Stage 4 - Glen Helen to Mt Sonder |
Day 15 - Glen Helen to Rocky Bar Gap (18km - 460m ascent - 440m descent) |
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Mt Sonder from Glen Helen - the end is in sight |
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The waterhole at Davenport Creek |
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A deep gully in the Heavitree Range |
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Zooming in on Glen Helen and the Finke River |
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Native grasslands below Mt Sonder |
A trio of hillside ghost gums |
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The sandy bed of Rocky Bar Creek |
Burnt shrubs near the entrance to Rocky Bar |
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A shady passage through Rocky Bar |
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Campsite beneath a weeping ironbark |
A ghost gum in the late afternoon light |
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Day 16 - Rocky Bar Gap to Redbank Creek (11km - 120m ascent - 90m descent) |
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Tents in the sandy bed of Redbank Creek |
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Heading west from Rocky Bar campsite |
The red-capped hill |
Scrubby country south of Mt Sonder |
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Resting in a shady creek bed |
Track through the mulga / witchetty bush woodland |
Red mallees in front of the Mt Sonder spur |
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Track alongside Redbank Creek |
The elegance of the river gums |
Heading up a sandy section of the gorge |
A rocky section of the creek |
Evening reflections |
Reflections of Redbank Gorge |
Peering into the cleft of Redbank Gorge |
Redbank waterhole and the entry to the gorge |
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The sun sets on a very atypical Mt Sonder and its western spur |
Day 17 - Redbank Creek to Mt Sonder (14.5km - 740m ascent - 740m descent) |
The last day had arrived - less than 8 km from our campsite in Redbank Creek to the top of Mt Sonder and the end of the Larapinta Trail. What a mixture of feelings we had as we ate our breakfast on the sandy creekbed - the last day of any long trek is always bitter-sweet. We stowed our big packs in the tent and set off. One of the sweet moments was the knowledge that we didn't have to lug all of our gear up the mountain -just lunch and water, as we would return to Redbank Creek after finishing the trail. Recrossing the creek, we quickly found the junction to Mt Sonder and followed the track up through the witchetty bush scrub to the flank of the long west-east spur that would lead us to its top. In the case of most mountains the track gets steeper as you approach the summit. Not so Mt Sonder, for the steepest bit comes first, directly up the flank of the spur. We had left early and the sun was still low behind the spur - it was good to climb in the chill of the morning shade. The sunlit rocks on the far side of the creek glowed red in the morning sun. |
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Looking back to the bare red hills behind Redbank Creek |
On the climb up to the saddle of Sonder Spur |
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View of the track ahead along Mt Sonder spur and the distant summit |
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Views from the ridge out to the north |
Crossing a shrubby knoll |
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The red rocky knob - end of the spur and start of the mountain |
The wattles and mallee of the ridgeline |
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The summit of Mt Sonder (1380m) appears |
The end of the Larapinta Trail (17 days and 223km) |
View east from whence we came |
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Panorama from Sonder Lookout towards the inaccessible summit and the land beyond |
Mt Edwards (1423m) on the western horizon |
Close-up of Mt Zeil (1531m) - highest peak in the Northern Territory |
View from the ridge towards Mt Zeil |
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