Our hiking guide from Mulgas Adventures, Chris, actually professed that his favorite time of the year to lead groups on the Rock to Rock tour was in the thick of summer. Ugh. Think 47 degree C weather, hordes of flies. I can’t even remember what his rationale was, nevermind begin to comprehend it. Longer days maybe? Give me winter anytime. Pleasant days that range from mid-teens to high-twenties, cool nights, less flies and mosquitoes (although I still got dozens of bites all over my hands the second night when it was warmer in the high-teens).
Hiking opportunities in the outback abound. We were pressed for time though; our days pretty much packed from pre-dawn to dusk. Consequently, we only got to walk around certain sections of Uluru itself; the trail to circumnavigate the rock takes approximately 3 hours and is roughly 10km. We did not attempt to climb the rock face either, and due to rain forecast, that route was closed anyway.
Being essentially a monolith, Uluru, I found, was at its majestic best when viewed from a distance, and in its entirety. Up close, there were interesting features to gawk at, including cave paintings left by the aborigine tribes of old.
We much preferred hiking Kata Tjuta to Uluru though, since the landscape was much more varied. Kata Tjuta, 25 km east of Uluru, is made up for 36 domes and at its highest is roughly 200m taller than Uluru. While Uluru is composed of sandstone, sedimentary rock consisting of a mixture of granite, basalt, and sandstone make up the domes of Kata Tjuta. What we found completely fascinating is that both Uluru and Kata Tjuta date back roughly 600 million years old – compared to the Grand Canyon in the US that’s been pegged anywhere between 6 and 70 million years old!
Of the 3 long hikes we did, by far my favorite – and the entire group’s – was the Kings Canyon walk. Situated approximately mid-way between Uluru and Alice Springs, Kings Canyon is part of the Watarrka National Park. We did the rim walk just before dawn, climbing up the aptly named “Heart Attack Hill” to the top of the mesa right as the sun struggled to break through the clouds.
The rim to rim walk on took us through some stunning rock formations, some reminiscent of Red Rocks in Nevada. The big difference is though, that the rock faces of Kings Canyon are so old and weathered that they are incredibly fragile (not to mention sacred to the aborigine tribes of the region), while the rock walls of Red Rocks National Park are resilient enough still for us to climb on.
I would love, love, love to spend more time just wandering around Kings Canyon, and soaking in the history and the beautiful landscape. Too bad our time didn’t allow for us to do the 22-kilometre 2-day Giles Track which connects Kings Canyon to Kathleen Springs. Something to leave on the bucket list for the future perhaps?
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