Our 3 desert trip three weeks ago saw us travel on the David
Carnegie Rd on 18 May and up to a few K's north of Empress springs it was in good condition. North from here the track deteriorated with some serious washouts. Corrugated and a bit overgrown in some spots. We copped the rain shadow and as we headed further north towards the Gunbarrel the track became muddy and the claypans were filling. I was tail-end Charlie in a convoy of 6 so by the time I got to some of the wet spots the ruts where quagmires. Crossed the Gunbarrel onto the
Eagle Hwy.
Just past the Mungilli abandoned outstation the track is pretty beaten up and we made it worse as we had to traverse a really muddy section which I nearly got stuck in. So if the track has since dried up you'll see our tracks. From this point we encountered a number of deep muddy clay sections which had us heading in all directions no matter how slow and careful we were. By the time we made
camp 3 of us had lost passenger side wing mirrors.
Weather fined up from here and so did the track with some excellent sections allowing speeds up to 60-70km/hr before the inevitable washout. From the
Warri Site turn-off North the track again had some washouts and spinifex in the centre hump.
At the southeast dogleg turn the track became very overgrown in parts with many deep washout sections to be negotiated. (Scenery great and ever changing). Once past the washouts the track became excellent with relatively fast speeds available.
We camped 23 km from
Gary Hwy and the road from this point to the Gary was fantastic and almost a race track if you wanted it to be. Thousands of little anthills were on either side of the track and the vegetation was ever changing. Brilliant country.
The junction of the Eagle and Gary Hwys is pretty open as the country is in a state of regeneration after what looked like last year's fires. The Gary south from here is a very very good road with few corrugations and no washouts to speak of.
Lake Cohen was dry but looked like it could be an interesting place when filled. There is evidence that the country can become very boggy after rain if the Dawson''s 2005 Tour commemorative
plaque is anything to go by.
Reaching
Everard Junction at the crn of the
Gary Hwy and Gunbarrel Hwy it looked like a slaughter yard with numerous decaying camels. The result of an aerial cull.
Signed the visitors book and took the obligatory photo's of the Len Beadell replica
plaque.
The GBH west from here was very good to reasonably good as far as
Geraldton Bore (good quality water), from here the track deteriorated quickly with many sections having up to 4 lanes of corrugation options. Definitely was a case of the good, the bad, and the darn right ugly. Corrugations faded out as we approached
Mungilli Claypan (stop and walk over the surface, when we were there the hard clay was like rich smooth chocolate). We camped at
the junction of the Eagle, DC & GBH for the night.
The GBH from here was in excellent condition overall with the odd minor corrugated bit and muddy puddle sections. When you reach the Shire of
Wiluna boundary the road is
well maintained and was in excellent condition.
The
Carnegie Wongawol Rd which is the extension of the GBH was excellent. We turned south down the Windidda Prenti Downs Rd and then the Prenti Down Rd to the
Warren Bore Rd which took us back to the GCR and all points
home.
All up an excellent area to travel with all manner of road conditions. As they say drive to the conditions and allow for those unforeseen incidents and enjoy the ride, scenery and experience.
Cheers
Dunc.