mereenie loop/ chambers pillar

unless its changed the loop road is just a normal dirt road except fairly corragated

You have to take into consideration that the Xtrail does not have great ground clearance. So care will have to be taken on the Mereenie Loop road.

There are a number of soft dunes to cross into Chambers Pillar and the road to Maryvale Station from Alice isn't all that flash but the Xtrail should be OK

Drop your tyre pressures on your Xtrail and van so that you don't shake the bodies to bits on the corrugations

thanks i will take any info/tips into consideration and also ask about rd conditions before i make decision wether to travel the loop and to the pillar

The road south from Alice to Chambers sees a lot of traffic so whilst a good road, it is often very corrugated. They were doing a lot of work on it in July of last year but the raffic from the Finke 500 usually puts paid to that. The Meerenie Loop is similar again. Good road but quite corrugated due to the amount of traffic it gets. Just a matter of backing it off and having the low tyre pressures to assist the shockers in doing their job. Ormiston Gorge is a great place to have a wander and has a good camping area. Gosses bluff is a must see up that way as well.

We travelled both last year. Is it an 'off road' mode camper? I would not take an regular model camper of any sort on any of these roads.

On the Mereenie Loop we helped a couple who's camper trailer had broken a spring. It was just another corrugated inland road. The people at the Alice Springs Tourism office strongly advice travellers not to take the Mereenie Loop. Clearance for your vehicle not an issue. Worst section of Mereenie is the section near Hermannsberg. Pass can be obtained at St Helen's, Hermannsberg or Kings Canyon Resort. People paid more when purchasing at Kings Canyon Resort. Gosse Bluff well worth a visit. Good road - virtually all bitumised to Gosse Bluff from the West MacDonnells. The track in was a bit rough, but is only a few kms long.

Chambers Pillar from Maryvale was probably the worst track we went on. To start off with there are areas of loose sand. We got through them OK with our F250 towing the caravan, but wouldn't have done it when we towed with the Patrol. Corrugations on the rest of it no different to any other tracks we went on. Crossing the Charlotte Range shouldn't be a problem for your outfit. The dunes have been 'capped' with limestone, so easy to cross, but track is narrow with nowhere to pull off so you need to announce on UHF - channel specified on gate. The Finke road from Alice Springs was corrugated all the way down, except for a patch where a road re-alignment had just been done.

Motherhen

dthomas

The "Jump up", on the way into Chambers Pillar may be a bit rough on the X Trail, if it's towing a TrakShak, but if you take your time and the "chicken route", to the right on the way down, you should be OK.
We had a Subaru Forester follow us in, back in 06. It was a bit overloaded, and very very low to the ground. But with a bit of gentle coaxing, we managed to get the family in and out, safely.

Cheers
Bucky