinkley Bluff Summit
The Ridge line up to the summit at Brinkely Bluff was quite narrow. It’s harder quartzite that has spewed up from the depths of the earth as a result of some giant upheaval a shitload of time ago – about as technical a term as I get folks. I found the walking hard going and steep underfoot with a heap of false summits thrown in to challenge you. Speaking of technical descriptions, the National parks maps cracked me up when describing this ascent “there are several false summits along the ridge top on the eastern approach to the bluff. These bumps can be tiring, but the ever expanding views will lure you on” – I think whoever wrote that has been eating way too many of those chicken flavoured Prozac Burgers at Standley Chasm. For the Australians reading this I’ll translate for you…..The ridgeline up to Brinkley Bluff is a mongrel steep walk, you think you are almost there only to be bitch slapped by a false crest which happens several times and leaves you feeling rooted and a little pissed off. But hey fuck it, the views are shit hot and that makes it worthwhile and when you get there it’s a great place to chill the fuck out.
Sunset Brinkley Bluff campsite
The climb out of Tangentyere Junction, low route they say. Section 2 Larapinta Trail
When you eventually get there, you’re greeted with a giant Carins built from stones - be sure to sign the book to further cement you have been there and claim your bragging rights. Speaking of bragging rights The Bluff has mobile reception so it’s a great place to upload a picture or two and really rub it in the faces of friends and family stuck back home in the grind. You know the old saying when in Rome do as the Romans do and that’s unashamedly exactly what I did, I spammed a few friends and did the mandatory Facebook post
Did I mention views?? Okay I won’t be able to do it justice no matter how colourful I am with my adjectives, so I’ll just post a few pictures here and adopt the old saying ‘a picture paints a Thousand words’
How’s that for a top of the world view
One word of caution or maybe preparation if planning on staying overnight, leave early to get there and choose a camp site and stake your claim when you arrive. It’s a popular spot and the campsites are limited so fill up very quickly. There are several good campsites to the northern side of the bluff. They remind me of little fortresses but with an amazing view. Fellow campers have built rock walls around their little patch of prime real estate in order to afford some protection from the howling wind. Fortunately, we were hiking the trail on the shoulder period of the tourist season and the trail wasn’t too busy. None the less when we arrived there was only one other hiker already set up but by sunset it was standing room only and I was quite surprised how people kept popping up out of the woodwork from seemingly almost every part on the trail. Those that were late comers had to suffer the full force of the howling winds which swept up over the edge of the bluff before slapping into tents on very exposed campsites making for a cold and uncomfortable night.
My very own fortress with a view
