Kings Creek Walk, Watarka National Park - December 2015

I'm sitting on the couch in Alice Springs at the moment, almost unbelievably for summer in Central Australia I've had a rain day. There has been some big floods up in the Daly River area of the Northern Territory while we've been up here, in fact the authorities have evacuated the whole town by helicopter to Darwin and left the town to the Saltwater Croc's who have moved in and are snacking on the local dogs. Now we are copping the tail end of the low in Alice Springs and its been wet and grey all day, even more unbelievably for Alice Springs in summer the temperature today only reached the mid 20's. So while I'm watching the cricket I thought that I'd knock out a post about a nice walk that we did earlier in the trip when we were back at Watarrka National Park, the short Kings Creek Walk.

Heading into Kings Canyon.

I promised Sam that this was a nice easy walk so she decided to join my on this stroll, but after arriving at the car park and finding Kings Creek flowing a banka I wasn't sure it was the smartest thing that I've ever said. A quick look at my (very basic) map showed the track going up the middle of the creek, but I seem to remember the track criss crossing the creek on its way up to the lookout, oh well there was only one way to find out. Setting off the wide paved path the track headed past the locked Kings Canyon Rim Walk, somewhat ironically with all the flowing water around, closed this time of the day due to the heat, about twenty metres after passing the closed track we got to our first water crossing.

The first crossing of Kings Creek.

Now I would normally crap on about how I prepared for my walk and tell you that I'd worn my teva sandals due to me realising the need to wade through the creek, but in reality I was to lazy to pull on my boots for such a short walk. Sam on the other hand came prepared with boots and sensible clothes, so she was no doubt overjoyed to realise that after walking 5 minutes she was going to have to complete the rest of the stroll with wet boots and pants after wading Kings Creek.

Looking up Kings Creek towards the canyon.

Now I've been here at least a dozen times over the years but I've never actually seen Kings Creek flowing so to see it gushing with crystal clear water was a bit of a treat really. Wading in to the first crossing the rushing water was just below knee height, but with the reasonably good path underneath it wasn't too bad. The day was quite warm, probably around the high 30's, but the water was cool and refreshing, I was already checking out likely spots for a dip. With the clear water tannin stained and the red rock underneath it was a little hard to see the bottom once the water got knee deep, so I crossed back and helped Sam over, have I mentioned that it was our anniversary today?  After asking Sam to wade up a creek in her boots, I was keen to do what I could to preserve some marital harmony!

Sam looks happy.....doesn't she?

The walk up Kings Creek continued in much the same fashion, at one stage the track followed long rocky terrace that would normally provide great walking, today we inched our way along trying not to step off the submerged terrace. After safely completing the rock terrace we came to our last crossing of Kings Creek, here we crossed over to the north bank before making the short climb to the lookout. This crossing was slightly deeper and the rushing water was flowing over some descent sized rocks, with the uneven surface and the deep flowing water we had to be a little careful here, I was enjoying the cool water rushing around my legs though so was not too concerned how long it took to get across.

The last crossing was a bit rougher and deeper.

To be honest the lookout is a little bit underwhelming, the views of Kings Canyon on the rim walk are much better, but the walk up the creek under the Red Gums and Cycads had been worth the effort. After taking the obligatory photo of the towering red cliffs at the lookout we started our return walk. Like I've mentioned before I'm quite partial to a nice swim and on the walk up I'd noticed a few likely spots, so on our return walk we detoured off the track to a couple of nice spots for a soak. One of the best things about being out in the bush is finding a nice freshwater swimming hole to take a dip in on a hot day, its a sublime feeling slipping into some cool water and getting that feeling of weightlessness while having a break on a hot walk. Today I set myself up below a small rapid, the cool water pummelling my back and giving me a nice shoulder massage at the same time.

The view to the head of the canyon from the lookout.

Time for a cooling dip.

Sam wasn't as keen as me to jump in so after a short break it was time to climb out of the water and head back to the ute, retracing our steps we manage to negotiate all the crossings without incident. It really had been a privilege to witness Kings Creek in flood.

Heading back down along the submerged rock shelf.

The Dirt.

This is a really easy walk, somehow I managed to stretch it out to 3.1 kilometres although on the signage its listed as 2 km, the extra distance is probably down to me exploring the creek for places to swim. We climbed 66 metres over the three kilometres, most of those metres were probably me climbing in and out of the creek. This walk is near the Kings Canyon Resort at the western end of Watarrka National Park, it is a great walk for small children or the elderly who may find the longer alternative of the Kings Canyon Rim Walk a bit tough. I used John Daly's notes out of his Take A Walk in Northern Territory's National Parks, the notes and map are pretty basic but its all you really need.

For F@#ks sake....

Hey hey, free wifi at the trail head....none at the resort though!