The Near Impossible Track - Canning Stock Route

I guess its the same old story as to the individual interpretation of "difficult"

I completed the CSR in June and found no section that could be described as difficult in my view and certainly nothing between Well's 25 and 28 in particular that was any different to the rest of the route.

There was two vehicles (Mine and one other) and both of us towed off road trailers south to north, we constantly came across tag a long groups heading south that would say to us that we would have real difficulties with the "Big Dunes" further north.
Needless to say I'm still waiting for the big dunes to appear.

The route is long and can be very rough in so far a corrugations are concerned you need to ensure your vehicle is in top working order to cope with the conditions encountered and carry a heavy load of fuel etc but its not a difficult 4wd trip as such in my view.
Take your time and enjoy as most issues suffered by travellers are speed related.

conditions always changing depending on the weather. Be over prepared and enjoy. It is a great trip.

Michael A

Graham,
The new ExplorOz Treknote mapping system can answer all your questions about altitude profiles for each section of the track.

If you go to the trek note for the Canning Stock Route - move down to the map - use the moving map tool use the Fwd > button to get to the section you are after in your case Well 25 - Well 26 then click on Altitude Profile and you will be presented with a graph like this:

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Then Well 26 to Well 27

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The Well 27 to Helen Hill

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And last but not least Helen Hill to Well 27

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The profiles produced on the system will also report the steepest incline and decline grade and for these sections the highest is 4.71%. Highest single peak is on around 30m. having done this trek and actually recorded the data being used I can tell you there is nothing impossible on the actual track.

I do recall a hill in this area that had tyre tracks on it and it was a very steep and was most likley impossible however it was not part of the route just somewhere that some people have decided to try to climb a hill. On a route like the Canning I cannot understand why you would take the risk to do something like this in the middle on nowhere but hey people do what people do.

Anyway Have a look through the mapping system on the treks there is a wealth on information being displayed in the new mapping system window.

DM

Thanks to everybody for the excellent responses which definitely clears up the mystery. I strongly suspected that The Near Impossible Track was not an official part of the CSR - which now seems to be the case.

Now, here's another question. The same diary refers to fuel problems. Yes these travellers were able to get fuel at Kunawarritji but report that no fuel was available at the Capricorn Roadhouse Fuel Dump, citing that "the refuelling arrangement with the nearby Homestead who used to arrange for the fuel no longer operates as their truck had broken down".

Now, we find this a little strange. Our understanding is that 6 to 8 weeks in advance of your departure you need to ring the Capricorn Roadhouse in Newman (not a local Homestead) to make your arrangements for a fuel dump.

Can anybody clear this matter up??

And finally, do you think we could do the CSR in a 3 litre diesel turbo Nissan Patrol Wagon?? We're reasonably competent 4x4 drivers.

Many thanks once again.

Graham Tillotson