The long, stony Larapinta Trail stretches 223 km from Alice Springs to Mt Sonder. En route, walkers pass through Simpsons Gap, descend the Chewings Range (pictured) to enter Standley Chasm and, further west, enjoy wide-angle views from the Heavitree Range.

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On the Larapinta Trail, this is the country of the Western Arrernte people, and it was one of their most famous sons, Albert Namatjira, whose watercolour paintings brought ghost gums into popular Australian consciousness.

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The long, stony Larapinta Trail stretches 223 km from Alice Springs to Mt Sonder. En route, walkers pass through Simpsons Gap, descend the Chewings Range (pictured) to enter Standley Chasm and, further west, enjoy wide-angle views from the Heavitree Range.

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Entering Standley Chasm on the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory.

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Across ancient stone, the Larapinta largely follows the resilient quartzite ridgetops of the Heavitree and Chewings ranges. Near Counts Point, fossilised shoreline ripples bear testament to Heavitree quartzite’s origins: it began to be laid down as sediment in an inland sea about 900 million years ago (mya).

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Victoria spring mallee flowers along the Larapinta Trail, Northern Territory.

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Black-faced woodswallows huddle together on a tree along the Larapinta Trail.

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Mt Sonder marks the Larapinta’s end and is the track’s highest point. The return walk to the 1380 m summit takes 6-7 hours and is a highlight for many walkers: views extend for kilometres and take in such features as 1531 m Mt Zeil, the NT’s highest peak, and Gosse Bluff, a 142 mya comet impact crater.

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Chewings quartzite is about 700 million years older and the two are subtly different because they were altered by heat and pressure at different times. A period of mountain building called the Alice Springs Orogeny, between 400 and 300 mya, raised the ranges, and erosion has shaped their current form.

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Walkers negotiate the Standley Chasm on the Larapinta Trail.

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In Ormiston Gorge tough river red gums, pere in Western Arrernte, cling to the course of Ormiston Creek, while the odd ghost gum, ilwempe, sprouts from the hillsides.

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The scarred red ridges of the Heavitree Rande extend west from Alice Psrings for about 160 km. The long, stony Larapinta Trail stretches 223 km from Alice Springs to Mt Sonder. En route, walkers pass through Simpsons Gap, descend the Chewings Range to enter Standley Chasm and, further west, enjoy wide-angle views from the Heavitree Range.

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