Laparinta a few notes

[rocketrm2]

Just completed the Laparinta. Went East to West (ie From Alice Springs)
Is any advantage going that way? There is an advantage going West to East, in that if you use a carrier for pick ups there is, because you dont have to schedule your hiking to be at the pick up on time. I completed my walk 4 days ahead of schedule which meant waiting 4 days ( stayed at Glenn Helen resort for these days until my ride came) .
A solo hiker should not have much trouble hitching a ride to Alice from Redbank I hitched from Redbank to Glen Helen waited 15 mins the driver said he could take to Alice.

Water no problems tanks all operating, NT Parks advice to treat the water, lots of hikers were drinking the water. Off course water from the many water holes would need treatment.
Though one section Ormiston to Serpentine dam 27 km there is no water supply normally its a 2 day walk so you will need to carry around 6 to 8 liters for that section, could be done in day by a strong hiker but Waterfall Gorge makes it a challenging task.

2 new shelters,at Simpsons Gap, Serpentine gorge

Carriers I used Alice Wanderer significantly cheaper than others, and no problems. They did my food drops too.

Stanley Chasm has hot showers and a washing machine. Their food is nice too. You can pay with Eftos too. Ormiston has showers, troughs for laundry. Kiosk good but they don't accept Credit Cards or Eftos. Can make phone calls $1 per minute best to have the person call you back.

Dimattina creek between Finke River and Hill Top camp offers nice camping by the waterholes.

Navigation with the excellent signage I did not even take out GPS from my pack once. Use the compass once.

At the food drop off lockers there was an abundance of bottles of metho, and gas cylinders

Glenn Helen can be included in your walk, its a small diversion. Beer, burgers, laundary, camping $12

The above might be helpful


My gear

Water: Steripen, Geigerrig Bladder (3 Lt) with in built filter
Stove Evernew Alcohol
Tent Tarptent "Notch" 750 grams great tent
Poles Leica
Sleeping Bag Sea to Summit Spark 3, warm bags are needed several minus 4 c degree nights
Pack ULA Catalyst
Gaiters Kathmandu (unsatisfactory) threw them away, OR seem to be the best
Ipod nice to be able to read or enjoy music before dozing off.
Head lamp Black Diamond, (can be recharged but took Li batteries along as a back up)
Solar Charger Bushnell (very good)
Montane Down jacket

Base weight ie weight of pack minus water, fuel, food approx 12 kg

[weeds]

Out of interest......how many days did you cover the track in.....??

[rocketrm2]

16 days ( 2 were rest days) so 14 days of walking

[north-north-west]

Just completed the Laparinta. Went East to West (ie From Alice Springs)
Is there any advantage going that way?

The views are better.

[Human]

Well hello rocketrm2. Although I probably wouldn't have seen you on the trail, I reckon you would our seen our names in the logs books.
We started on the 7th and just finished on Tuesday the 18th, also going east to west.

I too had some notes for others planing to walk in 2016. So hopefully you don't mind me tacking these words on the end of your thread for the benefit of others


1) Don't walk at noon
By our 3rd day we found that walking between 11am and 3pm to be possible but very undesirable. Especially on the 25C+ days (I cant imagine how bad it would be on those 30C days, the lack of shade in some sections really was a game changer for us).
So our typical days went a bit like this:
75% of our walking was done from dawn (or earlier) to 11am
We found some solid shade (typically river beds with ghost gums) before noon and cooked our big meal, plus did any other housekeeping and maybe have a nap. (Note. this may not be a problem during June-July)
Then from about 3or4pm up to twilight we walked another 25%. We were fond of just finding any suitable spot to camp (read: un-marked camp sites), such as at the base of Spencer gorge. There really were an abundance of these spots to pull up and sleep (assuming just one small tent).
Some nights we used headlamps to keep pushing forward in the cool air.

2) Shoe failure?
I wore dunlop KT-26 and they were fine. My partner had some merrel trail runners, also fine.
I had read a lot of warnings about shoe failure and/or bruised feet on this trail. To the point where I was unnecessarily concerned about it but it's simply a non-issue!
To any potential 2016 walkers, just use common sense for footwear (boots or runners). If you live in Vic; checkout Werribee Gorge and Cathedral Ranges to get an idea.
I think it's the 220+km combined with a heavy pack that will cause problems, not necessarily the sharp rocks.

3) Gaiters/spinifex
We didn't take gaiters and we were glad. I just didn't see the spinifex as major problem, although we were wearing long pants (for sun protection). Just the occasional misplaced foot would result some spikes getting through and even then it was nothing to worry about... perhaps in a different season their ends are sharper?
The buffel grass burr seeds were the worst! In sections with this grass; do look before you sit down or you will end up with 100s of them in your clothes.

4) Suggested times
The times found on the parks NT descriptions and chapman book were about on par and not ridiculously inflated, especially with a heavy pack and walking when hot.
But once we hit our stride (about after day 6 for us) with lighter packs, we were starting to the cut the times in half.

5) Food
We had estimated 800g of food per person per day. Instead we were eating roughly 400-500g
Note to self, dont take too much food next time
Note to others: Vitafresh sachets were our favorites

6) Water
We did section 9 (the dry section) from about 3pm to 11am and drank only 5-6L (between 2 people) of the 10L we carried.
(Also camped deep in the gully of Waterfall Gorge, probably our favorite camp all up)
The other sections needed even less in water, which meant a lot of weight savings.

7) East to west
Since 75% of our walking was done in the morning, it meant we didn't have the sun in our eyes most of the time. This would be my greatest argument for east to west traveling.

8 ) Mid-August (shoulder season)
June July seems to attract the most number of walkers (not great if you prefer solitude), plus the mornings can easily be below freezing.
Mid August can be a gamble with the afternoon temp: It can reach 30C (luckily we didnt get any days above 26C), so there is more reason to not walk during midday, but at least you get a bit more day light each day.

9) Ormiston gorge
We found that the pound walk wasn't that unique compared to the rest of the trail and could be skipped; although the gorge itself was well worth the time.
The kiosk offer the use of their phone for $1 per minute, which was great to call Alice Wanderer to ask them to pick us up 2 days earlier than scheduled (although hitching a ride would also be a cheaper and more convenient method of getting back back to alice springs if you are into that).
The campsite wasnt that nice in our opinion so we left before sunset and found a nice river bed to sleep in 1h or so to the west.

10) Brinkly bluff
My partner's Iphone 5 manged to just get reception on the optus network from Brinkly Bluff which was great to get a weather forecast.
My nexus 4 on optus did not get reception
We didn't get any wind up there while camping... must have been pretty lucky

11) A dingo didn't steal my baby!
But it did steal someone else's food. See my other post if interested: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=20101&sid=eb1d1a247ca35a2511c5044fab291eed#p277366
Basically, the dingoes and crows can still get into your sack of food bags if they are placed on top of a water tank.

12) Food drops
We should have got the food drop at Standly Chasm to save a few kg on the first few days (our hardest days). Alice Wanderer offers it with no problems or fuss.
Also I found Alice Wanderer was the cheapest provider and got the job done

13) Larapinta trail was the best
We had the time of our lives on this trail. If you are considering going; please do, its an amazing place and I'm so sad I'm not back out there right now. I cant put it to words just how special it was.
I would love to go back again... maybe even when the rivers are flowing (only once every decade or so I hear)

[LachlanB]

Thanks for the notes, went out there in 2010 car camping, and have been meaning to go back and do the Larapinta ever since (although, I suppose I wouldn't get flowing rivers twice in a row)...
Out of curiosity, you mentioned that you used Alice Wanderer and changed your pickup date at Ormiston. Did they charge you for both dates, or were they fine with the change?

[Human]

Out of curiosity, you mentioned that you used Alice Wanderer and changed your pickup date at Ormiston. Did they charge you for both dates, or were they fine with the change?

We were due to be picked up from Redbank on the following Friday.
I called them on the Sunday and asked to change the pickup from Friday to Wednesday. There were no extra costs, nor any grumbling and moaning.
Maybe if you call them within 24h or 48h it would be more of a hassle... but you could always ask them before leaving, everyone is very friendly out there

[LachlanB]

Sound good, I'll have to keep a note of Alice Wander then.
My main reason for asking is that I'd like to do the Larapinta East-West, because that way you are walking away from civilisation, rather than towards it. Also, apparently you get tantalising glimpses of Mt Zeil and Mt Sonder to keep an eye out for. But I was worried about the whole 'must turn up on day x for the shuttle back to Alice' thing. My walking speed is quite variable (especially over over 200 km), and it'd be nice to have the extra flexibility...

[walkon]

2) Shoe failure?

I had read a lot of warnings about shoe failure and/or bruised feet on this trail. To the point where I was unnecessarily concerned about it but it's simply a non-issue!
). If you live in Vic; checkout Werribee Gorge and Cathedral Ranges to get an idea.
I think it's the 220+km combined with a heavy pack that will cause problems, not necessarily the sharp rocks.

The above is the worst advice yet. My group had two sets of shoes failing, one only making it through to the end with string, tape and tin cans. Another bloke nursed his trail runners through to the end in a similar manner on the same day we finished. Also saw a couple of runners with destroyed trail runners that were four days into their adventure requiring them to come off it. The Lone Dingo outdoor shop supplies shoes to larapinta walkers regulary who have had theirs fail. Maybe its because they listen to advice like this.
Werribee Gorge and the Cathedrals have nothing on the Larapinta the quartzite that makes up the McDonald range is way sharper

[Human]

I find it interesting you misquoted me and removed the part where I said "use common sense". It really does change the tone.

As for you comments on your experiences on the trail; that's great, the more info out there for everyone the better. I sure am glad I had read all of those horror stories BEFORE I left so I had a chance to consider by shoes, but on the other hand I am also glad I didn't go overboard assuming I would be literally walking on razor sharp rock.
As I said above, use common sense.

As for your: "The above is the worst advice yet", that is not necessary.

[north-north-west]

2) Shoe failure?

I had read a lot of warnings about shoe failure and/or bruised feet on this trail. To the point where I was unnecessarily concerned about it but it's simply a non-issue!
). If you live in Vic; checkout Werribee Gorge and Cathedral Ranges to get an idea.
I think it's the 220+km combined with a heavy pack that will cause problems, not necessarily the sharp rocks.

The above is the worst advice yet.

He hasn't really said anything all that much different to what I said, which was essentially that strongly built walking shoes are adequate with due attention to where you put your feet.

I usually walk with boots, but I refuse to do so in the Centre and the Top End. I've done overnighters in Litchfield and the MacDonnells in sandals. It's partly about knowing the limitations of your footwear, and partly about putting your feet in the right place. If people are more comfortable in boots, that's fine, but boots are not the only practical option.

[weeds]

Human, Thanks for the tips as I'm keen to do the walk next year.......I am surprised KT's lasted distance.

NNW, I assume the majority of the walk is on a hard rock surface hence the reason for selecting shoes with a softer sole??

[north-north-west]

There's a lot of dirt, a fair bit of sand, and a lot of rock. A reasonable amount of the rock is broken and sharp edged. You need footwear that can cope with that.
But that doesn't mean only one type of footwear would work. A well-built pair of walking shoes worked fine for me. My socks died, the shoes looked like new (except for the dust) when I finished.

[rocketrm2]

lots of hard sharp rocks glad to have good boots Keen brand solid but not heavy ie mid weight. At Glenn Helen there is a display of boots that did not make it. Surprised to several top brands like Scarpa, Asolo lying with detached soles stuck up with duct tape

[weeds]

Oh.....hope my Scarpa hold up

[north-north-west]

Detached soles is not something that I've ever seen from a bit of rock walking. It's usually a failure in the adhesive used to attach the sole.