Blinman Pools - November 2010

There was quite a bit of water around on this visit.

I did this walk out to Blinman Pools well before I even knew what a blog was, so once again some of details are a little hazy. Blinman Pools are located east of the small town of Parachilna and west of Blinman. Back when I visited the two towns were connected with a dirt road that cut a sinuous route through the Northern Flinders Ranges, with the walk starting near Angorichina Village at around the halfway point. Back then this walk was outside the boundary of the nearby Flinders Ranges National Park with the pools actually on Alpana Station, and from what I can tell that’s still the case.

I set off fairly early in the morning on this walk.

It was a hot day so passing these beautiful pools required all my Feral willpower.

Blinman Creek

Walking to Blinman Pools basically involved dropping into the normally dry bed of Blinman Creek and following it’s meandering journey up stream. On this visit the creek actually did have an intermittent flow in places, the small crystal clear rock pools looking very enticing on what was a fairly hot day. The soft sandy creek made for fairly hard walking but thankfully there was a fair bit to stop and look out and the old Red Gums lining the creek were supplying some nice shade.

I was getting a bit of shade from the trees lining the banks of Blinman Creek.

Blinman Creek

After climbing around a couple of dry waterfalls I got to what I’m guessing is the Second Pool which is around 6 kilometres from Angorichina Village. Now I really am guessing a bit here as it may have been First Pool, but whatever the case it was as far as I went today. Whatever the name of the spot it was a great place to swim and relax while I waited for the heat to come out of the day before returning to the troopie back at Angorichina Village. Blinman Pools were named after Robert ‘Pegleg’ Blinman who was a stockman on Angorichina Station back in 1859 who discovered copper near here, the mine operated for the next thirty years and was the biggest copper mine north of Burra.

This was as far as I got today.

Heading back down to Angorichina Village in the lengthening shadows.

With the sting gone out of the sun a bit I retraced my steps back down the creek to the troopie, the walk livened up a little with an up close and personal sighting of an Easter Brown Snake (I think). Apart from the snake the other good thing about my return walk was the late afternoon sun lighting up the hills around Blinman Creek, the local Euros also seemed to be enjoying the late afternoon judging by their numbers.

I think this is an Eastern Brown Snake.

Best avoid getting too close to this bloke I think!

The Dirt.
Ok, like I’ve already mentioned this is another walk that I’m writing up retrospectively. According to the information I can find online the walk comes in at 12 kilometres. While the walk is more or less flat there is (was) no actual track or track markers, so I guess I’d rate it as a medium grade walk. As far as I know there are still no published track notes for this walk but there is some good stuff floating around the inter web, although the usual disclaimers apply with the online stuff as the accuracy can sometimes be variable and subjective. Lastly this country is arid and hot, especially in summer. While I did the walk in November I wouldn’t recommend that, unless you are an experienced walker who is accustomed to the heat. Unfortunately, as I’m writing this there is news of another tourist gone missing up at Alice Springs. I might take the piss a little about my fitness, weight, age or ability, but over the decades I’ve done a lot of walking in very hot climates and these areas kill people every year, so please don’t take walks in these areas lightly. It’s a horrible feeling to have someone go missing or die on a walk that I've written up and think that I might of contributed to them being out there and getting into trouble. I’m always happy to offer help and advice if people email me.

Relevant Posts.
Melbourne, Adelaide & the Flinders Ranges, 1986.
Wilpena Pound Circuit, Flinders Ranges National Park, 1999.
The ABC Range & Bunyeroo Gorge, Flinders Ranges National Park, 2011.

Blinman Creek in the Northern Flinders Rangers in the late afternoon......I love this stuff.