Simpson crossing

I was speaking to Ric from OOT 4WD in Newcastle (the Longranger guys) and he was out there in the last few weeks going East to West.

He said that the soft tops on the top of the dunes were about 2m high and rather steep particularly at the Eastern end, but other than needing to take care, particularly as he was frequently bellying out on them, it was fine. I believe that Goyder's Lagoon still has water hanging around and Warburton Track is closed if you were intending on going that way.

Of course the situation can change rapidly.

He mentioned that Ian from Mt. Dare had been out there too and posted on here, but I was away and didn't see it.

Cheers
Andrew.

Gossy

Please make sure that the bike riders stick to the tracks and that they don't go tearing over the dunes offtrack

Enjoy your journey

Cheers

Gossy
We crossed Simpson in late April. Used Rig Road between French Line and start of WAA line (at Colson track). It was easy going. Wheel ruts were eroded as deep as 1m (generally on east side of dunes from memory) - but anywhere where that occurred had another track alongside. Reckon the motorcyclists will need to take care going over dune crests to avoid landing in those ruts. Those nice yellow flowers were everywhere in April. JD

Hi Gossy,

You can go anywhere you like with the bikes at present, except Warburton Crossing which is opened and closed by the Parks / Roads Department. The support vehicle/s no doubt have a trailer in tow and that is the issue.

The initial 2-3Km of the Rig Road from K1 have substantial dune crests in both directions (may have been knocked down a bit now). As you can't approach from the South and it is really worth coming down from Poeppels, you may as well follow the herd along the French Line to Lindsay Junction then decide to do either the FL or the Knolls/WAA.

2 weeks ago the patch on the FL before Erabena was challenging and I'm glad I wasn't towing a support vehicle trailer.

Don't worry about the bikes, just pick the best route for the support vehicle!

Enjoy
Cheers
Ian@Mt Dare

thanks Ian. There are 3 cars (2 landrovers and my GQ). 6 Bikes. We have acknowledged that a trailer would be a nightmare so we are committed to packing all our food and water into the cars only.
Though we have been anal about a route plan we also know that by the time we get to Mt Dare and ask what the tracks are like our plans will probably completely change. Not a bad thing; that 's what holidays are for!

Hi Gossy,
just a bit of info for ya ,myself and another 4x4and 4 bikes did it in 01
and a good thing to keep in mind is call ahead on the UHF on a regular basis to
warn other vehicles that there are bikes . the vehicles don,t always realise the ,speed of the bikes over the Dunes ,and carry a red flag on the lead vehicle .
( copy anyone heading east on what ever track for example )
have a good trip . we did , doing it again in Sept but no bikes ,
cheers mechpete.