Larapinta 14: Mount Sonder

We were all awake by 2:30am and in the troopy by 3. By 3:30 we started up Mt Sonder in the dark. We were not alone and there were a couple of other little centipedes of lights ahead of us on the trail. The trail was pretty well made, so at least no climbing over rocks in the dark, but it went steadily uphill. We stopped a few times to shed layers of clothing but kept up a steady pace throughout.

By 7 we made it to the top in time to sit down and with the Sunrise. The scene was beautiful and the moment provided a real sense of achievement, a full stop on the Trail.

The Trail was not quite over as we still had to walk back down the mountain. The funny thing was walking down in the light meant we could suddenly see the cliffs we had been able to ignore in the dark on the way up.

Then it was a big brunch back at camp, breaking camp and the drive back to Alice and civilization.

The Mt Sonder walk was 16Km. The total for the Larapinta Trail came to 250km.