Mutawintji Gorge Walk, Mutawintji National Park - December 2020

Mutawintji Gorge.

I had a few rough plans for Christmas Day this year... none of them featured me floating through a slot canyon in the desert though. Floating on my back looking up at the cobalt blue sky above the towering red walls of the gorge I had to admit that for once the unexpected turn had been for the better.

Christmas Day 2020.

Mutawintji Gorge.

Mutawintji Gorge.

This was part of our trip up to Broken Hill over Christmas 2020. Sam and I had decided that we'd make the trip out of town and up to Mutawintji National Park to do a bit of walking. While the forecast temperature was in the low 30˚ range I figured it would still be OK for walking, especially later in the day when I really wanted to be out. My plan was to do the Mutawintji Gorge Walk while I waited for a bit of heat to go out of the day and then swing over and do the Byngnano Range Walk when things cooled down a bit later in the day. So, after a fairly comfortable 2 hour drive up from town I parked the ute at the dusty Mutawintji Gorge Car Park and set off into the afternoon heat to explore a bit.

The best map that I've found for this walk was actually at the visitor centre at the entrance to the park.

I started off by crossing the sandy bed of Old Mutawintji Creek.

Sam had decided to stay under the picnic shelter instead of heading off into the desert with me this afternoon so I shuffled off on my own. The track immediately crossed the dry sandy bed of Old Mutawintji Creek before striking out in a south easterly direction towards some low hills that hemmed in the sandy valley. Last time I was up here was probably more than two decades ago and in those days I was able to drive all the way to the spot where the gorge starts, now days there is a reasonable walk to reach the start of gorge. After rising a little to cross the slopes of a small hill I soon dropped back down again to follow the Old Mutwintji Creek closely again.

The track is sparsely marked however it's mostly pretty well defined.

Mutawintji National Park.

This country is still recovering from its grazing days.

Getting closer to the gorge the country gets a little more rugged.

Passing through these belts of thicker bush the track got a little vague in spots.

There are few old fence lines still standing.

Following the creek fairly closely now the sometimes vague track swung from south-easterly to easterly while using the creek bed to get through a small gap in some low hills. With the creek now heading east the country started to close in a little as the red rocky outcrops lining the sides of the creek started getting more substantial. Eventually my track pretty well petered out and I found myself mostly walking up the creek bed. When the sandy creek bed gave way to big rocks it not only meant that the easy walking was over for awhile but also signalled the fact that I was in the gorge proper. After a lot of rock hopping and a couple of easy scrambles I was greeted at the waterhole at the end of the gorge by a family out for an afternoon's swimming. 

I'm starting to get into the gorge now.

The formal track pretty well finishes where the gorge starts.

Heading into Mutawintji Gorge this afternoon.

Mutawintji Gorge.

Rock hopping my way up Mutawintji Gorge.

It was time to strip off and check out that slot canyon.

I hadn't seen any other vehicles in the car park so I was mildly surprised to find other people out here, however after our introductions all became clear. The family were some of the traditional owners of the park and as such they had access to the key that let them drive in to the start of the gorge (remember the track that I mentioned when I visited here years ago). My (very limited) understanding was that swimming was a no go out here, however after asking my new friends what the situation was I was assured that it was OK, not only that but they pointed out that the best bit of the gorge was actually the narrow slot canyon on the other side of the waterhole and there was only one way to check it out and that was by swimming... you ripper!

There was a nice sand bar that allowed a somewhat dignified entry to the water.

I was swimming across to the slot canyon (it's a little hard to see).

Getting closer, the slot is a bit easier to see.

Mutawintji Gorge.

Mutawintji Gorge.

Mutawintji Gorge.

This gently trickling waterfall was as far as I was going today.

And that is pretty much where my rough plans for the day went out the window, with the chance of swimming and soaking in an outback waterhole on a hot day on offer, the Byngnano Range would have to wait for another visit. Now it wasn't all sweetness and light though, I was pretty conscious that Sam was waiting for me back at the car park and would of been a little concerned if my two hour stroll stretched into the early evening. So with that in mind I eventually emerged from the water. After drip drying on the rocks under the desert sun for awhile I pulled my sweaty boots back on and retraced my journey back to the car park. With my little walk having taken a bit longer than I'd envisaged we decided to just enjoy an early picnic dinner before heading back to Broken Hill this afternoon.

The swim back out was heading into the late afternoon sun.

Floating out of the gorge on my back - walking doesn't get much better than this in my eyes.

Mutawintji Gorge.

Mutawintji Gorge, Mutawintji National Park.

Mutawintji Gorge, Mutawintji National Park.

Heading back to the ute I took one last look up into the gorge.

Mutawintji Gorge, Mutawintji National Park.

Creek bed walking as I made my way out of the gorge.

Back in the more open country. Mutawintji National Park.

Mutawintji National Park.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 6.4 kilometres and climbed about 55 metres on this easy-medium grade stroll. This walk was generally fairly easy although the creek bed walking in the gorge ramped things up a little. This track is sparsely way-marked and the vegetation (there had been a bit of rain up here over the previous months) was obscuring some of the markers and crowding the track in spots, that said so long as you keep the creek in sight you really shouldn't go too far wrong. As far as I know there are no published walking notes for this stroll. I got a bit of information off the NSW Parks site and used my GPS Topos for navigation. Mutawintji National Park is around 110 kilometres into the desert from Broken Hill with around the last 50 kilometres un-sealed. In dry conditions the road is OK for a 2wd vehicles although you'd be more comfortable with a 4wd I think. Driving to the Mutwintji Gorge Walk trail head once in the park there is a sandy creek crossing that judging by the amount of broken pieces of plastic littering the sand must cause some people a problem - if the creek crossing is too dodgy for your vehicle it's easy enough to walk to the trail head from there and it wouldn't add too much distance.

Relevant Posts.

The Living Desert Sculpture Symposium Walk, 2020.

Like in a lot of these semi arid areas the Feral Goats are a real problem here.

Arriving back at the trail head. Sam was waiting for me in the shade reading her book.

The visitor shelter near the entrance to the park has free BBQ's, picnic tables, shade and toilets.

Back at our accommodation at the Broken Hill Outback Resort I had a different waterhole to soak in. 

The view from the tub at sunset was pretty sweet.