Kings Canyon Ascent

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Photo by flickr user Wayne & Sally

The 100 - 200 metre high canyon walls are red rock and tower over the surrounding grey bush, rugged and dramatic, white trunked gum trees show up against the scrub and orange rubble of rocks and line the still pools and shaded trickling waterways that are the last water before the desert.

Kings Canyon is remote, there is a Ranger Station but a lot of the time you’ll find it empty, and off the highway. People come here to see it and to walk all over it, the main walk finishing on the canyon's roof (see Pricilla Queen of the Desert for the full view without walking up it yourself.).

The first 500 metres of this walk should cull any non committed walkers, it’s a very steep incline and introduces the theme to follow, it is one of the most spectacular walks you can do, up the edges and around the rim where there are rocky dome like outcrops on a bare plateau. For less enthusiastic walkers there is a shorter version but it is nothing in comparison. Keep an eye out for unusual plants and animals, the local desert has some surprising wildflowers and be sun smart and not walk in the middle of the day.

If you’re going to Alice Springs to see the rock, you should definitely include Kings Canyon on your itinerary, it is at least as impressive.

It’s a 450km drive over desert highway away but that’s next door considering the scale of this countryside. The region is part of Watarrka National Park.

For walkers looking for a real challenge, the 22 km Giles Track connects Kings Canyon to Kathleen Springs. You can camp nearby.

Kings Canyon information from the National Parks Service.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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