Today sees me head the just over 22km to Wilpena Pound and even though I have only been walking for a few days I am looking forward to a rest and to pick up my food resupply.i was last out of camp which is not surprising as I do my videos and take respective photos for social media. Another sunny mild day after a cool night and while there was frost on the timber platform outside it was far colder during the night.
I leave Yanyanna at 7:21am (so much for my 7:00am start). It doesn’t take long for the sun to crest the surrounding hills and I must admit that the large mountain range behind forms a spectacular backdrop in the morning as the light creates all sorts of vibrant colours.
The first half of the walk is up and overs a couple of hills but it’s th down that the problem. On the descent on the second hill down the the creek bed it’s steep in some sections and if it had if been raining it looks like it could be a bit treacherous and slippery.
I finally reach the creek bed down below and for about 10 minutes the trail is confusing and in checking my online maps I know that I don’t go up the hill again but it’s not really clear that the creek bed is the route. I travel back about 30 metres and sure enough there is small, text at the bottom of the directional signage that says to use the creek bed. I’ve already mentioned this but the rampant growth is creating havoc with the signage so you do really need to make sure that there isn’t any fi;e print that you need to know about.
I make my way down the creek bed which at the start has water flowing but there is enough dry ground to hop about and stay dry. Eventually the creek widens and it’s much easier going. One advantage on going last is that I have footprints to follow and it’s interesting to see what I consider to logical is what other hikers are doing as well. One thing that you need to consider is that at some point the trail will leave the creek bed and you do need to scan about for the ‘off ramp’. Once I leave the first it of creek walking I come across two section hikers. The first is relatively new to multiday hiking and is walking from Wilpena Pound to the trail head at Parachilna. The other is walking from Quorn to Parachilna. In all honesty while I expected to see people on the trail I didn’t except yo see so many people so soon.
After seeing the first hiker is up and over another hill and on the down hill slope I come to a sign at that says I have done 50km of the entire trail. This is a really good feature and one that I hope continues down the trail!
This pattern continues until about 10:00am when I eventually reach management road which will be the bulk of the walking for the rest of the day. While management road sounds boring the terrain was anything but. I am really surprised at, and loving the change and the differences in the landscape over a relatively short distance.
Animal life was again limited to birds but this time they were more noticeable. Corella’s, and what turn out to be red cape Robins. In addition I got swooped by a wattlebird(?) or at least something that looked like one. Oh and don’t forget the obligatory emu. In this case the first I knew if it was this was a large thudding coming from behind me and all I could think of is where is this going to end up? I finally saw it as it ran past about 5 metres to my right. Want sure what was going on here because it did the same thing a second time and also would not have seen it if it hadn’t of moved.
Not long after lunchtime I came across Wilcolo campsite which is a paid site. People often use this one when they don’t want to spend much time in Wilpena which is a further 7km on. Eventually the road walking gave way to walk through a fairly open forest in what looked like old farm land and after one last stint open hillside walking I made it to Wilpena Pound.
You first enter the resort caravan park area and then in the core the information centre and the supermarket, before heading don to the motel style accommodation another 100 metres away. I checked in and had a shower before going down to the supermarket for a snack and ran into Michael how was one of the hikers I had been travelling with as he was checking his emails and making calls. The internet stats that there isn’t wifi in the rooms but certainly there is in my room and I had good 4g-4 bars wherever I checked. I also had phone reception when I checked 5km out.
Micheal reminded me about my resupply box so I headed back to reception to pick it up only to discover that it’s still in the nearby town of Hawker so I’ll check in in the morning to see what’s going on.
I had dinner at the local pub/restaurant and while not cheap it’s good hearty food. On the reverse side the food at the supermarket is reasonably priced which given it’s in a remote area was a surprise.
i spent the rest of the being working my way through just on 200 emails and starting my social media catch up before eventually heading to sleep.
Follow Me
One thing that I do on my long distance hikes is share my location through Garmin Mapshare. Through this online map you will be able to see where I am, with a time delay built in, and how I’m progressing. If you are out on-trail and have internet access to be able to use this map, say hi if I’m nearby. The farther apart the pins, the faster I am moving! In addition if you zoom in you can see the terrain from close up however it doesn’t really reflect the lush state of this area at this stage. On occasion I am taking a rest day so if I don’t appear to be moving then that’s where I’ll be.
You can see where I will be able to see where I’m at the following link:
https://aus-share.explore.garmin.com/HeysentrailAH
If you have any questions about my journey drop me an email at info@australianhiker.com.au and I will reply when I can within the whims of the internet signal which will be erratic on the northern end of the trail so it may be several days before I can respond.
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