Mt Remarkable Gorges, Mt Remarkable National Park - October 1999

Apathy seems to be creeping back in and I haven't been for a walk this week, as I write this up on Saturday night there's a slim chance that I might break with tradition a go for a stroll tomorrow, but I wouldn't bet on it. I like to have at least one day a week where I can just chill out and re charge for the week ahead, and Sunday is my day of choice for kicking back. My Sundays normally consist of breakfast with Sam down in Mornington, before returning home and watching Insiders, Offsiders and Landline on the ABC, then the afternoon is spent doing a few chores around the house, getting my bike ready for the week, and maybe writing up a post for my blog or my Crazy Guy journal. Instead of walking this Saturday I sat and watched the showers come in from the south west, kidding myself that I might head out late in the afternoon if the weather cleared, I'm definitely getting old and boring! What I did do though was go through the feral archives and consequently I've dug out some photo's of a walk Sam and I did in the Mt Remarkable National Park 15 years ago, so I'll have a go at a bit of a retro post.

Day 1                            Teal Dam Camp                    21 kilometres

We arrived at Mt Remarkable National Park two days before the national park's people close the park for overnight walking for the summer so I wasn't expecting to see a lot of walkers. Parking at Mambray Creek there was only one other car in the small walkers car park, even the large Mambray Creek Camp was more or less empty. After signing in and grabbing our permit we were soon making our way up the management track along Mambray Creek, the walk made more interesting by short sections of walking track that broke up the road bash. Less than an hour after leaving the car we met Alligator Creek coming in from the left, from here on the walking improved a lot. We would now follow the valley of Alligator Creek all the way to camp for the night, initially red bluffs crowded the track as Alligator Creek twisted and turned its way generally north, the track crossing and re crossing the dry creek.

Sam, on the track near Hidden Camp.

Bypassing the track to Hidden Gorge (tomorrows return route) we soon arrived at Hidden Camp and once again met up with a management track which we would now follow most of the way to camp. The dirt management track provided for fairly easy side by side walking and as we proceeded northwards the valley opened up a bit (or maybe we climbed a bit) and we got some extensive views of the rugged surrounding semi arid ranges. Passing the deserted Kingfisher Camp and Dam we continued our journey northwards, it was now early afternoon and the day had heated up nicely, although from what I recall it wasn't overly hot. On reaching Blue Gum Flat we turned down another fire track and dropped down to the bush camp at Teal Dam, which at that time consisted of a patch of dirt and nothing else. 

There's a Wallaby in there somewhere.

After setting up camp we headed off on a side trip to explore Alligator Gorge, initially we followed the management track which headed towards the top of a long ridge known as The Battery. Just before actually cresting The Battery we doubled back on a walking track that headed down to the northern entrance of Alligator Gorge. Once in Alligator Creek it was just a matter of rock hopping our way down the dry creek, the walls of Alligator Gorge close in until they are almost within an arm's span. Luckily today the creek was fairly dry so there was no need to wade any deep pools, I'd been here years before when it was necessary to wade sections of the gorge. After completing our navigation of Alligator Gorge we climbed up to the Blue Gum Flat Picnic Area where we filled our water bottles from the tap before returning to our small tent for another relaxing night.

Alligator Gorge.

The rarely seen 'Rock Surfing Idiot'.

All our gear had to go into the plastic bag as there was no room in the tent, Teal Dam Camp.

Day 2                       Mambray Creek           16 kilometres       37 kilometres total.

We woke next morning feeling remarkably refreshed, probably something to do with us being fifteen years younger than today, now days it takes my about two minutes for my muscles to remember how to stand on two feet after crawling out of my tent, I must look like pre historic man as I stagger around trying to get my balance now days. Today was a bit warmer then yesterday but it still wasn't overly warm, we had got lucky with the weather on this walk, the management tracks would be hard work if the temperatures got into the thirties. Today we retraced our steps back Hidden Gorge, and like yesterday the management track provided for an easy ramble, also like yesterday we didn't see another person the whole way.

Plenty of red bluffs and native pines near Hidden Gorge.

Reaching the Hidden Gorge Track we headed into the gorge, the red bluffs and native pines started to tower overhead, the walls of Hidden Gorge closing right in. In one particularly narrow spot we disturbed a large Brown Snake, with not much room for him or us to retreat we kept a close eye on him as he slithered along the walls of the gorge looking for an escape. Eventually Hidden Gorge opened up a bit and we left the superb walking of Hidden Gorge and slowly climbed onto The Battery for some more stunning walking.

Walking through Hidden Gorge the walls close right in.

Probably not the best spot to come across a large Brown Snake.

The Battery is a long, high, reasonably flat ridge that runs from near Mambray Creek all the way north to past Alligator Gorge, it provides a grand stand view over Spencer Gulf, if your driving south along highway 1 south of Port Augusta glance to your left just before the highway crosses Mambray Creek and the flat topped mountain range is The Battery. We now followed The Battery gently downhill enjoying the far reaching views over the gulf, the last sting for our walk was a short climb up The Bluff which towers above Mambray Creek and effectively marks the end of The Battery. After taking in our last great view from The Bluff we descended steeply down to Mambray Creek, disturbing a mob of kangaroo's and a few emu's on the way. On reaching the car all that was left to do was sign out, have a cold shower in the camps showers and then head off on the twelve hour drive home, life was good!

Looking north over Spencer Gulf towards Port Augusta.

The Dirt.

We used Lonely Planet's Bushwalking in Australia notes for this walk, they were out of the third edition of the long running series, this edition was written by John and Monica Chapman. We also used the 1:50,000 topo maps Melrose and Wilmington. The walking  in Mt Remarkable is through a semi arid mountain range, so water and heat are the two biggest concerns, back when we did the walk there was permanent water at both Mambray Creek Camp and Blue Gum Picnic Area so water wasn't that much of an issue. The park was closed to multi day walk on the 1st of November back in 1999, so I assume the situation today is the same, you can still get some very warm temperatures outside the closed season so check out the forecast before heading off on any long walks, it really wouldn't be much fun marching along the management tracks in stinking hot weather and there usually aren't any places to have a swim and cool off. The tracks we used were all well signposted and fairly easy to follow, I guess I'd rate this as a medium walk.

Looking across Spencer Gulf towards Whyalla.