Middle Pool - WA

This pool is located by following the main creek of the Queen Desert Baths south into the Broadhurst Ranges. It was our first destination on a full day hike across the Broadhurst Ranges and Plateau departing from the DQB camp ground. It is necessary to negotiate the pools of the Desert Queen Baths either by swimming or as we did, climbing to the left of the main pool (behind the large Fig Tree) and then heading cross country to meet the creek in the pound area at the top of the Desert Queen Baths Gorge. This walk should only be attempted by experienced individuals with appropriate navigation & communication equipment and maps. This pool is not marked on any map. There are no access tracks of any type. The area is only accessible by foot or helicopter.

The walk is a comfortable two hours stopping to admire the remains of the many ephemeral pools of varying size. In caverns along the way, rock art can be found. The creek bed is often jumbled boulders, particularly where it passes through the higher gorge like areas. Other section as are broad and sandy making the going much easier. As part of the hike planning, I had divided the route into a number of waypoints. Middle Pool was reached after two hours of walking and we were richly rewarded to find a wide, sheltered pool not dissimilar to the No. 1 Pool of DQB. Certainly equal in size, it was surrounded on three sides by rocky walls and a drop of several meters on the southern side that the creek water would have to tumble over during the rains. It was a fitting place for our first break after two hours of walking shaded by tall gums and the occasional Native Fig. We had been strolling easily, stopping to take video and photos along the way as well as compare our GPS points with the map. The rocky walls of course meant that we would need to climb the walls to get around the pool and continue our journey south. This pool was of sufficient size to provide water for many dry seasons.