Larapinta Trail - Day 15 - Hilltop Lookout to Redbank Gorge

The last day of walking! I couldn’t believe it was here. The trip flew by. And I pretty much loved every minute (with the exception of about 2 hours!).

I also can’t believe I’m nearly at the end of writing and processing images from such an epic trip. I took nearly 1600 photos on the hike, plus a whole heap more in the week after the trip - I took another 1000 alone on a one hour sunrise helicopter flight!

I spent time at the Alice Springs Desert Park shooting local flora and fauna, plus time at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. I spent around a week exploring the West Macs by car - from Simpsons Gap to Standley Chasm, out to Redbank Gorge for a couple of days, back to Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen. Then to Serpentine Gorge, the Ochre Pits and Ellery Creek Big Hole before heading back in to town.

I have no idea how many shots I took on the entire trip…. but it was a lot! I didn’t know where to start with tackling the huge volume of material, but writing everything down chronilogically has helped create direction and structure with the editing. I’m not there yet - I still have some way to go with the “miscellaneous” shots from the trip. But, I’ve made definite progress and the remaining shots to process are much more manageable!

The process of writing and recording images in this blog has also assisted greatly with the planning for the new Central Australia coffee table book I’d love to produce. Stay tuned for that!

Back to the hike, for now. The penultimate day. There would be no more continuing on from Redbank - this was it!

I had planned a night at Rocky Bar Gap, which was only 4.7km from the campsite at Hilltop Lookout. The wonderful team at LTTS had advised me I probably wouldn’t want to stay there - there was nothing too spectacular to shoot. I’d kept the night in there anyway, just in case I’d needed a night up my sleeve to make up for anywhere I’d unexpectedly wanted to stay longer. If I chose to stay at Rocky Bar Gap, I’d be there by probably 10am - so it’d have to be pretty speccy for me to want to stay on! I was already a day early for my scheduled pick up (as I skipped my rest day at Ormiston), and I’d then be two days ahead if I skipped through Rocky Bar. The couple I met at Ellery Creek North were being picked up by the same company as I, and so were the two girls. So I knew if I were early I should be able to get a pick up earlier. It was early in the season so the LTTS transfers weren’t fully booked - I’m not sure if that sort of flexibiity would always be an option, but I’d seen people on the trail being collected in the days before me so I was aiming to transfer my pick up to one of those days. Or, I was with enough supplies to sit it out at Redbank if I needed. Back to the day and if I did continue I’d have another 11km to get to Redbank Gorge.

Pre dawn light - pastel shades over Mount Sonder

Waiting for the light whilst I flap around slapping mosquitoes and pack up my gear for a swift exit!

But first, I had a sunrise to shoot! I was excited to shoot from here - the best views of Mount Sonder of the hike. I was packed up and ready for light.

I shot a few compositions but I was REALLY struggling with the insane amount of mosquitoes. They were so thick I was inhaling them, they were on my camera lens, in my eyes and just attacking me all over.

My camp buddies bailed very quickly - forfeiting the red glow of sunrise on that iconic ridgeline! I was very tempted to bail as well. But I had to stick it out - this is why I was here, afterall!

I tried a few different compositions from Hilltop Lookout, but I was really struggling to concentrate and enjoy the moment with the crazy mosquito fog. I waited for the light whilst dancing around and swearing a fair bit, then decided to get the hell out of there - even before breakfast!

I headed down to Rocky Bar Gap very quickly - I was there by 8:30am, which meant I’d done nearly 5km that morning. I stopped at Rocky Bar Gap campsite for a fair while - refilling water and eating breakfast. The LTTS team were right - it was a beautiful spot of course, but not worth me sitting out an entire day to shoot at Rocky Bar Gap. I saw the girls who continued on to Redbank Gorge and I made the easy decision to do the same.

Rocky Bar Gap

The walk from Rocky Bar Gap to Redbank gorge was quick and fairly non descript - I didn’t shoot at all along this section. I was just focused on the goal. It’s a bit of a balance sometimes - between making sure I get the shots and actually making it to the destination! Being a landscape photographer primarily, it really needs to be something special for me to want to shoot outside of the golden hours of sunrise and sunset. But on a journey such as this, where you’re out all the time immersed in nature, I really need to make a conscious effort to remember to shoot. It’s very easy as a hiker to concentrate just on the hiking.

Anyway, I found the turn off for the Redbank Gorge Larapinta Campground. Made my way toward a creek crossing near the shelter and came across Ruby and their friend Sally relaxing in the water at the crossing. Yay! I made it! Rhianna and I had leap frogged past each other a couple of times so I knew she wasn’t too far behind either. The trail led us straight in to the creek to cross before heading up to the shelter a short distance on the other side. Only a waist-deep crossing this time!

The creek crossing at Redbank Creek - I came out just to the right of the gum tree!

That afternoon was an afternoon of swimming and relaxing, snacking and me photographing the river gum lined creek that afternoon. Perfect end to the walk!

Redbank Gorge Reflections

From Redbank Gorge, the only thing that remained to complete this legendary walk was a return walk to the summit of Mount Sonder. The iconic ridgeline has been in sight for the last 7 days and I couldn’t believe I was nearly there!

We’d planned sunrise ascent, and all discussed our departure times. I needed to be at the top of Mount Sonder for sunrise, and did not want to risk missing the light, so I was setting off first at around 3:30am. I’d wanted to arrive at the summit at around 6am. It’d be the first time I’d ever hiked in the dark, and I knew I’d be a little slower because of this and had allowed for it! 7km in 2.5 hours should be plenty doable, as I had heard the ascent was steady but not particularly challenging. There was a well worn path as this was a popular day walk too. We turned in for an early night and mosquito escape, ready for my alarm the next morning!