Wild Flower Creek Camp to Junction Creek Camp via Cleft Peak, Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park - June 2012

The view from Cleft Peak.

It was a cold old night however the day dawned fine and clear, still it was with some frigid digits that I cooked breakfast and packed up my tent this morning. The plan for today was to climb Cleft Peak as a side trip and then drop down into the south branch of Italowie Creek and camp wherever I found some water. The walk to the west along Wildflower Creek started off very easily, the valley was wide enough to walk along the flats beside the creek however it wasn't long before the sides of the valley started to close in and I found myself scrambling up the creek bed. Around an hour after leaving camp I found myself scrambling up a big scree slope, I had to traverse left and right a few times but I soon climbed into a saddle on the main climbing ridge to Cleft Peak.

I got off to a fairly early start today.

Climbing out of Wildflower Creek.

That's Cleft Peak in front of me.

The route up Cleft Peak was fairly steep and loose.

From the saddle on the ridge I had views of Wildflower Creek on one side of the watershed, and the South Branch Italowie Creek on the other side. I could also see a creek that looked like it led pretty well straight to the south branch of Italowie Creek. First things first though, I grabbed my daypack and some water and munchies, and then headed off up the ridge to my south. The ridge provided a fairly straight forward route to the summit of Cleft Peak, it also provided magnificent views the whole way to the top with the weather now being perfect. Less than an hour after leaving the saddle I found myself scambling onto the summit of Cleft Peak, from the top I could see Mt John Roberts to the east and to the west Mt Changeweather and Mt McKinlay. The top of Cleft Peak was actually relatively flat, there was even a couple of spots where it would be possible to camp I think, although it would be a hard scramble carrying water and all your gear to the top. I spent awhile ambling around the top taking in the different views this morning, the view into Cleft Creek Gorge was particularly spectacular as it dropped vertically down hundreds of metres to meet Wildflower Creek.

 

The summit of Cleft Park is actually a fairly level area... you could probably find a small spot for tent up here.

The flanks of Cleft Park are anything but level though.

Looking back from Cleft Peak towards my first nights camp on Mt John Roberts.

Mt McKinlay from Cleft Peak.

Wortupa Pound and Red Hill from Cleft Peak - I'd be walking across the pound tomorrow.

Yet another stunning Cleft Peak view.

Eventually I decided that I'd taken enough photos so I headed over to the cairn and dug out the log book, spending a pleasant hour reading about the adventures of those who had come before me. All to soon it was time to head back down to my pack though and once again after finding the steep descent route I was on my way. The descent was actually trickier than the climb due to a combination of the steep grade and the loose rock, I lost track of the number of times that I'd slip and go to steady myself with a hand full of grass tree only to painfully realise that I'd grabbed a hand full of Spinifex...fuck!... Now I'd be spending the next month picking Spinifex prickles out of my hands - one of the joys of off piste walking in Australia's deserts.

A native pine clinging to the side of Cleft Peak.

Looking across to the Blue Range from Cleft Peak.

Looking down towards Cleft Creek.

Looking across Cleft Creek on my descent off Cleft Peak.

It was a steep and loose climb / descent.

Although maybe not quite this steep... but you get the idea.

Soon I was back down in the saddle and I was ready to drop down into the creek which would lead me to the south branch of Italowie Creek. To get to the creek I traversed across steep slopes to my right, then reached on open scree slope which I followed steeply down until I reached the creek, now I just followed the creek down stream until it reached the south branch of Italowie Creek. It was all pretty easy until I reached a series of small waterfalls, while these waterfalls were not very technical I still had to drop my pack down and then clamber down after it a couple of times. On the way down I passed a beautiful camping cave and I also found some crystal clear water just before I reached the junction with South Branch Italowie Creek. This would have made a great place to camp however it was still a bit early in the day although I did use the opportunity to top up my water bottles, I was figuring that I now had enough water to finish the walk even if I didn't come across any more... at a pinch.

Crossing the high saddle above Cleft Creek... I've heard that some parties climb Cleft Peak using Cleft Creek as their route.

There is no shortage of native wildlife up here.

One last look back at Cleft Peak - it all looks pretty easy from down here!

Once I got to the South Branch Italowie Creek, I dropped my pack and took a walk upstream as far as The Bathtub, a narrow gorge with a depression in it. The scenery in Italowie Creek grew more spectacular the further up stream I went and I made a mental note to come back and explore some more when I had more time. Now I was forced to return to my pack and start to make some tracks back in the direction of the ute. The walking downstream on South Branch Italowie Creek was very pleasant, I found myself taking the path of least resistance alternating between the creek bed and the fairly open banks. I planned to camp near the first available water assuming that I found some, as I was pretty sure I wouldn't find too much more water for the rest of the walk. As I approached Junction Creek I took to the creek bed under the huge red cliffs hoping to find some water where the creek flowed around a bend at the base of the cliffs, and bugger me there was a pool of crystal clear water. To make things even better there was a large flat area on the other side of the creek which looked like it would be an ideal place to camp.

South Branch Italowie Creek

South Branch Italowie Creek - the creek bed made for reasonably easy walking.

Late afternoon down in South Branch Italowie Creek.

South Branch Italowie Creek, Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park.

I set up the tent on a nice soft piece of dirt while across the creek the cliffs towered above me, on my side of the creek there was a rocky bluff with a cave that would have been good to climb if I had a little more energy. Once camp was organised I walked down to where Junction Creek entered Italowie Creek, the creeks are both 50 to 100 metres wide, they must make an awesome sight when they flow although this happens very infrequently I'm thinking. With lots of dead wood around and seeing it was my last night I decided to have a fire, so the evening was spent sitting by the fire, eating and drinking the last of my supplies, content in the knowledge that I had a reasonably easy walk out tomorrow. The Mushroom Risotto was pretty ordinary tonight however the freeze dried Strawberry Ice Cream made up for it, life's good. All too soon it was time to retire to the tent, where I settled in for some more reading before drifting off to sleep with the sound of dingoes howling in the distance.

I'm thinking that this is the spot where Junction Creek joins South Branch Italowie Creek.

I found a nice spot in the native pines to camp.

This rocky talus near camp would of been a nice climb... if I wasn't so tired!

The Dirt.

I walked around 11 kilometres and climbed around 600 metres on today's hard stroll. Over the 3 days of my Gammon adventure so far I've walked around 28.5 kilometres and climbed around 1460 metres. Today was another day of totally off track walking so navigation was a bit of an issue, particularly picking the correct branches of Wildflower Creek to follow as I neared its headwaters. Once again today there was also a fair bit of scrambling involved and a fair bit of it was pretty loose. I got water just before reaching South Branch Italowie Creek and then down near Junction Creek. Once walking the South Branch Italowie Creek there were a few camping options heading south although I think I might of got the best spot near Junction Creek. I used notes from the House of Chapmans book Bushwalking in Australia along with the Landsmap 1:50,000 Illinawortina map.

Relevant Posts.

Day 1 of this walk, 2012.

Day 2 of this walk, 2012.

My Junction Creek Camp.

Now here's something you don't see much of in a Feral blog. I actually love sitting around an open fire however in a lot of our more populated areas I think that the environmental damage caused if everyone decided to have a camp fire outweigh the enjoyment.

A hot chocolate with a dash of Baileys - it must be tent o'clock!

Mt John Roberts Camp to Wild Flower Creek Camp, Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park - June 2012

The side trip up to Shelf Chasm this afternoon was another good one.

Waking to the sound of rain on the tent I had a quick look outside, which only convinced me to get back into the sleeping bag for awhile. The cloud was now down below the height of the summit so relaxing in the dry tent for awhile quickly became the best option as it would be a lot easier locating the descent route off Mt John Roberts with some visibility. After snoozing for another hour the rain had almost stopped so I decided to get up and cook breakfast and by the time my porridge was ready the cloud had lifted and I had great views again. After filling in the log book, I packed up the soggy tent and had a last look around before stumbling off to find the descent spur.

Can you tell that I've used this sleeping bag since the late 1980's? I'm thinking the colours might give it away a bit.

The clouds starting to lift, time to get going again.

Mt John Roberts summit cairn.

By the time I set off the cloud had lifted enough to make it easier to locate my descent spur.

The cloud had well and truly lifted by now and there was now patches of blue breaking through. This made for a very pleasant walk down to Wildflower Creek, I even managed to descend the correct spur where it split, and in less than an hour I was at the junction of Italowie Creek north branch and Wildflower Creek. Once I'd confirmed that the sometimes unreliable waterhole had some decent water I decided that I would pitch the tent and do a day walk out to Shelf Chasm in the afternoon.

Looking down towards Wortupa Pound and Red Hill as I started to drop off Mt John Roberts. I'd be walking across Wortupa Pound on my last day.

The rocky ramparts of Mt John Roberts.

Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park

Dropping off Mt John Roberts.

The clouds pretty well lifted now.

With the tent pitched and an early lunch eaten I was on my way upstream towards Shelf Chasm. The creek provided fairly easy walking until I had to turn off to the right on a side creek and from here on things got a little rougher. As the walls closed in the scenery got more spectacular though, I disturbed a Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby as I approached the Old Man of Italowie rock stack. Here the gorge turned back on itself, with a thin rock band separating upstream from downstream 50 metres below. Kind of hard to describe with my limited vocabulary however it looked very spectacular.

Heading up towards Shelf Chasm.

The Old Man of Italowie rock stack.

Shelf Chasm side trip.

From the Old Man of Italowie I had some easy walking for awhile before I got to a large waterfall blocking the gorge. There was no easy way over this one, I had to climb high up the cliff on the left side then traverse along an exposed ledge before trying to climb down to the creek bed at the top of the falls. Everything was OK until I reached the last 3 metre drop, I had to go over a negatively cambered ledge and feel around with my feet for a foot hold, unfortunately the ledge didn't really provide enough hand holds to support me while my feet fished around for support. After dangling over the edge a couple of times trying to find some grip that I was confident in, I once again decided that the risk probably wasn't worth the reward. It was only a 2 or 3 metre drop but I was a long way from help and on my own. So after reconciling in my mind that this was as far up Shelf Chasm that I would go on this trip I retreated to the spectacular bend where the gorge turned back on its self and sat there taking it all in for awhile.

Shelf Chasm side trip.

The blue sky certainly lifts my Feral mood, this is on the Shelf Chasm side trip.

There was a bit of water about on the Shelf Chasm walk.

After climbing around for awhile, trying to get a photo that would do the scene justice I slowly started to head back to the tent. Once on Italowie Creek north branch it was easy walking back to the waterhole. The weather had cleared by now and the clear blue skies promised a cold night. I spent the last hour of daylight reading and sipping hot chocolate as the bluffs around the camp turned a fiery red in the setting sun.

Late afternoon on the Shelf Chasm side trip.

Shelf Chasm

Dropping back down to camp in the late afternoon.

Lamb curry was on the menu tonight, topped off with freeze dried strawberry ice cream. As I sat there eating and taking in the scene around me I contemplated the reasons that I had turned back on two climbs so far on this walk. Was it that I was getting more conservative as I aged? Was it because I was a long way from help?  Or would these scrambles always have exceeded my comfort level (at 120kg I'm not exactly built for rock climbing)? I'm still not exactly sure what the answer was however I suspect it was a combination of the reasons, still I was very content with my life as I crawled into my sleeping bag that night thinking of my Sam and all the adventures that hopefully lay ahead.

The late afternoon scenery from near camp kept me interested.

Cypress Pines and red bluffs... that'll do me!

The Dirt.

I walked around 11 kilometres and climbed around 360 metres today on what I'd call another hard day's walking. Over the 2 days of my Gammon Ranges adventure so far I've walked 17.5 kilometres and climbed 860 metres. Once again today's walking was all off track and once again it involved some serious scrambling, particularly on the Shelf Chasm side trip. I got water today from the waterhole at the junction of Wildflower Creek and North Branch Italowie Creek which is also where I camped, I also found good water on my side trip up towards Shelf Chasm. I used notes from the House of Chapmans book Bushwalking in Australia along with the Landsmap 1:50,000 Illinawortina map.

Relevant Posts.

Day 1 of this walk, 2012.

This waterhole at the junction of Wildflower and North Branch Italowie Creeks is one of the least  reliable of the water points.

Tonights camp was another nice one.