Central Australian Bushwalkers Association Inc

Words by Nick Tyllis. I didn’t take any photos. The photos on this post were taken from “Slowerhiking.com.au” by Geoff Fisher and Helen M^cKerral. They’ve got much better photography skills than I have.

On Monday, August 3rd, four of us (3 club members and one visitor) hiked up to Brinkley Bluff and back.

A varied hike from the Larapinta section 4 trailhead, along the lush, green, trickling gully leading up to the Bridle Path lookout, to Reveal Saddle and the knee-busting descents and ascents between Reveal Saddle and the Brinkley Bluff summit ridge and along the rocky ridge, sometimes with the razor-thin edges, to the Brinkley Bluff summit cairn and campsite. Getting closer to the summit, the newly-built toilet stands proudly against the skyline, like the black monolith of 2001:A Space Odyssey.

Hikers have, for a long time, been camping on the windy summit of Brinkley bluff and over time established some wind breaks around the camp pads.
Parks and Wildlife have formalised the arrangement with a plaque on the summit cairn identifying it as the Brinkley Bluff Campsite and a log book.
Finally, there is a composting toilet just west of the summit cairn. However, Brinkley Bluff has much fewer campsites than the number of people wishing to camp there, so there is evidence of camp pads a couple of 100 metres away.

The area was reasonably clean (compared to previous visits), thanks to the toilet.

Highlights of the walk included all the plants in flower with their aromas. The birds – the ones I could recognise were the many honey-eaters, grey shrike-thrushes, fairy wrens and painted finches – were out in numbers. The weather was superb – we started the day with lots of layers and beanies, then stripped off as the day progressed. When the wind blew, it was cold necessitating adding more layers if one stood still.

The views, as always, were magnificent. After coming down, we took a small detour to see Angkerle Atwatye/Standley Chasm – with its sheer red walls and white-bouldered creek bed, it always inspires awe, however many times I’ve visited.