Gunbarrel Hwy between Heather Hwy and Everard Junction?

Did that stretch a few years ago now and it was in pretty good condition with a few washouts, the straight section on the Heather was a brilliant highway. We had a great nights camp at Camp Beadell and were in Warburton by around midday the next day.

HTH

Cookie

Candace, my wife and I drove the Gunbarrel in August of last year 2018 from Carnegie Station, so we obviously travelled the section you have highlighted on the map.

I'm not great with my memory, but Ivan's assessment - "a dogs breakfast consisting mostly of washouts or diversion around washouts" seems to paint pretty reasonable picture. This applied also to a fair proportion of the Heather Highway to its junction with the turn-off to Tjirrkarli. The section of the Heather Highway from the Tjirrkarli turn-off to the Great Central Highway was in really good nick.

Just skipping back a bit in the journey: the corrugations commenced pretty soon after we crossed the Wiluna Shire boundary from west to east and were severe, relentless and inescapable to a point well beyond Everard Junction (maybe after Mount Gordon), where the number of washouts increased - which was almost a welcome relief from the persistent battering of the corrugations. In most cases, people have created side tracks around the washouts. And there are huge numbers of side tracks, and side tracks of the side tracks (and side tracks to the side tracks of the side tracks!!!), where drivers have attempted to escape the corrugations.

We camped at the base of Mount Beadell. The ground was a bit rough, but the sunset and sunrise were spectacular. We had a full moon, or close to, so the outline of Mount Beadell against the backdrop of a very light night time sky was quite imposing.

We arose early to climb to the summit of Mount Beadell so that my wife, who is a keen amateur photograph, could get some shots of the sunrise.

To add weight to the 'dog's breakfast' scenario, in the last couple of hours before we reached the junction of the Gunbarrel with the Heather Highway, there were some short sections where we mused about whether they might not have some recent maintenance - even though the mix of hard corrugations and washouts (with side tracks around them) were still dominant.

Not sure this will help your cause, but I hope it is informative.

Ray

BTW, I emailed the Ngaanyatjarra Council regarding road conditions along this stretch.
Here's the reply:

"I have not used the road before but I have been told that it is a relatively safe road to travel along. A few bumps here and there but for the most part, the road is pretty good."

Hi Candace

Firstly none of that section of track is maintained, and depending on how much rain they have had, will determine just how much further erosion of tracks has occurred.

The track section from Everard Junction through to Mount Gordon is typical outback tracks, but is usually heavily corrugated as you head south east towards Mt Beadell, and from there will improve the further you head south.

As for the Heather Highway, it is a mixture of deep washdays and corrugations, then turn into a super highway after the junction where it meets the turnoff.

These will give you a better idea of what it is like.


Cheers



Stephen

LOL, now I got this message from Apollo:

"We have actually just added the Gunbarrel Highway to the list of roads that can be driven in this particular type of vehicle. This will be permitted in our Trailfinder Camper."

I don't know what process they use to evaluate re-evaluate roads. But judging by this latest message, someone there was already looking at this.

While I definitely want to reach Mount Beadell, TBH I haven't figured out of it's really worth going up to Everard Junction!