Day: 100
Date: Friday, 09 October 2020
Start: Wilpena Pound
Finish: Wilpena Pound
Daily Kilometres: 0 (click here for Julie's Strava and photos from our walk)
Total Kilometres: 10351
Weather: Cold early, then sunny and mild
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Muesli
Lunch: Trail mix
Dinner: Chicken schnitzel, salad & chips, Tim Tams
Aches: I am going to be very sore tomorrow after our hike. Bike fit isn't hiking fit at my age, and although the cardiovascular system coped fine, my lower back and hips are aching tonight.
Highlight: The 360° view from the top of St Mary's Peak (1168m) was superb. You could see the unique Wilpena Pound, a huge 30 square kilometre basin surrounded by uplifted mountains, the folds of ranges running north, distant mountains, and dry arid plains stretching to the horizon. The sky was cloudless, the temperatures mild and visibility excellent. We were up there by ourselves for 20 minutes and felt like king and queen of the world.
Lowlight: None today
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We emerged from our tent around 7am to a cold and clear windless morning and had a leisurely breakfast before setting off to hike the outside track to the summit of St Mary's Peak, the high point of the mountains surrounding Wilpena Pound, and the highest peak in the Flinders Ranges.
The trail notes called the hike strenuous, and they are not kidding. After a few kilometres warming us up with some relatively gentle hills through groves of cypress pines, the track ascended steeply, with a lot of rock scrambling, up to the rim of the Pound. Although we were constantly watching our footing and grip, we still had plenty of time to stop and admire the ever-expanding scene below us.
From the rim, there is a very slow out-and-back couple of kilometres to the peak, involving almost non-stop boulder-scrambling, testing both our strength and flexibility (neither of us have much of the latter). It was hard work, but the view from the top, which we reached around noon, was superb (see above). There was nobody else there and we savoured the grandeur in isolation. Twenty minutes later, another couple arrived and we set off back down the mountain, meeting a number of other groups on their way up, some of whom seemed to be struggling, and another well off the track (we called out to them and set them right).
Back at the junction where the outside track reached the rim, we took the inside track, a long gradual very rocky descent along the side of a mountain, down into the Pound itself. We only met one other group on the descent, and otherwise had to ourselves the stunning views, birdsong and sounds of a creek rushing unseen below.
When we reached the Pound floor which, with the mountains as a natural barrier, had been used for sheep grazing from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century, we found shady groves of cypress pines interspersed with some large clearings. The walking was mostly flat, the air temperature perfect for hiking and the sky above a cloudless blue. We couldn't think of anywhere we would rather be.
Near the gorge exit from the Pound we passed the beautifully restored stone cottage built around 1900 by the farming family who then lived in the Pound. From there it was just a few more kilometres back through the gorge to the campground where we arrived at 4:30pm after our 21km journey.
After showers, we had an early dinner at the bistro, followed by an early night. Back on our bikes tomorrow.
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