Red walls
Above the waterhole.
DaHuzyBru — CC BY-SA 4.0 · DaHuzyBru — CC BY-SA 4.0 · DaHuzyBru — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lucy Sgro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · DaHuzyBru — CC BY-SA 4.0
Ormiston Gorge is a rocky gorge in West MacDonnell National Park in Australia's Northern Territory, about 109 km in a straight line west of Alice Springs. It forms the western edge of Ormiston Pound, a ring of mountains that breaks through the MacDonnell Ranges. The pound is dominated by Mount Giles on its eastern side and covers about 46.5 square kilometres, and the Finke River passes the gorge to the west. The site lies at roughly the halfway point of the long Larapinta Trail, and its rims look out over Mount Sonder, the Gosses Bluff crater and the surrounding range. Red and orange walls rise high above a waterhole on the gorge floor, framed by white-trunked ghost gums and pale sand. The Ghost Gum Walk climbs to lookouts above the gorge and then drops to its floor to return along the water, and from the top the view takes in the mountain ring and the red plains. The gorge is reached by a sealed road from Alice Springs and has a car park and campground. The waterhole is very cold even in summer, and the heat is intense from November to March, so the dry winter is best for walking; carry plenty of water.
Above the waterhole.
To the lookouts.
On the sand.
West MacDonnell National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Yes, but the water is very cold.
The dry winter, April to September.