St Mary Peak

At 6:30 the night is over for us, because after breakfast we want to make our way to St Mary Peak. St Mary Peak is the highest summit in the Flinders Ranges, and with the announced 30 degrees today, it makes sense to start early. The trail starts directly at the campsite. At 8:30 we are already on the so-called "Outside Trail", where you climb the summit from outside Wilpena Pound. St Mary Peak is part of Wilpena Pound, a mountain range that forms a closed oval. Our campsite is located at the "entrance" of the oval. Therefore, you have the option to climb the summit from inside or outside. The inner path is flatter and easier to walk, but much longer. We are happy with 15 km on the outer path and accept the steeper ascent. It was a good choice because we enjoyed the steep sections the most at the end.

In the first 4 km, the trail winds almost flat along the Pound. The first few hundred meters are along a stream bed lined with beautiful old "River Gum" trees. The rest is rather ordinary. Then it goes steeply up to Tanderra Saddle. In this section, you often have to take quite high steps and using your hands becomes the rule. It is exhausting, but it is really fun, also because of the great rocks along the way. After the saddle, there is another short flat section before the final sprint gets really tough again. Due to the many climbing parts, you progress very slowly, so it takes quite a while until you finally reach the summit. There you have an overwhelming 360 degree panorama. However, the views along the way were already pretty awesome. Luckily, we had bright sunshine all day.

After 8 hours, we are exhausted but happy to be back at the parking lot. As a conclusion, we go for a beer at the bar of Wilpena Pound Resort.