Junction Creek Camp to Loch Ness Well, Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park - June 2012

I'm a little light on for photos today.

After reasonably cold night I awoke to another beautiful clear morning. Today promised to be a reasonably easy days walking  as I headed back to the ute. After the morning ritual of porridge and hot chocolate I packed up my gear for the last time and was on my way. Dropping into the South Branch Italowie Creek the creek almost immediately swung around to the east and that was the direction I would head for the next couple of hours. The further I went this morning the more open the valley became and as the valley opened up most of the walking was through the light scrub on the flats beside the creek now, only a couple of times was it necessary to walk the actual creek bed.

I was following the South Branch Italowie Creek this morning down the spot where the North Branch came in.

Zig zagging my way downstream short cutting the meandering creek I was soon at the junction of the North and South Branches of Italowie Creek. The creek is pretty braided and wide here so I kept to the left side following a low ridge, as soon as the ridge beside the creek ended I left the creek and headed east towards Red Hill. I was now in Wortupa Pound which is an open and lightly vegetated area of gently undulating ground. As I got closer to Red Hill I took a bearing one of the small hills to my north east and veered off in that direction. I was aiming to intersect the access track just before Loch Ness Well.

Climbing out of Italowie Creek I set off across Wortupa Pound.

The walk across Wortupa Pound was a change after spending so much of the previous days hemmed in by gorges and cliffs. The open country allowed for some more extensive views and I was able to track my route over Mt John Roberts and Cleft Peak over my left shoulder. With the sparse vegetation and gently undulating topography I was able to more or less head in a straight line towards the hill that I was aiming for, only really deviating to cross some of the more deeply eroded creeks. Around an hour after leaving Italowie Creek I found myself negotiating the small hills that hid Loch Ness Well. Cresting one last hill I could see Balcanoona Creek in the valley in front of me and after a final steep scramble down a goat track I was on the Loch Ness Well access road and some 500 metres down the road I could see the ute.

The open walking in the pound allowed for some longer range views.

Heading across Wortupa Pound I was starting to get excited at the thought of a hot shower.

The end of the walk came quickly as I ambled down the road to the car. I was soon taking the after photo and packing everything into the ute for the drive home. Firstly though I headed back to Balcanoona Homestead to let the rangers know that I was out OK, making good use of the hot shower while I was there. Then it was straight into the 1700 kilometre trip home, I love a good road trip....I had a nice relaxing two day drive home, breaking the trip at Burra, where I spent the night in an old miner's cottage. I retraced most of the route that I took on the way over and managed to avoid the main highways for most of the journey.

Nearing the eastern side of the Wortupa Pound it got a little scrubbier.

I was aiming for that low saddle.

Emerging from the hills onto the Loch Ness Well access track I could see the ute in the distance.

The Dirt.

I walked 8 kilometres and climbed around 100 metres on what was a fairly easy days walking today. Over the 4 days of my Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges adventure I walked around 36.5 kilometres and climbed 1560 metres on what was a fairly hard walk. The walk is off piste for its entire length and a lot of the country is steep and loose, with scrambling every day except for the last day. Once leaving camp this morning I didn't find water today. 

The Vulkatunha~Gammon Ranges National Park is my new favourite place to walk in Australia as the walking is rough enough to be challenging however not ridiculously hard (although you could find that if you wanted it). You definitely need to be able to read a map and use a compass and I'd highly recommend a GPS now days, and you need to be prepared to find water and alter your plans accordingly. Next time I walk here I'll try to find room in my pack for some softer shoes that will give me some more grip when scrambling up and down cliffs. Gaiters were very handy here due to the Spinifex Grass which is incredibly sharp, I was picking prickles out of my hands for weeks after this walk. The scenery in my opinion is some of the best desert scenery we have in Australia, and I've walked in the Flinders, Gawler, East and West MacDonnell Ranges, the Kimberley and the Pilbara and travelled across most of the other deserts.

I used Hema maps to get me to the start of the walk. On the walk I used the Illinawortina 1:50000 topo map, with a compass and GPS. For route notes I used A walking guide to the Northern Flinders Ranges by Adrian Heard (which maybe out of print now) and Bushwalking in Australia by John and Monica Chapman. Both of these books are great sources of information. For inspiration before the trip I would recommend the late C.Warren Bonython's book Walking the Flinders Ranges, that man was definitely hardcore.

Relevant Posts.

Previous Day of this walk, 2012.

The after photo at Loch Ness Well - it was time to head home, well after grabbing a hot shower back at Balcanoona Homestead!