Don’t Tell the Ranger: I Broke the Law

I did a stupid thing.

I assumed I knew where to go. I was heading to Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park. Palm Valley was a grueling 12 mile rock and dirt ride (the sign said 4WD vehicles only) from the main road, but I heard it was worth it. Besides, at the end would be a campground with hot showers and potable water.

I turned off the main road at around 2 pm. At the 10th mile there was a sign that indicated that a car campground was to the right and that Palm Valley was 2.5 miles straight ahead. So I went straight! Big mistake. A little later I passed the information kiosk– which I should have stopped to read! I thought that the Palm Valley sign, which pointed straight ahead, was the Palm Valley campground I was trying to head to. But the actual campground was the one the sign pointed to a while back. The Palm Valley sign just meant that the palm grove area (known as Palm Valley) was straight ahead, not the campground. (I should have known there would only be one campground in the area.)

But now the last 2 miles had turned into a treacherous double track of 4WD tire grooves, stream crossings and climbing up boulders. Half the time I was walking the bike and heaving it up small boulders. How can anyone put a campground at the end of all this? I thought. (Well, the campground was actually way behind me!)

It was getting toward dusk and I was still not at the campground (the imagined campground, that is). Then I reached a stream section I could not cross without unloading the bike. The odometer said I had 0.3 miles left to reach Palm Valley. It was getting darker fast. I was running out of time. I had to make a decision.

Disappointed, I turned back. I was so close to the goal, I thought. Sadly, I went back a mile and found a beautiful grove of palm trees (but not Palm Valley)

The sky was turning into the Australian blue/orange hue. It would be dark pretty soon. So I made the decision to set up camp there. In a National Park, one can only camp in the designated campground; no wild camping allowed. Not that I was justified in doing so, but I always practice “Leave No Trace” principles, so nothing will be disturbed and no one will ever know I was there. By this time, it was dark enough that I knew no other vehicle would pass by, and I would be out of there by daybreak.

Oh, being stupid or not, it turned out the be a beautiful place to camp among those palm trees! Much more scenic than the designated campground. So I was happy.

I’ll be sure to read signs at information kiosks next time (maybe)