Everything you need to know about the Larapinta Trail

This trail is truly incredible.  It’s a 230+ km trek along the West MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia; starting at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, and ending at Redbank Gorge, with a sunrise summit up Mount Sonders.  Divided into 12 sections, this trek is typically done on average 12-18 days. It takes you through beautiful gorges and valleys, across big open landscapes, up top incredible mountain peaks, and into refreshing waterholes. In this blog, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know; from clothing I packed, food planning, where we camped, resources for planning + booking, how to get there, etc. Hopefully answering all your burning questions and providing you everything you need to know for planning your own trip on the Larapinta Trail.
Note: We were on the trail from August 7th-20th, 2023.

Table of Contents

• The Trail

  • Water

  • Campsites

  • Navigating

  • Terrain

  • Water Crossing

• Booking

• Deciding where to start (Telegraph Station or Mount Sonders?)

• Planning your route

• How to get there + what to do about food

• Clothing + Climate

• Camp/Sleep Set-up

• Food

• Summary of key highlighted tips + BONUS tips

The Trail (Terrain, Water, Camp sites)

The trail is broken down into 12 main sections, with around 30+ campsites along the full trail.  At the end of each main section is the Larapinta Trekkers Campgrounds, which have a massive shelter with two large platforms (each able to easily sleep 3-4 comfortably), a cupboard (sometimes with a charge station that often doesn’t work and/or food that hikers have left for others to take), an outhouse, and two large water tanks. 

These water tanks are managed and filled by the rangers, requiring 4WD to the majority of them.  They have signs that advise you filter the water before drinking, only take what you need as it’s a lot of work to fill them, and is important to ensure no one is ever left without water on the trail.  Throughout the entire trail, only one section had an empty tank (thankfully there were two).  There are also a variety of waterholes that could be filtered from, but don’t rely on this – being in the desert, you can’t always guarantee water, and often the water can be questionable.  There are 15 water tanks across the whole trek, and only had to ration water once (dreaded section 9).  I was able to carry 5L of water, and this worked out great for me for the majority of the trail – I would suggest being able to carry 7L though, mainly for section 9 so you don’t have to ration as much like I did. 

While the main trail sections are the most reliable for having campsites, water, shelter, and toilets, there are many other campsites along the trek that allow you to break the trail into shorter days.  Just note that not all these sites have facilities, and many are just flat spots for you to set up for the night – you’ll need to plan accordingly for things like water and leaving no trace when going to the bathroom (FYI, it’s a lot of rock… a bit hard to dig holes for your off-grid poops…). Some of these more minimal sites are on top of mountain peaks or through the more barren sections.

Navigating the trail is for the most part really straightforward – the trail is pretty evident 85% of the time, and there are tons of trail markers (you follow the blue arrow the whole way).  However, there are a few points where the trail is a bit ambiguous, and coming across the huge riverbeds can sometimes be confusing to know whether you’re now crossing it, or following it up stream (figuratively speaking, as there’s no water).  Keep your eyes especially peeled in these areas for the next marker.  For navigation, I used downloaded maps from AllTrails.  AllTrails is a great global trail app that I’ve been using for years – it’s free to use, and shows you all kinds of great trails.  I pay for the yearly subscription so that I can download the maps and use them when I’m out of service.  I’m sometimes directionally-challenged, so this has helped keep me from getting lost in those poorly-marked sections on many trails…

Terrain varies throughout each section, and you really experience it all; from rocky riverbeds, sandy creeks, climbing over large boulders, walking across razor-sharp rock mountain ridges (hence the infamous Razorback Ridge, as well as the walk to Brinkley Bluff), smooth dirt paths, rolling hills, spikey bush-bashing, water crossing(s), steep climbs and even steeper descents.  It’s truly incredible all you get to experience, but important to note that this terrain is hard on your gear and your body.  The majority of the underground in the West Macs is made of quartzite, which is incredibly hard.  You will be feeling it in your feet, ankles and knees, so be sure to pack any braces, pain killers, and cushy in-soles you may want/need.

You will also experience a large variety of plants, bushes, and flowers.  We lucked out with our timing, and experienced a large abundance of flowers newly in bloom.  Getting to witness so many beautiful colours in the Outback desert was such a treat.  But do beware the spinifex… this is a spikey grass, formed in clusters that cover the land.  It’s EVERYWHERE.  Many people opt to wear pants or gators to help protect against it, as there are some points on the trail where you can’t avoid brushing against it.  I was personally okay with it, and didn’t get too scratched up on the days I wore shorts.

WATER CROSSING: There MAY be a water crossing at Hugh Gorge Junction.  When I googled the trail, I was told there were no water crossings, but because we’d had significant rainfall about a month and a half prior, a lot of the waterholes were fuller than usual.  This created a water crossing point at the Hugh Gorge Junction.  Any water you come across along the trail is COLD so be prepared.  We used this fact to determine where we were camping that night.  Because we had a very early start the next day, the last thing we wanted was to be crossing cold water at 3am.  This water crossing was right at the last few km of our day, so served as a very refreshing cool-off.

It is also possible for some of the creek/riverbeds to have water if there was recent rainfall.  Check before you hike and be mindful of where you camp if you are hiking through wetter seasons.  Central Australia rivers run underground, so the actual creek beds are often completely dry, but can quickly flood above ground when there is rainfall.

Booking

The Larapinta Trail runs through the Tjoritja/West MacDonnell National Park, so you will need to book your campsites.  Don’t worry if your itinerary changes while you’re on the trail; we didn’t come across any rangers, and I doubt they’d be upset if you were at a different spot for the night because you hiked more/less than originally planned.  Specifying your campsites for each night mainly serves as a way to let the park know roughly where people will be, how many hikers are passing through, and how much the facilities are being used to ensure they’re well maintained.  The fees go towards maintaining the trail, so please be a responsible hiker and book your dates.

Note: Standley Chasm and Ormiston Gorge fees are paid on site at the kiosks/cafés. 

You will also need to get a key for food drop sites.  Keys are picked up from the Alice Springs Visitor Centre. They are $10+Refunded $50 Deposit (refunded once key is returned). Address for Visitor Centre: 41 Todd Mall, Alice Springs NT 0870.

Deciding where to start

If hiking end-to-end, the biggest first decision is whether to travel East to West, or West to East.  Initially we were going to travel West to East, as it would make it easier for coordinating pick up in town once we finished the trail, and if we took longer or shorter than expected, we’d have service to let friends know of our change in itinerary for picking us up.  The more I looked into it though, the less excited I was about this direction.

The Larapinta Trail was designed to start from the Telegraph Station, and as you continue on the trail, the views just get better and better with each day, ending with the well-earned reward of a sunrise atop the finish line.  As someone who lives by the “save the best for last” principle, finishing such a monumental experience at the Telegraph Station was not appealing in the slightest.

Now, there are different pros for each, and ultimately comes down to your preference – but I will say that changing our starting point was one of the best decisions we could have made, and I think actually made the trail slightly easier, and significantly more enjoyable.

Traveling East to West
Pros:

• Views get better and better with each day

• More people do this direction, so you end up meeting a lot of really awesome people and gain a great community to hang out and share the experience with

• If you’re an early hiker, the sun is behind you most of the walk

• More gradual climbs – it seemed like a lot of the “steep vertical” bits ended up being downhill for us.  There were multiple occasions where we thought “damn, I’m thankful I’m not having to climb up that”

• Get the boring, long, “flat” section done and over-with 

Traveling West to East
Pros:

• Easier to coordinate a pick-up in town – or, can walk yourself to your accommodation (or the closest pub for post-hike burger+beer

• Wind is blowing towards you, so keeps you a bit cooler

• Get some of the harder/less exciting sections done and over-with in the first half first

• Sun is behind you during the hottest part of the day (although in this climate, I personally don’t know how much of a difference that would have made… it’s hot no matter what lol but people often use this as a deciding factor)

Planning your route

Know your limits and map out water sources.  When I initially mapped it out, the biggest day was meant to be 26km, with the rest averaging between 13-18km.  Based on my previous hiking experience and with my knees, I didn’t want to be overexerting myself, and ensure we’d have plenty of time to finish it all. Things changed and we ended up doing 3x 30km days (this will be detailed in a future “Daily Breakdown” post). 

My advice

• give yourself an extra day or two

• plan for one or two rest days: Our initial plan had none, but we ended up gaining a rest day at Ellery and Ormiston (by far my favourite decision we made… aside from the chocolate bars in food drops)

• expect to change your plans on the trail

• try to camp at as many high-top camps as you can: We got in two, and these were so beautiful to wake up on for sunrise + sunset + star gazing

• be aware of water sources and mindful of how much you need in a day + how much you want to/can carry

• be realistic about your abilities, and don’t be afraid to give yourself more time + hike shorter days

How to get there and what to do about food

This greatly depends on where you live and your connections.  Working as a tour guide in Alice Springs the past few months made things a lot easier for us, but there are plenty of companies here to help make your trip possible!

For the typical traveller coming from out of town, you will need to book with a company who does transfers to the trail heads and can drop off your food bins.  This can all be easily arranged through company websites.  What’s cool about the Larapinta is there are many access points, which means if you are unable or not wanting to do the full end-to-end trek, you can just as easily do a number of sections – your drop off and pick up points can be determined with the companies you book through.  Note that most companies don’t do pick-ups from the 4WD access points. 

Typical pick up/drop off points are:

1. Telegraph Station

2. Simpson’s Gap

3. Standley Chasm

4. Ellery Creek

5. Ormiston Gorge

6. Redbank Gorge

For food drops, the company will deliver bins to your accommodation, where you will fill with whatever food you need, and they will pick up at the same time they pick you up.  This is also a great opportunity to throw in any extras you’d like (like change of clothes, luxury items you don’t want to be carrying the whole trek, spare batteries, or special heavier foods like canned or jarred items to have at food storage locations that you DEFINITELY don’t want to carry).  Note that a lot of the companies don’t let you leave items in these bins.  I’m not sure how strict they are with this, but a lot of people we met were quite annoyed that they weren’t able to easily leave behind items they realized they didn’t want/need (hence the free food you come across along the trail).

There are 4 possible food drop storage rooms:

1. Standley Chasm

2. Ellery Creek South (Need a key)

3. Serpentine Gorge (Need a key. 4WD Access – not all companies go here.)

4. Ormiston Gorge (Need a key)

Often people do 2 or 3 food drops, either doing locations 1+4, 1+2+4, or 1+2+3.  Note that Ellery and Serpentine are only 12.5km apart from one another so you will only pick one or the other. 

It’s important to know that there is an Ellery Creek North AND South.  These sites are separated by a large waterhole, with no easy walking trail between (would be an additional 16km round trip).  The food drop is at Ellery SOUTH.  It’s not uncommon for people to hike to Ellery North, only to learn that they now have to swim across the VERY cold water to get their food.  If you are wanting to camp at North, and don’t want to swim, this is where you would use the Serpentine Gorge food drop.

What we did:  For getting there, I had a friend use my van to drop us at the Telegraph Station, and then have another friend drive my van to join us for our Sonders Summit on the last day.  For food, because I do tours along the West Macs, I was actually able to fill up the food bins on Saturday, bring them with me on my Sunday tour, and then was hitting the trail Monday morning.  So this is actually an option too – if you have your own car, you can absolutely go out ahead of time and do the drops yourself (just be sure you have the key). We used the Ellery South food drop location, and camped there for 2 nights.

Clothing + Climate

• Camp/sleep shorts

• Camp/sleep leggings

• Camp/sleep T-shirt

• Camp/sleep Socks

• Light Merino Long Sleeve

• Beanie

• Full-Brim Hat

• Light Down Coat

• Rain jacket

• Liner Socks

• Hiking Socks

• Hiking Shirt

• Hiking Shorts

• Hiking Pants

• Bathing suit

• Bandana

• Hiking Boots

• Camp Sandals

Nope, you didn’t read that wrong.  I wore the same thing every day and didn’t end up wearing underwear… I wore it for the first couple days and just couldn’t see the point in it lol.  Initially I packed enough to change every couple days (stored in the various food drops), but I ended up leaving them all.  I had also packed a change of clothes (new shirt + shorts + sports bra) in my Ellery Creek food drop (day 7), but with how gross I was, I really didn’t see the point in putting on clean clothes that were just going to end up just as disgusting the next day.  So to save on future laundry (and to say I lived in the same clothes for 2 weeks…), I ended up leaving the clean clothes in the food drop bin.

The rain jacket was definitely not needed, but I opted to keep it purely for pillow purposes.  It ended up giving just the right amount of additional cushion, and is super lightweight – Definitely worth it for me.

Big ticket item was the LINER SOCKS!  These babies have been a game changer for my hiking experience.  I got them in Germany in 2019, and never hike without them.  The key for liner socks is making sure they’re tight fit, and a bit of a sturdier material, kind of like a thinner version of those sport socks.  Now…I made the mistake of trialing out some Injinji liner toe socks on my first day… everyone on the internet was raving about them and while they were surprisingly comfy, not even half way through my first day, I went from never having had blisters EVER, to at least 5… I think the material choice I went with maybe wasn’t right, but lesson learned:  if it ain’t broke, don’t “fix” it.  I immediately went back to my usual liner sock, and thankfully my blisters began to heal the rest of the trip.

Beanie was nice for a lot of nights, purely for the ability to dual as a sleeping mask by pulling it further down over my eyes.  The nights did get a bit cooler, so having the beanie was quite nice.

Bathing suit was kept in the Ellery food drop so that I didn’t have to carry it the first half of the trek; I ended up hanging onto it until Ormiston Gorge (where our final food drop was) since I knew we’d be doing more swimming/lounging there.  I left it in the Ormiston food drop bin.

The one outfit is definitely a personal choice, but there ended up being a couple shower spots (Standley Chasm and Ormiston) where you could wash your clothes. With how dry the air is, your clothes would dry in like 30min, so you could easily have “clean clothes” while on the go.
Note: DON’T use soap to wash your clothes in the waterholes – feel free to rinse them in the waterholes, but soap does not belong in these waters, even if it’s “eco-friendly.”  Help keep these spaces pristine.

Pro tip: Always pack some sort of lightweight camp shoe.  I’ve had my Teva’s since 2019 and are the BEST to put on after a long day in the boots. Ideally a shoe that doesn’t go between your toes, and has minimal straps is best, just in case you’ve ended up with some not-so-fun blisters.

Note about weather/climate:  Central Australia is an incredibly hot and dry place, but being in the desert, it does get cooler at night.  With my sleeping set up, I was typically in just my t-shirt, shorts, beanie and socks, but there were a few nights where the down-coat and leggings were needed for sleeping, and one night with the long sleeve on Hilltop.  August is still in late winter, but is pretty much one of the last months you want to be hiking this trail, as September is when temperatures really start to rise.  For us, temperatures mostly averaged around 27C, but we had a really hot streak of 30-36C.   For this reason, it would be smart to pack light, long layers.  One thing I wished I had packed was a light + loose long sleeved button-up.  I ended up okay without one, but there were a couple days where I used my shirt to cover my right arm because I was tired of it being CONSTANTLY exposed to the sun. 

Camp/Sleep Set-up

I left my tent at Standley Chasm and opted to sleep outside.

This was honestly one of my favourite decisions! Because of how we divided up the trail, we were almost always at one of the main camps, so I would just sleep on the platforms (having all to myself since everyone else brought tents).  There were a few nights where we didn’t have the shelters, and I just slept on the ground on my sleeping pad.  These nights were some of the best because you had nothing but stars above you.  I’d never really camped like this before, and will definitely be doing it SO much more.  You do sacrifice privacy, which honestly for me, didn’t really feel like a sacrifice with how remote you are.

For my mattress, I used the Sea to Summit Ultralight Mat that I’ve had since at least 2018/19.  I’ve always loved it, but never knew just how amazing it was until I had friends on the trail wondering how I was sleeping on the ground with no tarp/pad underneath, bringing it to lay on the rocks/beaches at the waterholes, using it as a floaty across Redbank Gorge, and even doing some light stretching on it, without it popping.  I don’t know if I just lucked out with a super durable one, but this thing has been on many camping + backpacking trips, and was used many nights under my desk at uni, and *knock on wood* has withstood it all. 

For sleeping bag, I used my MEC Lamina Z 34F/1C, with a light down backpacking blanket my mom bought years ago from Eddie Bauer.  I unfortunately can’t tell you what it’s rated, but this thing comes everywhere.  It’s so light, but also decently warm and adds just the right amount of insulation paired with my sleeping bag.  The sleeping bag is mummy style with an elastic synch around the opening (which saved me on a windy mountain-top night).

For pillow, I just used my clothing packing cube + rain jacket all shoved up in the head of the sleeping bag.   

Pro tip:  Sleeping bags with the head allow you to shove these things for pillows, without losing them out from under you during the night (we all know we don’t always wake up on top of our sleeping mats lol, no way can we expect a backpacking “pillow” to stay under us too).

Food

Probably the thing I stressed about and overpacked for the most.

Okay so I’m sure some of you saw my posts about trying to do this trek as zero-waste as possible and dehydrated a bunch of my own food (will have a full separate post detailing all of this), and while this worked out in a lot of ways, it was also way too much, and not enough of what I actually would want.  Also thought I’d note that I’m plant-based, so all snacks and meals were vegan.

Unexpected add-ons:
A large reason why we had so much left over food was because we weren’t expecting to find/be gifted as much free food as we were.  On day 3 we got to have burgers for dinner at Standley Chasm and I found an amazing Uncle Ben’s rice meal in the free food bin; Day 6 I did a snack/meal trade with Jono for some noodles; Day 9 a day-tour group gave us a bunch of snacks, and an amazing (like I’m talking gourmet style) wrap that I had for dinner; Day 11 got focaccia sandwiches and smoothies for breakfast and lunch; and throughout the trail we were given fresh fruit from coworkers, noodles and rice from another group who had over-packed, and snacks from day hikers/tourists.  We were living luxury. 

Now… I’m not saying prepare to be gifted lots of food. I think we got really lucky. But just know that there are potential options like the café’s at Standley and Ormiston (be sure to know their hours of operation), and food left in the cupboards at the main trail campsites as well as free food bins in the food drop storage rooms.

Pro-tip: PACK FRESH FRUIT like apples and oranges.  Anything juicy.  We did not, and were SO thankful to come across co-workers doing tours at a few spots who we could snag some apples from them, and had a tour group (quite literally) throw apples and oranges at us.

Breakfasts

I planned to have a couple different quinoa-based dishes (one maple pecan and one strawberry coconut).  Both turned out decently tasty, but I quickly learned two things:

1. I wanted savoury, not sweet.

2. I did NOT want to be cooking anything in the mornings.

Knowing how you want your days to start is key to determining what foods to pack.  I found myself not being able to stomach my foods because they were too sweet, or the texture was weirding me out that early in the morning (it’s weird, I know, but it’s the only way I can describe it).  Because we were also starting our mornings quite early (like 3am early), boiling water and waiting for food to hydrate was not on my morning to-do lists.  I often opted for handfuls of trail mix, and an apple with peanut butter when we had them, and then would have 1-2 protein bars over the next few hours until lunch.

Lunches

Probably my favourite meal of the day ngl.  I was given the best advice from a group I did a transfer for two days prior to starting the trek – they had packed pre-made falafels to put on wraps, which coincidentally were the same ones I already love to get.  I bought a couple bags of those and a couple packs of wraps, threw in a container of mustard + sriracha, and called it a day!  I found myself craving the savoury tang of the mustard and sriracha during the day, and was always so stoked for it.  I’d often have more handfuls of trail mix on the bigger days as well.

Dinners

These became a mish-mash of a lot of different things like mentioned in the first paragraph.  Initially I had prepared two meals: a lentil chili and a peanut sweet potato stew.  Both turned out super tasty, but unfortunately I slightly burnt the stew during the dehydrating process… so it often tasted like burnt mush… the chili though, turned out AMAZING.  Like so so good.  I often looked forward to this dinner as well.

Snacks

For my own prep I dehydrated:

• Sliced + ripe bananas

• Orange slices

• Seasoned chickpeas (seasoned myself. Savoury = paprika + salt + pepper + garlic powder. Sweet = coconut oil + sugar + cinnamon.)

• Jam (to make fruit leather)

Other snacks:

• Peanut butter: I used little gotubes to fill with peanut butter to put on my bananas + fruit leather which turned out SO good.

• Chips: Before I left, I had a partial bag of tortilla chips, which I ended up dividing into three upcycled wrap bags, and chucked them in each of my food drop bins.

• Dates

• Bliss + chocolate balls from Afghan Traders.  No clue the brand, as they’re unpackaged, but SO good!! One was cranberry apricot, the other mint chocolate.  I normally get the chocolate orange, but sadly they were out of stock.

• Trail Mix: bought 3 bulk bags from woolies, and probably went through around 2 on my own.

• Protein bars: last minute I bought 2 bars for each day as I was worried I wouldn’t have enough food.  I got so many different flavours that they turned into a bit of a treat for me as well.  Really happy I got them.

• Chocolate bars: a true necessity. I buy the Pico brand, and put one in each food drop + had one with me at the start.

• Electrolyte/Energy cubes: not technically a snack, but when you buy the Clif cubes, it kinda feels like you’re getting a candy lol. 10/10 recommend them.

Summary of key highlighted tips + BONUS tips

• Plan for rest days!!

• Don’t be afraid to sleep without a tent

• Camp on as many mountain peaks as you can

• Be able to carry 7+ litres of water

• Bring something to filter your water

• Embrace the filth. Only pack one hiking outfit and one sleeping outfit (with warm options, and a light long-sleeve for hiking)

• Remember there’s a North and South Ellery – plan food drops + route accordingly

• Hiking poles. Thank me later.

• Easy grab n go breakfasts

• Start early, to avoid hiking in the hottest parts of the day

• Full brim hat

• Pack a book

• Be flexible – your plans will most likely change along the trail

• Key from Alice Springs Visitor Centre for food drops

• Pack your sleeping bag for Mount Sonders.  It’s always super windy and cold up there, so being able to bundle up for sunrise was luxury. Also, wear your warm layers.

• Buy the Larapinta Trail Map:  This was SO handy for planning things before and on the trail.  The full sized map came out daily, and I often had people asking to take a photo of it or using to assess their plans

• Buy the Larapinta Trail by Monica and John Chapman.  I borrowed from a friend, and ended up getting gifted a copy by a stranger on the trail.  It gives you lots of insights to other campsites, trail terrain descriptions, side trips you can do, etc.  Is a great read and super helpful.

• Most importantly: There’s never enough chocolate

I hope this guide will help you in planning your big adventure and please feel free to comment or email with any questions I may not have answered!

Keep an eye out for future posts covering summaries of all 14 days on the trail, detailed packing list, what zero waste looked like on the trail, and more!

Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter 💛