Larapinta 4: Standley Chasm to Birthday Waterhole

Very early start. Up and moving at 5am, breakfast at 6am. Breaking camp in the dark was less than a joy. But we headed up and out of the Chasm in the rosy dawn so it was worthwhile.

Today had a lot, a lot, of uphill on broken track. Brinkley Buff is the second highest point on the Trail. The views are enormous. The landscaper kept shifting from ochres and reds to dark grays and blacks. Fires have been through and left some of the vistas blasted with blackened fingers of branches reaching for the sky.

Lunch at the Bluff and then a steep set of switchbacks down to the river valley below. This was tough walking and there is a serious multiplier on the kilometers measured. F fell a couple of times and has some nice scratches to show. The last section was a bit tiring but pretty thanks to the wildflowers covering the valley floor.

Our camp tonight is beside a river at Birthday Waterhole and a couple of us went for a refreshing swim to wash off the sweat of the day.

We did 19km today.