Rudall NP / Graphite Valley

Submitted: Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 17:17

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andy

travelling east along the Rudall River we came to a road sign pointing
south towards Graphite Valley. Has anyone travelled on this track and would
share his experiences.

There was also some mentioning of a direct track towards Telfer (a short cut)
that has been pencilled on the road sign. Where does this track start and end?

Thanks for your help.

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Reply By: Willem - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 20:25

Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 20:25

Drove 10km down the Graphite Valley Track at the beginning of May this year. It ends up in a river bed. Quite scenic with streaks of graphite rocks protruding across the track but the track goes nowhere and ends up as a dead end. Funny thing is that the Graphite Track sign is the only decent sign in the whole of Rudall River NP :o)

The track to Telfer goes north from where you turn off to Desert Queen baths. There are also some other tracks marked on my digital Raster Maps which we could not find, but maybe we can suss them out next time we go that way.

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Follow Up By: andy - Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 00:45

Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 00:45

thanks for the information. Maybe next time when we are in the area
we will also have a look. What was the track like and how long was
the trip?

Regarding the track to Telfer are you referring to the main road
through the Rudall NP that branches off the Talawana and going north.? We were wondering if there is a small and more direct track heading north through Talbot Soak (on the Rudall) connecting to
one of the many exploration tracks east of the main road. Due to the
heavy rain falls in july we could not cross the Rudall to investigate if the track continues north past Talbot Soak.

We have travelled on a few of the exploration tracks east of the main road a few years back. They were then still quite good.
years back

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Follow Up By: Willem - Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 19:28

Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 at 19:28

When we were in Ruddall R NP it was extremely dry(and hot). The Graphite Valley Track is OK with only one minor difficult creek crossing.
We came in to the NP from Cotton Creek after getting permission. The tracks are very overgrown in places and we had to go croass country.

I have just had a look ast both GDT and Raster maps and cannot find a track marked heading north to Talbot Soak. No doubt there may be faint tracks in that area as mining activity boomed in the 1980's.

Yes, I was talking about the main access route through the park to Telfer. We explored some of the tracks south of Rudall River and to the west to Meeting Gorge but they petered out. A definite track is marked on the GDT maps. We also followed a track heading west after crossing the river to Tjingkulatjatjarra Pool and got to the pool but there the track ended in some very rough country. We camped about 2km back from this spot for three days after crossing the Ruddall from the north. The place we camped at could have been No.11 Pool as marked on a 44 gallon drum just north of the Rudall crossing.

I had GDT, Raster digital maps and a private mud map but not all of these maps matched up to tracks in the area. Our first night we camped at Kalkan Kalkan Soak which was very dry at that stage with tons of camel dung around.

I hope to be up that way again next year to explore tracks out to Eel Pool via Nullagine

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