148 - West MacDonnells (22/8)

Whilst in Alice we did back to back days out in the Macs. First the West...

OK... I'm going to say it. This is my favourite walk of the trip so far. I can't believe I lived down the road from this place for 6 years and never did this walk. Sure I went out to Ormiston and did the main part, but "The Pound Walk" is something else...

I'm not going to give it too much of an intro, and will let the pictures and my commentary do most of the work, but "best walk so far" is about as high a praise as I can give...

Marked in the dotted line, The Pound Walk came in as a 7km loop trail and one our longest yet.

All kitted up and ready to roll. As you can see, it was a terrible day for it.

After a nice short stroll of a few hundred metres to warm up, we crossed the Ormiston Creek and started the ascent up and over the ranges.

Instantly we were met with views and hues of the Macs in full reddish 'bloom'. Every dip and break in them brought a peek of a range through the other side off in the distance. Here you can see the road into the campground and starting point. I don't think we'd even gone a kilometre yet!

And just like that we rounded a corner and felt like the only people for hundreds of kilometres. The path was well worn though, and whilst you had to tread carefully, was well maintained and signed for most part.

The trek up to the highest point in the walk took us up through this valley. If you look carefully (or zoom in) on the enlarged version, you'll see the path head over the ridge in the middle of the "dip" you might also spy two other walkers way up there too.

This part reminded me strangely of the rolling valleys in Wales and the Lake District in England for some reason. Obviously the terrain, colours and geology are completely different, but the round valley floor with a pass through the middle was familiar.

And then from the top, looking back down you get THIS view.

(drops the mic)

Starting the trek down the other side and towards the "Pound"

The view looking East wasn't exactly shabby either...

B has started getting in on the Pano shot as well and took this absolutely amazing one of us looking back up at us. I think Purnululu (Bungles) was our "Pano Capital" but I think Ormiston Gorge takes the title now.

If we felt like the only people for miles before, we felt like we were the only people on the face of the earth at times now.

Rounding the turn and after crossing the Pound, we found some trees and shade to stop for morning tea. Biccies, a piece of fruit and the guzzling of water. Everyone doing very well and in great spirits. It was starting to warm up, but we'd started out early enough to beat any serious heat. B and I did comment over the walk how oppressively hot it must get out in the open during the height of summer.

And as we progressed around the loop, Ormiston Gorge and the supporting ranges closed in on us gradually. Great from far away, spectacular up close.

Why we love Pano's so much. The shot above this expanded out into pano form shows the grandeur of the place, the colours and terrain on a much more effective scale.

We thought we were nearly there, but the ranges kept growing larger and larger and we had to keep walking and walking, and yet, still not entering the Gorge! Were we stuck in some endless loop in a weird Hitchcock movie??

Eventually though, we cracked the Matrix and found the entrance to the Gorge. And that's when we realised that we'd done the "easy" part of the walk. The last quarter of it required traversing river rocks and bolders as we went. No more nicely defined paths. It was "choose your own adventure" time....

The Gorge itself was nothing short of spectacular. The walls continued to grow around us, getting steeper and more sheer as we went. The folds and layers in the rock representing millions upon millions of years of geology as we walked. We were merely a speck, a blink in their life cycle of continuous and painstakingly slow evolution. This place looked, and to me, felt, really really old.

The walls also allowed for some funky pano work, similar to those taken up Windjana Gorge in WA.

Sam found this little poser along the way. He didn't seem to startled by us and posed for the shot, before Little Miss Heavy Foot (Evie) came clambering by and he shot off.

And with that we were done. It was simply breathtaking. We have so many shots of this walk it would take my entire monthly data allowance to post half I think.

So we finished the walk inspired, knackered, exhilerated and in need of refreshments. Hello Ormiston Gorge cafe!!

The benefit of getting away early meant that we could explore a few more spots on the way back into Alice....

I'd never visited the Ochre Pits before, and it was another case of "why the hell not?". The bands of different coloured soils and sands were amazing, and I can see why it would be such a valuable spot to the indigenous of the area to source colours from. They are practically jumping out of the ground!

It's worth a stopover here as it's only a small detour and the reward for the short walk is amazing. It's like a "soil rainbow". Also reminiscent of all the colours that came off the Rock Truck when I washed it last...

Then it was on to Standley Chasm. There are a lot of spots in the West Macs we could have stopped in on, including Simpsons Gap and Ellery Creek Big Hole. But I wanted to revisit Standley Chasm after being in awe of it as a teenager, and wanting to revisit and check in on that memory.

It was safe to say the chasm itself hasn't changed much... :)

But it's a shame that there is now a reasonably expensive charge to get in to see it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice having a cafe and a really nice walking track to go in on, but it did feel a little corporatised. One of the good parts though in being able to go outside of peak times, you have places like this to yourself!

On the walk we did spot a couple of examples of the wonder of Mother Nature and the determination of living things in the Red Centre to survive. Here a tree had fallen (cause unknown) but had remained with roots intact. From there the gum had turned it's limbs into new trunks and used that to find sustenance... Really really cool.

Similar to this tree who had decided it was "part herbivore and bend over to eat other plants!"

The West Macs were as pretty and stunning as I remember them, but I think I appreciate them even more. The drive out to Ormiston (and probably Glen Helen a little further) is visually astounding, borderline hypnotic. The road rolls over minor ranges and mounds as the larger ridges tower to the left and right . You cross dry river beds and flood ways like they were being given out as 2-for-1 deals a billion years ago and Mother Nature was cashed up at the time. Brown signs constant point you towards this gorge, that water hole or that historic site.

We criminally gave the West Macs only one day. One paltry day.

But I feel that we've been inspired to take on them on a much larger and grander scale in the future. The Larapinta Trail calls to us as a challenge to be taken and currently we're trying to find a time on the horizon upon which we can take on said challenge....