A hike through Australian outback’s Red Centre reveals scenery straight out of a painting

For hours already, the hikers have been trudging uphill, above them a fantastically starry night sky. Some of the group have been hiking with heavy backpacks for weeks, others only a few days with lighter burdens. But all of them have one common goal: to be standing atop Mount Sonder for the next sunrise. The nighttime ascent is the final highlight of this very Australian pilgrimage, the 223km (140-mile) Larapinta Trail from the desert city of Alice Springs through the West MacDonnell Range, a mountain chain in the red heart of the continent down under. The first stage of the trail was opened back in 1990. But it would take another 12 years until the entire trail traversing the West MacDonnell National Park was completed. Today it is considered one of Australia’s most scenic hiking trails – and one of the toughest. On this recent morning, around 30 hikers are heading up to the mountain summit. They are chatting, drinking coffee from vacuum flasks and taking each other’s picture when the first rays of sunshine start to appear on the horizon. “It’s a comparatively quiet day,” says our guide, Tash Loh. She reports that often there are 50 people awaiting the sunrise. Loh, 28, is employed by one of the 12 travel organisers offering guided tours and the transport of hikers’ luggage. Most of the tours are the shorter, six-day version concentrating on the trail’s most scenic segments. Just why these tours are so heavily booked can be seen during the long descent of Mount Sonder. The endless plains with their scattered acacia trees resemble the savannahs of Africa. The glowing red chain of hills looks like a procession of armadillos. Twenty years ago, only experienced bush walkers would hike on the Larapinta Trail. Now it’s on the to-do list of many Aussies John, Larapinta Trail hiker in his seventies These hills were once mountains standing thousands of metres tall. Their rocks are 800 million years old. The layers of sandstone, gneiss and limestone were at one time the sediment at the bottom of a shallow interior lake. But shifting tectonic layers folded them upwards to create mountains which, over time, were polished by wind, rain and the elements. “Australia’s mountains are not as dramatic as the Himalayas,” Loh admits. “But they are impressive in another way.” The city dwellers on the coast saw this for the first time in 1938 when Aboriginal painter Albert Namatjira displayed his watercolour paintings in Melbourne. The exhibition was a sensation and the paintings quickly sold out. Today, hikers can see for themselves that Namatjira did not beautify or exaggerate his landscapes. In the first stage at Simpson’s Gap, the red walls of a gorge and the bleached trunks of eucalyptus trees are mirrored in a waterhole. It is a perfect setting for social media influencers who have popularised the trail over the past few years. “Twenty years ago, only experienced bush walkers would hike on the Larapinta Trail,” says a man named John, who, in his mid-seventies, is the oldest in our group. “Now it’s on the to-do list of many Aussies, and many underestimate it.” The heat alone is too much for many hikers. For this reason it is a must to carry three to four litres (about one gallon) of water every day – and to wear a hat with a broad brim to protect you from the sun. Out in the bush, which consists of small Mallee eucalyptus shrubs, shade is a rarity. Meanwhile, pale tufts of spinifex grass sting through clothing. And as soon as the wind dies down, the flies attack, buzzing around the nose and ears. Loh says she once swallowed six flies in one day. The Red Centre, as this part of the continent is called, is sometimes greener in the Australian winter than expected. Sturt’s desert roses bloom purple, umbrella wattles bear tiny yellow flower balls. Some 600 plant species grow in the semi-desert. “The flowers here are opportunists,” Loh says. “They bloom when it has rained.” The altitude difference is reasonably manageable, but some of the sections along the trail are challenging. On the third stage you climb out of the narrow Standley Chasm, where hikers clamber over steep rock steps up several embrasures, called camel humps, and then head back down again into the next rocky basin. Soon, everyone is out of breath – but the scenery is worth all the effort. Ghost gums – myrtle plants with smooth, white trunks – claw their way into the red rock walls. Palm ferns, survivors of an era when Australia was much rainier, are growing on the slopes. And red-crested pigeons with bright blue faces and high crests sit at the edge of the path. Even for Australians the outback has remained a strange, mythical wilderness. Many towns along the way are sacred to the indigenous Arrernte people who have been living here for thousands of years. Information boards explain their cultural and historical significance. At the Inarlanga Pass, for example, the territories of two tribes border each other, and hunters and traders used to have to ask permission before crossing. “This was an important ceremonial place,” Loh explains. Camping here is taboo. Her guests could not care less about that ban. They sleep comfortably in the safari tents pitched in a dried-out river bed and enjoy a multi-course meal by the campfire. Those travelling on their own can simply unroll a sleeping bag and mat in a shelter at the end of each stage – or in one of the many campsites in between. There are no showers – but waterholes like Glen Helen Gorge, a breach in the red Cyclopean wall which, together with the blue of the lake and the green of the reeds, look like a painting by Namatjira. The waters are deep and clear, while cliffs tower above the magnificent natural pool. The Arrernte say that once upon a time a giant snake guarded over the lake. A visitor pleasantly swimming in the pool might shiver at the thought, but then be comforted by the fact that, at least for crocodiles, the water is too cold.

A hike through Australian outback’s Red Centre reveals scenery straight out of a painting

A trail from Alice Springs takes hikers through a baking landscape of mountains, pools, plants and trees that inspired an Aboriginal artist