Redbank Gorge -Day 1 (Sect. 11 part)
A relaxing start to your adventure with plenty of time to explore the spectacular gorge
Spectacular Redbank Gorge
For overall logistics and rationale, see Planning and Tips, plus a recommended itinerary for slower hikers. If you’re hiking west to east your hike starts with a track transfer from Alice Springs to get you to the western end of the hike.
The locals say that Alice Springs is the centre of all Australian Capital Cities!
And today’s hike of just 3km/1.9 miles return (ie 1.5km each way) is a delightfully cruisy day, even with an early start in Alice Springs: the transfer company will have picked you up at 7am, and it is a 200km drive to Redbank Gorge. Our transfer needed to detour into Standley Chasm to drop food boxes and we understand that this is not unusual, so that extends time on the road (but also gives you a chance to grab a coffee if you missed out in Alice Springs). In any case, you can expect to reach Redbank Gorge mid-morning.
An easy 1.5 km each way walk along the bed/banks of Redbank Creek.
The hikes to the Gorge and Mt Sonder are two completely different and separate spur trails heading in opposite directions from camp.
Faster hikers immediately hike northwest to the Gorge, return, and then climb Mt Sonder and back, spending the night at the camp and setting off east on the Larapinta the next day for a total of 17.2km/10.7miles and 725m/2380ft elevation gain. However, because you are dropped off mid-morning, it is too rushed for slower hikers to see both Redbank Gorge and Mt Sonder in the remaining time.
Instead, we recommend that you set up camp and explore the gorge on Day One; you might even like to carry your lunch to the beautiful pool and eat on the banks to watch the midday sun set the gorge gloriously alight, or to take a dip in the icy water. Tomorrow, you have all day to climb Mt Sonder: eat a peaceful lunch at the top (unless you prefer to night hike for sunrise or sunset) and then return to camp before setting off on Day Three.
If you’re uncertain about whether this trail is for you, the westernmost section between Redbank and Ormiston Gorges has, in our opinion, the most varied hiking that’s only slightly more demanding than the easternmost section between Alice Springs and Simpson’s Gap. Your Mt Sonder climb has the greatest daily elevation gain of the entire Larapinta but it is on a spur trail, so you can stop at any point and turn back if it becomes too demanding.
Walk with Us
As you are driven to Redbank Gorge you might think you have a taste of what is to come, but the landscape around the highway is misleading. It seems barren and flat, but you will be hiking to the north, amongst the spectacular ranges you see some 25 km away. The only similarity is the landscape’s deeply vibrant reds and oranges that turn purple in the evening and pink at dawn.
The road into Redbank Gorge passes two campsites, Ridgetop and Woodland, but these are for car campers. From the car park, Larapinta trail walkers head east for five minutes along a dirt track and down into the valley to the Trail Hut:
Almost all the Trail Huts have this format, three-sided with a northerly aspect and a large verandah providing shade. You’ll find plenty of cleared campsites below the hut — you can see one lower right in the picture above — but there are nicer ones in shade in the creek bed lower down.
Inside the hut you’ll find a cupboard which closes more or less well (usually less), plus storage lockers underneath the sleeping platforms which are more or less (often less) secure due to faulty latches and panels that have been bent out of true.
Here’s that cupboard. This one at the end of the trail has a lot of discarded gas canisters and bits and pieces. Many were full or almost full. Another shelf had snacks (the wine bottle, disappointingly, was empty). One somewhat greedy hiker who was finishing cheerfully shook all the canisters and grabbed every one with a decent amount remaining, so don’t rely on this cupboard to supply you for the trail!
And here’s the charging station, plus additional leavings. A good place to store a length of duct tape is wound around the top of your trekking pole just below the handle. The snake bandage is useful, but old ones have been superseded as the tension originally indicated by the squares was incorrect. If yours are pre-2020, buy a new set.
Bushman’s is an excellent bug spray but we didn’t need much on the Larapinta at the time we hiked in mid June. A small amount decanted into a tiny nalgene bottle is plenty: if you run out you can top up at Ormiston or Standley from your resupply box or the shop. Store DEET-based insect repellents in a ziploc bag on the outside of your pack.
The huts are well-designed, but all that steel and corrugated iron is hot in warm weather in the middle of the day. If arriving early as today, you may prefer the shady trees along the creek.
Shady campsites amongst the trees close to Redbank Creek. Look above you when choosing a site so you’re not under a large limb.
The substrate is loose sand: standard tent stakes will not hold and in fact we left behind almost all of our stakes in our first resupply box when we reached Ormiston Gorge. Other campsites were also like this or, more often, so rocky that again standard stakes didn’t penetrate. However, even if you have a non-freestanding (ie trekking pole) tent like us, you’ll have no trouble on this trail as long as you’re familiar with alternative pitching techniques such as modified deadman (big rock-little rock).
Before leaving home, make 40-50cm line extensions with a slip loop at each end: pictured is the loose end indicating how you’ll lasso your small deadman rock. Attach the extensions to all your guylines while you’re still at home. When you use a deadman like this, you need less line because you don’t need to tie it around a huge rock. Those with freestanding tents should do the same because some of the high campsites are exposed and windy, and even freestanding tents need secure guylines to prevent them failing in strong wind.
Here is the extension in use. The black line is the original guyline and the yellow is the extension. Two big rocks are piled on the extension between the deadman and the tent guy: easier than piling them vertically. The line is less likely to abrade but, if it does, you can simply swap it out because you’re carrying spares rather than having to replace your guyline. Carry spares because the rocks are so sharp that you’ll probably need to replace some, as we did. Buy spectra from yachting shops. See the pitching techniques link above for detailed instructions on securing your tent.
Ridiculously clean and fresh at the start of a thru-hike. Spoiler Alert: it won’t last!
You can see the rocks we’ve used to secure our deadmen. All the campsites in sand have been used many times before, and most have scattered rocks that other hikers have placed for this purpose. Should you need to camp at a new spot, make sure to return any gathered rocks.
After setting up the tent, grab a daypack, lunch and — for hardy souls — whatever it is you wear for swimming, and head W/NW along the bed of Redbank Creek past ancient river red gums (E. camaldulensis). The track is on sand initially and then becomes stony, before you arrive at the waterhole with its sun-warmed slabs of rock and a crack glowing red in the midday sun. It’s a cruisy 1.5km/0.93mi out and return with almost no elevation gain.
Along Redbank Creek under the gums with the chatter of parrots in the branches above. You can just make out another Larapinta walker’s red tent.
The track swings NNW along the base of the hill: the path between the often dense buffel grass is distinct but quite rocky. Redbank Gorge and Mt Sonder are both popular day hikes in their own right, and you’ll almost certainly see many tourists both on your way in and out.
As you head deeper into the gorge it begins to narrow and become more rocky. There’s no designated track, just a route along the creekbed with footprints everywhere.
Further still, and pools become more abundant. The colour of the rock is astonishing. I always edit my images to reproduce what I remember seeing rather than to exaggerate but of course this is subjective, especially in hindsight. Was it really that red, I keep asking myself? I believe it was!
Variable Daisy (Brachyscome ciliaris) on rock with its roots clinging deep in cracks.
Further still, and you have a bit of rock hopping. Your route will depend on the amount of water in the creek: heavy rain could make it tricky!
Then you arrive at the water hole with its narrowing gorge behind. You’ll find plenty of warm rocks to sit on, overlooking the pool as the light changes from moment to moment. If you’re there near midday, the glow is incredible.
Unlike many other culturally significant gorges, you are permitted to swim in this one. We dip in our toes but the water is icy: much of it has spent aeons passing through bedrock and the crack is so narrow that it receives sun just minutes each day.
A surprising number of dead fish bob in the shallows, and Geoff spots bubbles rising in a deeper part of the pool. In coming weeks, you’ll likely see more dead fish in most of the waterholes. Geoff (a hydrologist in his working life) tells me that these fish kills and bubbles indicate low oxygen levels caused by hot weather and a lack of recent flows: it’s not abnormal for this region. I confess that I’m unaccustomed to it and find the little corpses slightly icky.
The gorge narrows to just a couple of metres at the far end of the pool, with a swim and scramble of about two hundred metres through the narrowest part: you can see how spectacularly exciting it would be with the sun lighting up the walls. We considered this for after our Sonder climb but a hiker told us he became hypothermic on the swim out because the water really is that cold (too cold for wimps!) so that’s something to consider if you decide to explore.
After a leisurely couple of hours enjoying the scenery and listening to the birds making merry in the trees, we head back to camp and dinner, which for us on trail is always home dehydrated food. Our stove is a Caldera Cone paired with an alcohol Starlyte burner (the most efficient alcohol stove we’ve tried, but sadly discontinued). A square of tyvek serves as a table to keep grit out of food and crockery.
Back to the tent for dinner.
Geoff tucking in to instant home dehydrated laksa which, like all our recipes, has plenty of calories, carbs and protein to fuel the days ahead. Everything always tastes even more amazing when you’re in a place like this!
Even after just half a day, hikers — not just overseas ones but also Aussies from our seaboard cities — will be awed by this landscape. It is a fantastic first day — relaxed, unhurried and with plenty of time to greet the land. And tomorrow you’ll climb Mt Sonder with its amazing views: what a grand start to a hike!
We respectfully acknowledge the Arrernte People as the traditional custodians of the land on which we walk and pay our respects to Elders past and present and to the Aboriginal people present today.
