For the most part, the Flinders Ranges – South Australia’s largest/longest “mountain” chain – run south-north, for more than 430 kilometres.
Of greatest interest to most tourists/travellers/walkers/nature-lovers is Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, most especially the section within a 30 kilometre radius of Wilpena Pound.
All of the very best locations are best accessed on foot, or only accessible by foot; many of those wonderful sites, however, are only a short and easy walk from somewhere motor vehicles can reach.
If the question is, “what places are legally, sensibly, safely accessible by motorised transport?”, the short answer is,”it all depends….”
Two sealed highways run approximately south-north, on either side of the main range.
In this area, no sealed road crosses through the main range, and there is only one “usually open, would be non-insane to drive it in a 2WD”, unsealed road that does so.
There is at least one other route via which a skilled driver of a 4WD could take a vehicle through the main range – from one to the other side.
This post’s photo shows part of it. (I think)
No prize for guessing that we were about to abandon our attempt to “drive through”!
Had we reached the pictured location one hour earlier, we probably would have been able to “drive through”, but would then have found ourselves quite unable to “drive back”, and facing a very long return journey to Wilpena, via sections of both the aforementioned sealed roads.
In Flinders Ranges valley floors and gorges, even relatively “good” 4WD tracks can rapidly change from “passable” to “impassable”, from “open” to “closed”.
Any such track will cross generally “dry” riverbeds/watercourses that can suddenly become “raging floodwaters”.
Firm tracks become quagmires.
The 4WD tracks do not merely cross the aforementioned hazards.
Not infrequently, sections of “creek” and sections of “4WD track” follow the very same course!
(photo ©️ Doug Spencer, taken at 1.14 pm on 05 June 2023. I think we were in part of Bunyeroo Gorge)
You may be wondering, “did rain set in for the rest of that day?”
The next few posts will answer that question.