The Camping Trip

We have returned from our 2 night camping trip. I will save what we learned at King’s Canyon and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park for the next post. I want to type up something quickly so that you know we returned safely.

This was a strenuous trip. I’m not sure we were ever at our campsites in daylight. We did a lot of climbing, walking and listening.

Thursday morning, Scott of Rock Tours picked us up at 6:00. 45 minutes or so down the road, he pulled and had us climb a small hill to watch the sunrise and then to dig for wichetty grubs. In fact the trip was very much like that: Scott would pull over or on a walk have us stop, and then he’d teach us something or send us out for something.

At King’s Canyon, we took a very difficult hike, one that lasted about 4 hours. There were stops and starts, so we weren’t walking for the entire four hours. We had a side trip to a swimmable pool of water – about half a dozen students jumped in. The first 20-30 minutes of the climb was up Heartbreak Hill or Heart Attack Hill – a very steep climb of uneven stone steps. I was sent up first so that Charlie and Scott could evaluate the ability of the students to handle the climb as they followed me one by one. I was disappointed in myself; about 1/3 of the way up I had to step aside and allow more than half the class to bound up ahead of me. Scott saw what he needed to see of the class, though, and chose our paths on Kata Tjuta accordingly.

Once at the top, we had spectacular views. Although the worst was behind us, the trek continued to be challenging. Of course what goes up must come down. The descent was a bit tricky.

For the next 48 hours or so we dealt with flies that sought moisture from our exposed skin; bathrooms with no soap to bathrooms that consisted of a seat over a hole dug in the ground to no bathrooms at all; red sand in everything; cold nights and mornings followed by hot afternoons. We gathered wood for our campfire, most of which was partially scorched in controlled brush fires. As a result, we were covered in scratches and charcoal smudges, and the scratches attracted those flies. No running water and no soap! And yet on each day we were singing along to the music in the coach, snapping away pictures, and chattering. In other words, we got over it.
We slept under the stars and the full moon in backpacks slid inside swags. The swags were water-proof and fitted with thin mattresses. We could pull a flap over our heads if we wished. Most of us slept around the campfire, but that died down too soon to give much warmth.

Scott cooked up delicious dinners for us: chili con carne with sides on a campfire and stir-fry chicken at the sunset near Uluru. He kept the meat out of some of it so that everyone had a choice.

We took the middle-of-the-road climb at Kata Tjuta, but it still had challenges. At Uluru, we respected the wishes of the Anangu and just walked around the rock. We also visited the Cultural Center. We spent a sunset and also a sunrise at Uluru.
On our way back to Alice Springs, Scott gave us a chance to ride camels. Fourteen of us did so.

Sunday, we will visit the MacDonnell Mountains, and Scott promises it will be a short ride and a long hike. As I have the time, I will summarize what we learned on these 4 days.