Australia 2014: Mt. Augustus to Minnie Creek

Day 12 – July 31, 2014 – Mt. Augustus to Minnie Creek - distance travelled: 160 kms - 27^oC high; 16^oC low. We had the alarm set for 6am and crawled out of our tents shortly after to be able to get an early start hiking up Mt. Augustus, or Burringurrah, a huge monocline twice as large as Uluru (Ayers Rock). After breakfast, packing up and driving the 25 kms around the base to the start of the hike we started the 12 km Summit Trail at 9am. On the trail map the six kilometres to the top were broken down into segments, with the first 1.5 km having a gentle gradient, the second 1.5 km a steep gradient, the 2.7 kms after that a gentle gradient and the last 300 m a steep gradient. And so it was. Very nice trail; hard work on the steeper sections which were often quite rocky, and we were glad we got an early start so it wasn’t quite as hot yet. Reached the top after not quite 2.5 hours, spent an hour having our lunch and admiring the gorgeous view from the top and hiked back to our Troopy in just over two hours. Drove for a few hours until just before sunset and bush camped near Minnie Creek where we ate and had a nice campfire before crawling into our sleeping bags.