I have read and been told the jewel in the crown of the Western MacDonnells is the sunrise on Mt Sonder. The walk is posted as 3.5Hrs one way to the top from the trail head. We are camped about another 1.5Km away so I set the alarm for 2:45AM to get a bit of time to get things together and walk the extra distance to the start.

About 1:40AM I woke up and checked the phone, more sleep, great. About 3:30AM Sharon wakes me and asks if I am going or not, no idea what happened to the alarm. I sprung out of bed, forgot my sandwiches in the fridge, threw on the backpack and shoes and I was off. The pace was pretty fast as I thought I would not make it in time. The wind was gusting so I knew it would probably be cold on top. I got to the first lookout about 4:30AM, the sky was magnificently clear and full of stars and about a half moon. I felt a bit better as I had covered that section well under the time required even with the extra distance from the car to the track start. I lowered the pace slightly knowing I could make it now.

Track marker and track.

First lookout sign

A couple of the saddles I went over I nearly got blown off the mountain as the wind was funneled up them. I thought I saw the flash of a headlamp a couple of KM in front of me but I had seen many stars close to the horizon that had tricked me several times already. The middle section of the walk is quite easy going along a relatively flat ridge line. The climb really started with about 3kM to go but it was still quite Ok.

With 1.5Km to go I rounded a corner and saw two headlamps only 50M in front of me. I came across a male and female walker, see there are others as silly as me. They had walked the Larapinta trail section from Ormiston Gorge to Redbank Gorge and this was their final leg to finish it off. After some introductions it was a surprise to find “Max F” was from Devonport in Tassie and his companion from Melbourne. I over took them and said we will have a chat at the top.

I got to the top at 5:30AM way before I needed to and thought to myself that extra hour of sleep could have been two! Max arrived and chatting we established we are both in the SES but he is in the NW area. Blow me down all this way to the top of a mountain three states away to meet another Tassie SES person!

Summit cairn with logbook

Rugged up selfy hiding from the wind Mountains in all directions + Spot signaling home

True summit and stars

Early Breakfast under the stars

The deep orange glow eventually appeared and stayed around till the sun got close to the horizon. Quickly after the bright orange concentrated glow of the sun was present and soon after it broke the horizon. All the hills and valleys around us started to light up in glorious orange morning sun. Suddenly large mountains and ranges of hills appeared in every direction as we could not see them all before now. All our cameras worked overtime before and after sunrise. The true summit was a bit hairy looking to get to over a VERY narrow rocky ridge so I gave that a miss today. After about 2.5Hrs on the summit I departed and returned to the camper in about the same time it took to come up. Great experience as the amount of mountains and ranges in view up their is amazing.

True summit and the glow

After eating lots of food and packing up the camper we did the short walk around Redbank Gorge and amused ourselves for a while watching some pommy kids trying to swim in the freezing cold water of the gorge. Redbank is a spectacular site with a large split in the rocks and the river flows between them but they tower above you probably 100M or more. On the way out we met a couple who had just been into Roma Gorge and highly recommended it so we changed our afternoon plans and headed for it.

We had seen the sign to Roma Gorge on the way through, another “high clearance 4WD” track. A quick 5Km back track and we started the 8.5Km river bed drive. The sign said allow 1Hr each way. We managed it in about 40 minutes but it was 1st gear all the way. The petroglyphs (rock carvings) here were plentiful and varied, better than others we have seen so far. Lunch stop here then another 30 minutes in 1st gear 4WD to get back out again.

Cut the beard off again after 2.5 weeks

Glen Helen Gorge was our next stop. This gorge has permanent water with five species of fish and even some coastal bird life. After experiencing the gorge and back at the car park we met another couple from Tassie who live at Legana and there daughter went to Riverside High with Sam. It was the day for freaky tassie meetings. Ice creams and a short drive to Ormiston Gorge for our overnight stay tonight. I needed a shower after a sweaty day. Walking the Orminston Pound tomorrow and then probably back to Alice to refuel for the Tanami.