Sunday, 24 August 2008 (day 24)
St Mary's Peak on Wilpena Pound, Flinders Range, South Australia
PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/57 ... 4939_tW6FC
We drove around Wilpena Pound, then hiked to St Mary's Peak. The area is part of the Adelaide Geosyncline. Despite early amateur theories that it was some kind of ancient volcano, the actual Pound is sedimentary rock in the form of a large syncline. Although from the outside the Pound appears as a single range of mountains, it is actually two: one on the western edge, and one on the eastern, joined by the long Rawnsley's Bluff at the south. A gorge called Wilpena Gap has been cut in the eastern range, and most of the inside of the Pound drains into Wilpena Creek which exits through the Gap. A small part of the high northern slopes of the Pound drains into Edeowie Creek, which drains in time of flood over steep cliffs and waterfalls in Edeowie Gorge to the north. The highest peak in the Pound, also the highest of the Flinders Ranges, is St Mary Peak (1170m), on the north-eastern side. The wall of mountains almost completely encircles the gently-sloping interior of the Pound, with the only breaks being the gorge at Wilpena Gap and a high saddle in the south-western range over which the Heysen Trail passes. The interior of the Pound does not rise to a height at the northern edge, but instead simply drops off very steeply to the plain below in a series of steep gullies.
Surprised this guy . . . boing, boing, boing!
Maybe the steepness gives it the rating 'demanding'
Beautiful landscape
Steps and ledges
St Mary's Peak from the saddle
Looking into the Wilpena Pound amphitheatre.
Summit shot, on the highest point of Wilpena Pound
Cool birds
Kangaroo trying to look big, guess I got a little too close
Kissing Kangaroos
