Mt Sonder dominates the sky in the West McDonnel Ranges, a craggy outcrop of red rock set amongst a bright blue sky.
Where is Mt Sonder?
This image below shows my journey to Mt Sonder from when I drove out of Noosa on 10th January. A journey of approximately 4 months experiencing the outback and desert before discovering the West McDonnell Ranges.
Quoting Wikipedia - Mt Sonder: Mt Sonder is 130 km (81 mi) west of Alice Springs along the MacDonnell Ranges in the West MacDonnell National Park. It marks one end of the celebrated Larapinta trail, which extends 223 kilometres (139 mi) to Alice Springs.
More info about the area: West MacDonnell Ranges, Tjoritja | Northern Territory, Australia
As you can see by my rough map above, I drove into the West McDonnell Ranges from the west, after having visited Uluru, Kings Canyon and Gosses Bluff.
Travelling West to East along the ranges Mt Sonder is one of the 1st of the 'must see' spots along the ranges.
You don't have to walk all the way to the summit to enjoy the views, but if you have a reasonable level of fitness I do highly recommend it.
The walk Redbank Gorge to Mt Sonder is actually section 12 of the Larapinta Trail
The signs clearly advise that you need to be well prepared if you walk beyond the viewing point, and I can verify that.
You will need lots of water, solid stable footwear, a good hat and plan to avoid the main heat of the day.
Signs advise you allow 6-8 hours return to walk up Mt Sonder.
I was not racing, but the full return walk was just under 4 hours for me, including stopping to chat to people along the way.
Stats from my trip up:
Average Speed: 3.4kms/hour Distance: 9.91kms
Max elevation 1354m Min elevation 729m
Moving time: 2hrs 33 mins Total time: 2 hours 53 mins
Spot the lizard in the pic below
Redbank Gorge
Redbank Gorge Factsheet: https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/370414/redbank-gorge-fact-sheet-and-map.pdf
After walking up and down Mt Sonder I was certainly very keen for a swim however despite being hot and needing to cool down, it was still incredibly difficult to get into the water at the gorge due to how very cold it was.
If you are prepared and have a lilo with you, yes a lilo, or an inflated tyre tube - you can work you way up the very narrow gorge for quite some distance, but you most certainly do not want to swim up it as you would suffer from hypothermia very quickly !
Camping spot by a waterhole
I didn't stay near the Redbank Gorge which was a very busy location, but instead took the advise of fellow travelers and found my way to Finke 2 Mile Creek bushcamp and spend a relaxing 2 days there.
Camping on the river stones beside the waterhole, swimming when hot, enjoying watching the waterbirds and the company of other travelers.
Video?
Is there a video, yes of course! Here it is....
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