Mutawintji Gorge walking track

When I first arrived at Mutawintji National Park during my outback walking trip the very first walk I did was the Mutawintji Gorge walking track. When I got out of the car to start this walk, I stepped onto red dirt and realised how remote this location was.

The walk starts by crossing a dry riverbed skirted by gum trees. It crosses a desolate desert plain and then follows the edge of a ridge for a kilometre. The track eventually meets up with the river again.

Parts of the river have water and have a real billabong vibe going on. It’s quite tranquil. This would be a great spot to relax for a few hours, but I must continue.

After a while, I enter the Mutawintji gorge. The sides of the gorge are red like the earth and gradually become cliffs as you walk further into the gorge. There are large boulders scattered along the river.

The track inside the gorge eventually disappears, and a bit of scrambling is required to continue. There are a few sections where you need to decide whether to follow the left bank or the right as a few sections look impassable. I pretty much stayed on the left bank crossing to the right in a few sections. The rock hopping/scrambling is fun.

I’m lucky that there has been quite a bit of rain recently and most sections of the gorge have water in their pools. I probably wouldn't drink the water, though.

Soon I reach the end of the gorge. There are red cliffs that surround a pool. There are a few birds around drinking from the water. I relax here for a while before returning to my car along the same trail. The total distance for the walk was 6.6km.