Keep River National Park is a small but scenic protected area located in the Northern Territory of Australia, near the border with Western Australia. Spanning 574.37 square kilometers, the park is known for its remarkable sandstone landscape featuring red rocks contrasting with green vegetation.
22-Jun
Started the day with a long taxi ride from Kununurra to Jarnem Camping ground in the northern part of Keep River NP.
Nice camping spot with lots of 4×4 and trailers.
Up went the tents before we did the Jarnem loop walk. Terrain is similar to Pernululu (Bungle Bungles).
Full moon last night. No need for a head torch.
23-Jun
The usual early start to avoid the heat. No need to light a fire as our permit doesn’t allow fires so we are all carrying gas stoves.
We followed the Jarnem track till it went north. Then we headed off track west around the escarpment. Good to be off track again.
We crossed a few dry creek beds. Then stopped to explore the escarpment. There was one small but degraded ancient art site. The group also found a much more recent piece of art. It was a combination of the rainbow serpent and a symbol from Leonardo Davinci.
The further west we went the better the creeks became. After a km or so of bashing pandani and bamboo grass we arrived at the campsite. It was right next to a deep swimming hole.
24-Jun
Started out with an easy stroll to the south west for a km or so. Then we dropped packs for a side trip to the ranges west of the main Keep River range.
After a km or so of head high bamboo grass we reached the range. We then turned north and followed the edge of the range for another km till we got to a large gorge heading west. Lots of rock scrambling and spinifex later we made it to the head of the gorge at the base of a dry waterfall.
Back down the gorge a little we found a route up the side. More scrambling ensued till we ascended to a plateau with hundreds of rock pillars.
A torturous route amongst the rock pillars. Lots of dead ends and gorges that we couldn’t traverse. Most of the afternoon was spent following leads down gorges to find a route back down from the range. Eventually a narrow crack complete with wasp nests got us down below most of the descent.
All of us were pretty tired by now. Five hours of following dead ends had worn us down.
Another km of bamboo grass later we arrived back at the packs.
Only a km up a river gorge to our camp. This turned into an hour of bamboo grass and spinifex.
It was after 4pm before be arrived at camp.
25-Jun
Plan B was implemented. Instead of a circuit exploring through bamboo grass and spinifex we opted to head for the next campsite.
Lots of fantastic waterholes in between big spinifex and more bamboo grass. As well as some green ant nests. This area hadn’t been burnt for a long time.
Very slow going. Only one km per hour. We passed through a huge rock cavern below a large pool. There was some very degraded art on one of the walls. After some more pools the gorge opened up and we made good progress up onto the plateau. There was some difficulty determining the camp site as the contours didn’t match the terrain. In the end we had a nice camp on rock platforms next to a large shallow pool.
26-Jun
Packed up and headed off at 7am. Followed the creek upstream through open savannah for about 2km. The savannah had been burnt in the last year or two so easy going.
The easy going on the savannah ended at a large cliff. The topography in front of us was extremely complex, a maze of cliffs and gorges. The map wasn’t much use. Lots of peering over the precipice to look for a route down.
After our experience a couple of days ago we now had a strategy. Damien, Gary and Di would head off down promising routes while the rest of us acted as spotter from above.
Gina had followed Damien down one route. We heard a lot of large rocks falling. One had hit Gina from behind, right in the middle of her pack and knocked her down. A couple of very worried minutes ensued till Gina assured us she was ok. We later discovered that her Billy lid had taken most of the impact.
After a few false leads Gary found a route down which was a relief. We weren’t looking forward to hours of searching. Especially as the rock on this range was much more weathered and prone to crumbling.
So we all followed down. It was a much simpler route than the previous range. We may have just been lucky this time.
Along the valley floor was more head high bamboo grass. A km or so of this and we arrived at the proposed campsite. It turned out to be pretty average. No shade and the waterhole was small and hard to get into. Always hard to tell this from a satellite image.
The group decided to move on to the next campsite a km away. This was a good decision. A large swimming pool, some shade and limited campsites. We are staying here two nights😁
27-Jun
For the day off the crew explored the bottom of the nearby gorges. So, not really a day off. The first gorge had a small pool in the process of drying up. The second had some palms and a tiny pool. The more adventurous scaled the side to follow the water course and were never seen again. Sorry, they eventually returned by the same route instead of trying to forge a new one as this is fraught with difficulties in this terrain.
After a lot of chatter we had the choice between exploring more gorges in the midday heat or back to camp for a swim. The swim won unanimously!
Whiled away the afternoon solving the worlds problems again (and swimming)
28-Jun
Hot night last night. We woke to some cloud and our first humid day.
Headed off at 7am again. Following the creek downstream for about a km then turning south. Lots of open savannah this morning. Sounds easy, it’s head high bamboo grass again. You need sunglasses on to avoid being poked in the eye. Everyone was sweating profusely by now.
We turned west at the southern end of the range and came across some fantastic art sites.
Another 2 km of bamboo grass and sweat we arrived at Goorrandalng camp ground and the end.
Fantastic navigating and leading by Damien. All helped by a great crew that were always ready for a swim 😀