Rig Road - Simpson dessert

No it is not an "off road" camper trailer road. yes it originally( about 40 years ago) was built for the purpose of oil exploration but has not had an upgrade and has had a summer of high winds and very steep sand blows. When are you planning to travel - which month determines the condition of this TRACK.

Agree with the earlier posts about trailers and the Simpson, (and yes I have towed light <500kgs camper across several times) but the tracks are getting rougher as traffic and lack of maintenance takes its toll.
I've been crossing the Simpson regularly since the early 80's and sometimes the rig road can be harder than the French line due to the sand blows and erosion on the clay cap.
Still lots of big dunes on the QAA to Poeppels, there are a number of broken trailers abandoned on the K1.
While the K1 itself would be ok I suspect that after the flooding that the Warburton crossing and the flood plain would be very damp, not a place to be with a vehicle let alone a trailer.

I cant see the problem of a well set up purpose built camper trailer being towed vitually anywhere. Anyone spending up to 30k on such a trailer would consider it a waste if they werent allowed to use it in the places where they need it most rugged isolated country. I have towed trailers in the past that I wouldnt even consider towing now to some tuely isolated areas. Let practical common sense be your guide, be responsible for your actions. Any experienced competent well set up person would have no trouble on either the Simpson or Cape York with a camp trailer from my experience. Cheers Rob Berrill

As everyone is entitled to an opinion,, here is mine....

Just ban all trailers from the Simpson Desert and then No damage can occur from trailers doing the crossing....Hell, no matter how good you are at crossing sand dunes,, a trailer will make your rig do more damage to the desert than not....

It is a very simple rule, almost as basic as building blocks and sand castles.........

If your vehicle has to pull a trailer over a sand dune it will most definately cause more damage to the dune than without it... How simple is that?.....

You may do less damage towing a trailer over sand dunes than the dropkick in front of you with 30psi in his tyres and in 3rd gear high range but the fact of the matter is that you could do less by not taking the trailer...

I like camper trailers, but in the right places...

The S.A.gov don't like you to tow a trailer because if they are abandoned they have to remove them,so most of the trailers that get left behind proberly wern't up to a crossing in the first place, I can't see any body leaving a $20k+ camper out there. If tyres are deflated and you drive accoringly you will do less damage than those that don't reduce tyre presure.There are a lot of trailers taken across.

This is the FINAL word on trailers in the SD! I posted about 10 days ago that Big Red had claimed it's first victim - Big Red being the FIRST sand dune going east to west - Big Red has claimed a second vehicular victim now - in exactly the same way as the first. Busted front diff housing. What would happen if you were trying to tow a trailer as well. Also remember that there are dunes as big as, if not bigger, in the Desert. Added to which if you were coming from weat to east Big Red is the last dune to cross and usually causes the most problem in any year, without the exception of this one.
Also remember this, it would not take much more for the SA Government to CLOSE the SD to everyone and I for one would be very unhappy about that and would be at the forefront of the queue saying I told you so. And, like I said in the last post on this subject - just because you can (able) doesn't mean that you should (without permission). That means, because I can do 120 klms in the streets of Birdsville I will, even though the speed limit is 40 klms and the main street to the Sd passes past the school, so I will. ENOUGH.

No thanks required Ruth, though it is appreciated.
As an ex-extreme sports person, and a genuine adrelaline junkie, I realte to both sides of the story. But it really does come down to maintaining the opportunities we now have, for our children. I want all Australians to be able to experience these things. Lets do what is asked of us, lets not ahve fires if fallen timber is important to nutrient recycle and wildlife habitat, lets not tow trailers if we dont really have to ( and I cant think of one reason why we would have to).

Lets leave the Simpson as we found it..then my kids can one day aspire to travel through it and appreciate it.

As the owner of Mt Dare Homestead I travel in the Simpson many times during the year.
It is good to see that most of the comments made here are by sensible people with common sence, as described by many, just because you can tow a trailer, doesn't mean you should.
The comment regarding the damage to the Dunes caused by vehicles in general is ridiculous, if you want to see what the track looked like 40 or so years ago just look left or right 10m and you'll see. Where's the ruts or scolloping of the sand dunes now, the wind can't fix this.
The western approaches are extremely damaged by vehicles with trailers and or too high tyer preasures. There is no reason why any vehicle with 18 - 20 psi (hot) in 1st gear high range can't get over most of the sand dunes in the Desert 1st attempt. You don't need to get a 40 kph run up as this bouncing will make the track worse. Remember to check the tyer preasure more than once, it will go up as the tyer temp increases and may need reducing some more, (3-4 psi will make a difference)
Just last September I saw a vehicle approaching Big Red at no less than 100 kph, after several attempts, bouncing wildly they made it to the top, the amount of stupidity here is undescribable, placing many peoples lives at risk just to say "they did it". "Big Red" can be crossed without excessive speed, 40 kph is plenty for this (2 nd gear, high range) and if you can't do it then why risk your vehicle or your life traveling at stupid speeds to prop up your ego.