Hay River Track

Hi Dunc

Apart from the SA Desert Park Pass, you will also need a permit from Joel Flemming in Alice Springs to enter the Aboriginal Land north of Lake Caroline and then Batton Hill Itself.

It is one of the best Simpson drives and once you hit the lower Hay River, it is a dead easy drive. Make sure you go out to Lake Caroline, and if you are lucky, it could also have water in it.

From Poeppel Corner, were were on the Hay River track for 4 days before we arrived in Batton Hill. As for navigation, Blind Fredy could do it, as it is now a very well worn track, compared to 14 years ago when we first did it. It was first opened up to the paying public during the 2004 tourist season and when we did it in 2005, there had been less than 200 vehicles on it.

Enjoy the drive.



Cheers



Stephen

Hi Dunc,

We did it in 3 days from Poepple's with leisurely driving and no trouble whatsoever with navigation.
Stephen has covered the permit issue but I must say that getting the permit from Jol Fleming's "Direct 4WD" business in Alice Springs was some problem. I do not know why it should have been, but it was.
Organisation at Batton Hill was also chaotic. I think Jol and his crew were having a bad day or two!
Nevertheless, it was a great drive.

Did the Hay River in 2017. It's not difficult to drive or find your way. On our trip we were the first through for that season going south-north. I was the lead vehicle and I didn't have any difficulty following the track.

I have read/heard online that the Hay River may not be open any longer? I cannot confirm that, but you may like to follow that line of enquiry up just to make sure you can still do the tack.

When we went through in 2017 it was a condition that you had to pay for and stay 1 night at Baton Hill camp. We paid but didn't stay. The camp was in a bit of a mess/rundown & the locals didn't approach us, so we just went on. With that in mind, I'm not sure if Baton Hill is still going?

Again, you may like to follow that line of enquiry up just to make sure.

Good luck.

We haven't done the full Hay River track, but late September, '18, I travelled south to north, from Poeppel's Corner as far as Camp 16. Weather was a little warmer than I like, but travelling was good and I only had one issue, a very slow leak in a rear tyre.



North of Beachcomber was good travelling, going north, but heading south may have been a little harder. Members of a major 4WD mob in Vic were the last to go that way, and I'd suggest it may not have been as easy for them as it was for me. The gravel north to Beachcomber was a bit corrugated, in many sections.



I didn't log where I camped that night, but was about 40-50kms south of Camp 16. From there, there was a deterioration in the track, with plenty of rocking 'n rolling along the uneven surface. I was probably a little impatient too, but wanted to get to Adria Downs before dark.

Haven't been north of camp 15, but the road to there is quite good, with few rough sections. There are a number of good camps too, up that way. Enjoy,

Bob

found this from 'outbacktravelaustralia' thought some might find this interesting as it mentions the Hay river track & Jol's involvement .
blog ~ Jol Fleming
Jol sent me a parts of this~ his Original blog ~ many years ago when reflecting on Finke desert race .
A snippet from the link above .
*May 2004 on: Jol has been a mentor for tourism in the Simpson Desert and has helped Lindsay Bookie set up the Batton Hill Bush Camp, allowing travellers access to the Hay River Track and the northern Simpson. He does the tour bookings for the camp as well as using his influence to get good press on this special place, this has seen the visitation go from 10 vehicles in 2003 to 210 vehicles in the winter of 2006