Today is planned as the longest day of this section and it includes the climb over Bridle Gap and the scary drop down the other side. I set off just after 7am to give myself more time to complete the day without having to walk in the dark. The first 8 or so kilometres were really easy walking on a level path through Wilpena Pound so I managed to walk them pretty quickly. The climb up to Bridle Gap from the Pound is really easy and I was soon looking out over an amazing view unfortunately I was also looking down with trepidation at a steep, long and very rocky descent on the other side of the Gap. It took ages for me to get down to the bottom as I took my time to ensure that I didn’t slip. Once at the bottom I once again started some creek walking. Once I had walked along the Creek for what seemed like ages I hit a road. The road took me through Black Gap and then I saw the “no road access for 35km” sign. The trail enters the Arkaba Conservancy and it was great walking. It was so great that I was flying along when I suddenly realised I hadn’t seen a trail marker for quite some time. I checked on the Far Out app only to find that I was a distance away from the red line I should be following. As the trail looped around I thought I could carry on and I would eventually meet the trail. This was great in theory but there are signs in Arkaba stating that shooting takes place to keep on top of feral animals and that all hikers should stick to the trail. With this. In mind I sped up my walking and was very relieved when I found the trail at last. The trail continued all the way to Red Range campsite but the terrain did keep varying to keep it interesting. It would change from a gravel path to a boulder field to red earth and then back again. I finally arrived at Red Range with just enough time to pitch my tent and cook my dinner. A big shout out to whoever looks after this campsite because normally you are lucky to find any toilet paper at a camp loo but at Red Range there were 8 spare rolls in the dunny and also plenty of firewood stacked up.

Hiking/Backpacking

Pastoral Unincorporated Area, South Australia, Australia

time : Jul 7, 2022 7:06 AM

duration : 9h 39m 25s

distance : 28.3 km

total_ascent : 667 m

highest_point : 689 m

avg_speed : 3.3 km/h

user_id : JoEvans

user_firstname : Jo

user_lastname : Evans

Today is planned as the longest day of this section and it includes the climb over Bridle Gap and the scary drop down the other side. I set off just after 7am to give myself more time to complete the day without having to walk in the dark. The first 8 or so kilometres were really easy walking on a level path through Wilpena Pound so I managed to walk them pretty quickly. The climb up to Bridle Gap from the Pound is really easy and I was soon looking out over an amazing view unfortunately I was also looking down with trepidation at a steep, long and very rocky descent on the other side of the Gap. It took ages for me to get down to the bottom as I took my time to ensure that I didn’t slip. Once at the bottom I once again started some creek walking. Once I had walked along the Creek for what seemed like ages I hit a road. The road took me through Black Gap and then I saw the “no road access for 35km” sign. The trail enters the Arkaba Conservancy and it was great walking. It was so great that I was flying along when I suddenly realised I hadn’t seen a trail marker for quite some time. I checked on the Far Out app only to find that I was a distance away from the red line I should be following. As the trail looped around I thought I could carry on and I would eventually meet the trail. This was great in theory but there are signs in Arkaba stating that shooting takes place to keep on top of feral animals and that all hikers should stick to the trail. With this. In mind I sped up my walking and was very relieved when I found the trail at last. The trail continued all the way to Red Range campsite but the terrain did keep varying to keep it interesting. It would change from a gravel path to a boulder field to red earth and then back again. I finally arrived at Red Range with just enough time to pitch my tent and cook my dinner. A big shout out to whoever looks after this campsite because normally you are lucky to find any toilet paper at a camp loo but at Red Range there were 8 spare rolls in the dunny and also plenty of firewood stacked up.