Those following this blog may have read my short piece on the three week, 250km walk we did across the Chewings Range in the Northern Territory last winter (chewings-range-traverse). The current edition of Wild magazine, March-April 2010, (wild.com.au) includes a six-page feature I wrote on this same trip. The cover image is a shot I took above 45 Degree Gorge. Michael Hampton and I were checking out this cave (which directly overlooks the gorge) with the view to using it as a bivy cave in the future. Great spot. The images in this feature help convey something of the rugged nature of what is arguably one of the most serious and remote long-distance walks in Australia. The Chewings Range stretches 180km west from Alice Springs and is composed of many of the highest and most spectacular mountains within the semi-arid West MacDonnell National Park. The first seven days of the range follows the famous Larapinta Trail but leaves it at Hugh Gorge. The next two weeks are devoid of walking trails and sections of the Chewings Range are not covered by any detailed maps. Instead, we relied on our GPS and the experience we have built up from previous remote walks in the area. Despite a fairly dry year we had no real problems finding drinking water (although a number of waterholes and springs had been badly fouled by cattle).
Any word on the rumoured imminent lock-up of the Chewings Range by the traditional owners?
Apparently there is a move(in the Draft Management Plan) of turning the Chewings Range (between Hugh Gorge and Mt Giles) into Conservation and Special Protection Zones. This has been opposed by various interested parties including myself. Wild magazine (Alex Sampson) did a piece on it in issue 119. As far as I’m aware, there is no ‘imminent lock-up by traditional owners’. The Chewings Range is within the National Park and any issues traditional owners have with the management of the park will be (and have been) addressed through the Park Management Plan.
Hi Glenn
A friend and I did the Chewings Range off track a few years ago, it’s a fabulous walk, one of my favourites! I’m looking at going back solo, and just came across the reference to your blog/wild article. It is no longer available online – if you had a copy, would you mind please sharing it? I’d love to compare our notes!
Thanks, Kaz
I’m really sorry Karen but I don’t recall having a copy of this article. I wrote many hundreds of print articles back ‘in the day’ and didn’t keep copies of most of them. You maybe can still buy a copy of this issue through Wild Publications. I’m actually walking the Larapinta Trail (with a long variation onto the Chewings) this coming year. Good luck and sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful.