Day 43 - Kings Canyon

We took the unsurfaced Ernest Giles Road to Kings Canyon. The first 80km was easy going but the corrugations on the last 20km were wicked. It is a remote and enjoyable drive for the most part with the odd sand dune thrown in for variety.

We saw some squash like melons at the side of the road and wondered if we had stumbled on a source of bush tucker until we read that cattle often died after eating them.

Kings Canyon walk is high with views over flat plains to the far horizons. The initial climb to the top takes you up by 100m over a short distance. Thereafter the climb is a bit easier. The rock colours vary from white of fresh broken surfaces to rich reds of oxidised rock and browns of the mud rocks. We were regularly rewarded with domes and eroded structures or views down sheer cliffs into the canyons and gorges below. For a desert there is plenty of wild life. Insects hum away in the lower canyons and birds sing far and wide. There are two main types of sandstone, Mereenie on top and Carmichael below. Water soaks into the Mereenie sandstone over the centuries and tends not to pass through the Carmichael sandstone which contains compressed mud. Animals and plants thrive where the water seeps out. The black colour comes from algae on the face of the rock.

Material deposited about 400 million years ago

Rock domes formed through millions of years of erosion

Rock pool on top of the canyon