Its been quite some time since I have properly updated you all on the journey. We left off at my departure into the West MacDonnell Mountain Ranges of the Norther Territory, north of Alice Springs. Although my original intention was to walk you day-by-day along my trek there, it doesn't seem to do justice to just how incredible the trek really was.
I would safely label that time as my life's biggest "You had to be there" moment.
With the Larapinta Trail as my guide I was gone 'walkabout' across some of the most amazing country I have ever seen.
I was over a week in the mountains, tackling 200km of mountains and valleys, gorges and river-flat plains, headed west towards the Tanami desert.
In a situation like this, proper water consumption should be priority (right up there with NOT getting bitten by snakes). On only day 2 of my trek I felt the effects of dehydration and heat stroke - only 49Km in. Not cool. I saw first hand just how easy it is to fall victim to dehydration, one of the leading causes of death in the Outback.
Drink little and drink often. Drinking too much water can be damaging just as under drinking can be. You can't afford to forget to drink enough in a situation like that. 28-32 degree days, a lot of ascent, and day after day of beating sun while you are constantly on the move.
My best bet would have been walking at night by the light of the moon. The skies were so clear that even a half moon would have given ample light to walk by, not to mention I was carrying so hefty fire power for lighting. But instead I kept to the light, waking early before sunrise and setting up my nights camp in the fading evening light. I made camp each day in the hottest hours of the afternoon. I would set up my tent and do my best to create at least some shade, which wasn't always easy.
One afternoon I stopped to make camp on a high ridge spanning mountain peaks, there were no trees, and almost no bush or scrub of any kind thanks to the bush fires. And with the sun directly overhead its hard to make any escape.
The only real shelter at that point was to pitch my tent - which was no cup of tea in the wind at 1100' on a 5m wide ridge - and use my sleeping bag to line the roof of the tent in order to cast at least a bit of shade to get myself out of direct sunlight. This method was pretty effective, however it doesn't compare to the shade of a nice big river gum. The down insulation held the heat in more than I would have liked, but it was good to get out of the sun!
My biggest concern throughout the trek, and across the whole country really, was mainly the snakes. And considering there are some 140 different species of land snakes in Australia, not to mention about another 32 water snakes, the odds of running into one in some of the places I went was a given. And boy I saw a lot. I was averaging 3 snakes a day in the mountains. Mainly browns(like the one to the left) thankfully. Though I did encounter one smaller python and what I believe may have been a small fierce snake - the most toxic species of land snake known to man. However, it is NOT the worlds most toxic venomous snake.
I was actually fairly impressed at how much surface water there was to be found across the West Mac's. Now mind you, a large portion of it was far from drinkable, however I did find a few water holes suitable for a refreshing swim, and apparently drinkable too! But there was a lot of tainted water out there, mucky, slime filled, orange-green-brown sludge pools. And at one point I thought I had found a nice little pool, possibly something I could filter and store for boiling, coming from an underground spring in the rocks at that. But... I am glad I took my time to check out the scene before I dove in.
See the below picture.
Warning... the following images may make you squirmy and icky...
Yup, a kangaroo carcass had spoiled the waterhole.
This is something you need to be extremely careful about when searching for water. You can't be too careful when scouting the source of you water, making sure you aren't drinking from a stale source. But you must also be sure to inspect the area AROUND the water. Even though the majority of the roo was not in the water, it lay on a ledge above the water, and you can bet your boomerang there has been more than enough wash in to that pool to taint the water beyond salvage. On top of that, a skull in my drinking water is enough to turn me off as it is.
But these weren't the only "left-overs" I found around Oz; camels, cows, wild pigs, roos, wild goats. The camel bones looked like dinosaur bones, an exciting find out in the mountains.
My gear held up well, and I was more than impressed, especially with the performance of my shoes. I definitely stretched the capabilities and boundaries of my Ospray Atmos 50L pack though. Between my 5L of water, food rations and my gear I well exceeded the recommended weight to be carried in it - avg. 35Lbs. But it held together. I did feel the repercussions, and they weren't pretty, but it was one heck of a pounding test for it. That bag has been dropped, dragged, banged, tossed and everything in between and she still holds tough. Can't beat it.
