Trephina Gorge Walk, Trephina Gorge Nature Park - December 2015

Yes it's time for another post from our trip to Central Australia late last year, this is story of an incredibly short ramble in the Trephina Gorge Nature Park so I'd hazard a guess and say that the post will be a little on the anaemic side as well. As I've mentioned before Trephina Gorge is in the less visited Eastern MacDonnell Ranges, I spent a bit more time than usual in the Eastern Macs on this trip due to some serious flooding out west preventing me from accessing some of the other walks. I actually did this walk on the same day, and after walking the N'Dhala Gorge Walk with Sam. Mentioning to Sam that I was thinking of going for another stroll she just raised her eye brows and gave me that look, yeah the look that says you can do what you want but I'm not walking anymore.

The walking in Trephina Gorge Nature Park is generally well signposted.

So leaving Sam in the ute I headed out on this short stroll solo. The route climbs up a sloping rocky ramp before levelling out above Trephina Gorge, this bit of the track is also the start of the much harder Ridge Top Walk. The view of the wide arcing sandy bed of Trephina Creek is quite good from up here, in fact its probably the best photo on the walk in hind sight. With the Ridge Top Walk heading off on its journey over to John Hayes Rockhole I continued on the gorge walk, it's a little hard to get a good overview of the gorge so you'll have to believe me that its quite a pretty little stroll. 

Probably the best spot to take a photo of the gorge is almost as soon as you gain the tops.

Trephina Bluff in the distance.

The Trephina Gorge Walk keeps more or less to the western edge of the gorge, spread out below Trephina Creek had a few lingering pools of water in it, left over from the recent rain, the sides of the creek lined by Red Gums. Part way along the western rim the track leaves the tops to cross a shallow side valley which today had a small trickle of water making its way towards the main gorge. After a steep climb out of the side creek the route once again regains the tops but almost immediately starts to slowly descend towards Trephina Creek at the northern end of the gorge, the descent allowing for some expansive views over Mordor Pound to the north.

The route drops into this nice side valley.

Mordor Pound.

Looking back into Trephina Gorge from the northern end of the gorge.

Reaching the wide sandy bed of Trephina Creek it was just a matter of heading back through the gorge via the creek bed. I zig zagged my way down stream avoiding the deeper pools of water, checking out the gnarled Red Gums on the way which starkly stood out against the red ochre walls of the gorge. It only took me around twenty minutes to walk through the gorge and I picked up the track back to the ute, hey I told you it was a short stroll, the whole walk took me less than an hour.

The soft sandy bed of Trephina Creek coming in from Mordor Pound.

There were a few pools of water, left over from recent rains.

The Dirt.

I walked 2 kilometres on this ramble and climbed 75 metres. I'd rate this walk as an easy stroll but.....it's probably not a walk for young children as there are some sections along un-fenced cliff lines. The walk starts at the gorge car park near the campground, so it is feasible to camp out here, there is drinking water available near the start of the walk. Trephina Gorge is a bit over an hour east of Alice Springs and is normally accessible in a 2wd car, 95% of the drive out is along a sealed road. John & Lyn Daly have written this walk up in their Northern Territory book.

Trephina Creek is lined by these impressive gnarly Red Gums.

Red Gum.

There's also a few Ghost Gums eking out an existence on the harsher higher ground.