Itinerary for West Macdonnell Ranges

Hi Alfred , Well IMHO it is an absolute must to travel the Finke Gorge NP , camping a night or two overlooking the pelicans fihing at night right on Boggy Hole. If you are adventurous and have high clearance explore the Glen of Palms near the same gorge . I visited this area in August 2002 so check track details first in Alice - enjoy your trip!

heaps of info available on this area I did it this time last year but was rushed. from alice springs there are several gorges heading west including ellery creek ormastin gorge serpentine gorge. I think most of them allow camping certainly ellery creek does and is a good place to stop. if you are fit you can climb mt sonder which is the highest point in the area. Palm valley has excellent campgrounds after which the track becomes very rough for the last 4k to palm valley. i didnt have time for boggey hole as my plan was to take the road southfrom boggey hole but was closed as per previos threads. The tourist beureu in alice has some excellent mags and maps of all ares with fact sheets describing all must see areas. As for how long it all depends I did it in a couple of days but that was totally insufficient and the minimum time would be more like 4days also dont forget east macs as that ares is rich in scenery and history

Hi Alfred. I'm off to the Alice area for 9 days in early Jul too. My rough itinerary is:
1: Quadbiking at Undoolya station & then on to look at Trephina Gorge & John Hayes Rockhole (both Eastern MacDonnell range)
2 & 3: West MacDonnells (see a couple out of: Standley Chasm, Ellery Ck, Serpentine Gorge, Ormiston Gorge)
4 & 5: Palm Valley
6 & 7: Boggy hole track & Kings Canyon
8 & 9: Uluru / Olgas
Way too quick but thats all the time I have!

Got a lot of good info off this exploroz site (trip planning pages, asked questions in this forum etc)

also some good info avail via http://www.nt.gov.au/ntg/attracts.shtml (& some facts sheets for each attraction listed therein). only fact sheet not provided was the one for Boggy hole track which Parks & Wildlife can email/fax you separately (ph them on 08 89518250). The facts sheets also don't tell you about costs of camping & i had to get this all over the phone from them.

Good maps are the Hema Desert series (NC & SC) or their Hema Red Centre (although i know there are a number of other good ones avail). Am also taking the Henbury & Hermansburg 1:250k topo maps for the boggy hole track but i'm assured it isn't that hard to navigate.

if you find any good info/rough maps on the walks to do in Palm Valley then let me know (drew.thornton@txu.com.au) as the fact sheet doesn't tell you much

have a great trip

Thanks guys for your replys.
Prior to heading west from Alice my plans had included a day trip to the East Macdonnells to see Trephina Gorge. My itinerary from Palm Valley had included a night at Boggy Hole, next night at Kings Canyon, then two nights at Yulara to visit Uluru and Olgas.
The area in question for advice is west of Alice up to Palm Valley.
From the previous replies its all helped me to fine tune my itinerary.
Thanks again guys.

Alfred(SmithfieldNSW)

Alfred,
My 2c? - try Redbank gorge for a look-see - it's quite different to the others, tho you can't camp there, or rather you can but wouldn't want to when compared to Ormiston.
It's also a nice walk alonghte riverbed for about 30mins to get to it, after all that driving... :-)

Enjoy....

Barney

Just returned.
Ormistin Gorge fantastic for both camping and views with a large, full waterhole for swimming. Campground offers toilets, showers etc for $5 per night. BBQ's are free. Run by NT ranger. A must stay/see. All others do not measure up in comparison.