Day 8 Ochre Pits to Serpentine Gorge

Bitter and twisted rock

Another windy start to a day in which I slept poorly, even after a 28 km marathon, the previous day.
Breakfast completed and onto the bus for our usual 8.00AM departure for a 20km stroll!
The Spinifex Tongs were passed from Colin to Steve, who Colin felt was appropriate as he had a soft touch, suitable for removing Spinifex spikes from posteriors.
Ochre pits starts with a 500metres stroll along a 3 metre wide paved path! The ochre puts are quite splendid with colours poorly revealed in photos.
Swathes of reds, whites and yellows along a creek bank for about 500 metres.
Then the walk began in earnest, with a brief walk up Inarlanga Pass to see the ancient cycads, that populate the pass. We should have walked this gorge yesterday but our shortcut caused us to miss this.
It was then on to Serpentine Chalet Camp where we had morning tea and some ventured up to see the Serpentine Valley dam that supplied the chalet.
There deep in this ravine is a concrete structure over 30 feet tall made of concrete with a tangle of metal pipes at its base. The dam had filled in with rocks and sand however there was a deep pool leading to a very narrow gorge out of our reach.

Then began our climb onto the ridge a 250 metre climb that ended on a splendid ridge with great views, and out of the chilly wind.
Some of the more energetic trekked off to see Counts Point and the view of the West MacDonald’s.
The less adventurous walked on after lunch and had a great ridge walk, walking at time alongside a precipitous drop into the valley below.
Then off the ridge down stone steps, great work by the Larapinta builders and finally back to the bus.
This is our last night at Glen Helen as we move to Ellery Creek tomorrow to start our remote camps.
This has caused some consternation among the troops as it means trimming their baggage to a minimum. Mad scrambling to fit all that is required into the space that’s allowed as it all has to come in into each camp the back of one Troopie.