Alligator Gorge and the ring route hike.

23/7/2020

Our aim on Thursday 23rd was to walk the Alligator Gorge ring route hike , which takes you through The Narrows and then loops around to come through the Terraces. The walk starts at the Alligator Gorge carpark (accessed from the road just past Wilmington). Turn in on the Alligator Gorge Road just opposite the Beautiful Valley Caravan Park and follow the road for about 6km to the parking spot. Make sure that you have paid your fees on the way in. It is too late once you get there due to poor phone reception.

The Walk is signed as being 7km long and taking 4 hours. Knowing that Parks are always very generous in their estimation we figured that the four of us would chew that walk up in much less than the stated 4 hours (even with photo time).

We certainly used up a bit of photo taking time with the magnificent ooh and ahh views we saw on the way, but that doesn’t explain why the walk turned out to be 10.5km long!! It was a pretty tough 10.5km too, with much rock hopping and some notable climb involved.

We had already decided on the walk that we wanted to do, but had hoped for an earlier start. After a late potter around camp, and then a long stop at Hancock’s lookout and then the local pie shop in Wilmington (who could resist), it was already past 1.30pm when we started our walk. We knew that 5.30pm was sunset, and last light was around 6pm, so our window of opportunity was really around 4 hours to be safe, with a little bit of wriggle time. No worries.

We headed down the steep steps into the gorge, and decided to take the walk in a clockwise direction due to the direction of the sunlight- hoping to get the best of the light on the rock as we walked. It wasn’t long before the cameras were out and we were trying to record the beautiful red rock faces and water pool reflections.

The rock towers up from the gorge, and the water gently flowing through, or sitting in pools was just fantastic. It really was a great time to be doing the walk, as there was no need to get our feet wet (quite) but we could enjoy the water being there.

The Narrows offered many and varied views which were greatly enjoyed by all of us.

Then we were climbing out of the gorge and working our way along a narrow track , which turned into a wide vehicle track. We hiked past the day picnic area before turning again and starting to walk uphill. It wasn’t until now that we started to see native orchids, and it was just as well that we did , as they helped to take our mind off of the ongoing climb.

The long and punishing hill went for some km, and we stopped part way to have a bite, drink and rest, before continuing on. We poked our heads in to the campsites along the way to check them out (for walkers who need to camp along the way).

Finally we made it to the turning point and were all VERY happy to see the sign pointing in to our right and to start travelling downhill on a very attractive single track section. This track must have taken a lot of work, with areas of rock support walls and even some “paved” surface in places. There were many orchids along this section and it was hard not to take the camera out too often.

At last we reached the “Terraces” section down in the flatter gorge again, and knew that we must be nearly at the end of the walk. Unfortunately we were really in too much of a hurry to make it back by dark to really have time to appreciate this amazing spot, where , once again, the towering red rock walls surrounded a gorge of rock with water running through. Many caves are apparent here and we wondered about how they have been used in the past. Here there was a tougher task of finding a dry route, with more stepping up and down. Our leg muscles knew about it in the next couple of days.

We arrived at the base of the steps with still enough light to see clearly, but by the time we were all at the top it was pretty well dark. Phew!!!

It was a magnificent walk, and well worth the effort and the anxiety.

Since it was already so late and it was getting pretty cold too, we took the cheats way out and stopped in Melrose on the way home at the North Star Hotel for some delicious dinner (lucky to fit in the dining room with the current COVID restrictions).

We drove home in the dark on the bitumen roads, and didn’t bother to light the fire back at camp, but instead enjoyed the shelter of Zita and Al’s A Van for a couple of hours before tucking ourselves into bed, happy and worn out.

There are a number of walks that leave from the Alligator Gorge area. They range from short ones (just to the lookouts) up to lengthy ones.

This is the map and profile of the walk. It also shows our walking pace for each km – noticeably slower than our usual speed. That long climb between the 3 km and 6.5km marks was a real killer, but it would have been even less kind if we had chosen to walk the other way I think.

We really appreciated the time and effort that has obviously gone into the upkeep of these paths. The signage might be able to be improved (we probably should have had more than the parks map to help us along) but the area would be hard to improve on. South Australia at its stunning best.

If you can find time to do this walk we highly recommend it. Just start a little earlier in the day than we did.