April 23, 2021
On the home stretch
Kanyaka Ruins to Mt Little Station
We were up early as per usual when you’re camping. The dust is permeating everything. We are filthy, the river beds dry and Pete’s 100 litre water tank is on top of his car sans water. On top of that there are burrs all over me, my tent and my bag. I spend 20 minutes try to get most of them off and then kneel down inadvertently and acquire a brand new crop.
After a quick breakfast we’re off down the highway for a short bit before turning off on the Craddock road that surprisingly leads to Craddock. A town boasting 2 pubs in the 1800s dwindled to a population of 2 in 2008 until an enterprising builder from Adelaide decided to buy it and do it up. He’s as mad as a cut snake apparently but has turned it into a ‘go to destination and it’s bang smack on the Mawson trail. We were there by 9.30 as it was a quick run along a decent gravel road and it was perfectly still. We even got the lightest mizzle of rain but that cleared away to another clear blue day.
After Craddock we turned right and blasted our way on a dead straight road heading directly to what I thought was the edge of Wilpena Pound, but turned out to be Wide Range. Without the mountains looming large in the background it would have been quite a boring ride, but it was anything but. The tracks were turning sandy as well with the deeper ruts skidding the front wheel out without any notice.
Lunch was on a small rise by the only tree for miles but with once distant Wide Range towering in front of us. That’s we’re we ran into Dave, a fit looking 70 year old riding a fully laden bike. He was travelling by himself and was walking the Heysen Trail in one direction and then cycling back on the Mawson Trail. He did this by first driving ahead in his car, dropping his bike and then driving back to his starting point.
He looked completely stuffed when we saw him, and the 10ks we tried to ride after lunch gave us a ready explanation why. It was steep, rocky and unridable in bits. Throw in some sandy floodways as well and I could see why he wolfed down the coke we offered him.
I rode unclipped and skidded around a fair bit. I was on and off the bike and had to remember to concentrate on the path not the view. Pete had the vehicle in the low ratio 4WD and it was bouncing around like a bucking bronco.
Mt Little station is massive. It’s needs to be as it’s remote and dusty and you’d be lucky to have more than 1 sheep per acre. Tourism must be a boon for them because there’s lots of camper vans dotted around the place. It’s wild and dusty with just scrubby bushes, weird looking weeds and massive river gums in the creek beds.
$35 gets you a shower and an acre of dust but no burrs. There’s lots of wood lying around so we get another campfire to sit around as the chill of the late afternoon starts to take hold.
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 803 km (499 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |