A couple of days soaking up the sights in Bathtub Gorge prompted the following idyll thoughts:
- Despite 30 years of waddling around the Flinders Ranges, the place continues to surprise and amaze.
- Even though we walked this gorge back in 1986 (I think) I don't remember much about that trip. (Which, I guess, might help to explain why the place continues to surprise.)
- As time goes by the significance of the geology here looms larger and larger - and it's all powerful when you're wedged in the gorge. (This, in turn, might explain why the amazement element is alive and well.)
- The Heysen Range is one of the most underrated walking areas in the Flinders. The Heysen Trail shoots north up Aroona Valley but the peaks and gorges it glides past offer some remarkable detours. And, as always, it's a jolt to be reminded that so much of the best of the Flinders - like Bathtub and the country to the north - is outside the national parks.
- The effects of 10 years of below average rainfall are very evident. Though the Heysens always get a bit of winter moisture, Bathtub did not seem to have had a major flow for some time. As with the gorges we visited near Moolooloo last year, it could do with a big storm to scour and clean up the pools.
- Even though it was school holidays, we saw no other walkers. There were however several car-based campers in the Aroona campground. In the carpark at the end of the walk we did meet a few daytrippers who asked quizzical questions. Bushwalking, it seems, is still a bit of a novelty.
