Larapinta 9: Serpentine Gorge to Serpentine Chalet

Today turned a bit controversial.

I slept badly, as the cold really got to me. The temperature is dropping by about a degree a day.

Our day started at Serpentine Gorge, sitting serenely contemplating the still pool cradled by red rock framing a ghosts gum bathed in sunlight. It was magical.

Then it was a tough, steep ascent up to a ridge which we followed all the way up to Counts Point. The ridge towers over the surrounding countryside with greens and reds on one side and darker colors on the other.

Counts Point where we stopped for lunch, gave us pour first view of Mount Sonder in the distance. That is our ultimate goal.

The it was a very steep descent (S took a fall) into some woodland and then a very long walk back to camp.

Back in camp we had a campfire meeting. Now the way we have generally been walking is that I have the lead with a walkie talkie simply because I walk faster than everyone else. Then there is a line of us walkers, and the guide sweeping up at the back with the other walkie talkie. We have a fairly consistent order of March with N coming in substantially slower than the rest of us at the back. That did not worry the rest of us, but it clearly worried her. Today she expressed her unhappiness at the pace and argued for us all slowing to hers to keep us all more tightly grouped. It was awkward for everyone, perhaps especially for me as I was in front, not to set a pace but just to walk at my own pace. The awkwardness was compounded because N had left the group without telling the guide earlier in the day and was not happy with being told off by a young guide. It was all a bit difficult, but we moved on. Walking in a group can be tricky.

There is some trepidation amongst the group because tomorrow is going to be a tough day, long day with a start in the dark.

20km for the day.