The last day of walking! I couldn’t believe it was here. The trip flew by. And I pretty much loved every minute (with the exception of about 2 hours!).

I also can’t believe I’m nearly at the end of writing and processing images from such an epic trip. I took nearly 1600 photos on the hike, plus a whole heap more in the week after the trip - I took another 1000 alone on a one hour sunrise helicopter flight!

I’d had a great night on top of this lookout - there was no wind, I slept well and awoke the next morning excited to shoot and raring to hike!

Dawn on the top of Count’s Point was incredible - definitely one of my trip highlights. I felt like I was on top of the world! And I really felt like I was on the homeward stretch now - I could see the end in sight!

I didn’t shoot that sunrise from Rocky Gully. The area didn’t excite me in terms of photographic opportunities!

Leaving Rocky Gully that morning I had to wear the fly net again - the second time during the trip. I really think it’s something to do with cattle - the stronger the evidence of cattle (including being able to smell them!), the higher the prevalence of flies! After an hour or so of wearing it, I’d decided it was safe to remove it….. and then proceeded to swallow a fly. Haha!

I was right about the light being better from my camp at sunrise! That first morning glow was so pretty - I loved capturing it within the gorge.

This was a super short day in terms of hiking. I knew it would be! Section 5 is known for being one of the most unique and spectacular sections along the trail, and I’d planned to spend extra time in this section to make the most of the photography!

Originally I had planned to hike from Pravda Spur, down to Standley Chasm to collect my food drop box, and then continue straight on up another mountain to spend the night at Brinkley Bluff.

However, this would have been a huge challenge. On the advice from LTTS I’d need to be leaving Standley Chasm by 1pm at the latest, to ensure I had enough time to walk and photograph the ascent up to Brinkley Bluff. It would have meant my day would have exceeded a total of 20km, through one of the hardest sections to hike (a LOT of up and down!), but also one of the most photogenic places along the trail.

Day 2 - from the designated campsite of Wallaby Gap to my proposed (non-designated) campsite near Arenge View was a distance of approx 24km.

It’s so hard to know where to start talking about such an amazing experience!

Hopefully you’ve seen the Introduction and Itinerary posts which give a bit of a general overview of my experience.

On day 1 I hiked Alice Springs Telegraph Station to Wallaby Gap which totaled 13.7km.

Day 1 was a strange day for me, in that it did not reflect my experience of the trail very well at all!

Before I launch in to a day by day “story” of my Larapinta Trail experience, here’s an overview of my trip as completed:

Day 1: Alice Springs to Wallaby Gap = 13.7km

Day 2: Wallaby Gap to Arenge View = 24km

Day 3: Arenge View to Pravda Spur = 18.6km

Day 4 was the big day on the Jatbula trail - 17km. The walk was broken up in to two chunks, 12km and 5km with a stop at Edith River crossing after the first 12km. We got through the first 12km a supersonic speed and arrived at Edith River crossing when we thought we still had 3km to go. A lovely shady spot for lunch with a chance for a cool off! The first 12km on this day was an easy walk - flat and good terrain. The remaining 5km proved to be a little trickier…