Kings Canyon to Alice via Mereenie Loop

by Neil
(Victoria)

Hello, just thought I'd share our trip report on the Mereenie Loop Road from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs for other travellers.

Firstly there are conflicting reports on whether you need a permit or not... We opted to buy a permit ($5.50) from Kings Canyon Resort Caltex Station.

The road itself, don't be fooled. It is harsh, very rough and corrugated. A reasonable level of driver skill is required. 4x4 experience would be very helpful. The road surface shifts from hard rocky surface to smooth sand, then corrugated sand or rocks. Some areas of bulldust.

My advise, keep a reasonable speed, not too slow, not too fast. Tyre pressure down to 26-28 psi (very important to avoid punctures) as it assists traction and makes the ride a little better. For all of you that attempt it in a hire vehicle. Check the spare tyre is ok. Otherwise, enjoy the spectacular scenery. It is some of the most diverse in the world.

My tip... don't stay at the Glen Helen resort... far from a resort. The toilets were dirty, no paper, staff not so friendly. Drive a few more km's down the road and stay at Ormiston Gorge or even better Ellery Creek Big Hole camp grounds. Much cheaper (natioanl park fees) and a better natural view with basic but adequate facilities.

Enjoy the NT!!

Comments for
Kings Canyon to Alice via Mereenie Loop

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Kings Canyon, Alice and Mereenie Loop
by: Birgit

Ditto on Ormiston Gorge or Ellery Creek Big Hole being preferable :-).

Thanks a lot for sharing your trip report with my readers, Neil!

merrenie loop road
by: Anonymous

How much takes you to travel from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon? Is it more than 6 hours?

Thanks on advance and thank you to share all that information.

Alice Springs - Kings Canyon
by: Birgit

Depends on the route, the car, and the driver :-).
Please see the Kings Canyon page.

I quote:
The distance is 474 km along the Stuart Highway, Lasseter Highway and Luritja Road, all fully sealed.

If you have a 4WD you can access Watarrka National Park via the Mereenie Loop Road. (...) The distance from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs going that way is 357 km.

Six hours should do it.

Many Thanks!
by: Anonymous

The driver is a standard 4wd driver one ;-).

Thanks a lot indeed, your comment was so useful.

I'll write in here my experience once I finished it. Thanks again, we will try to do the Mereenie Loop Road from Alice to King's Canyon in six hours in our 4wd. We have like eight hours to get to King's Canyon but we would like to stop a little in some places.

Thanks mate!

Glen Helen
by: Anonymous

Would have to agree with you about Glen Helen resort. We camped and the showers/toilets were extremely unclean. Unfortunately Omiston Gorge was packed by 4pm so you have to get there reasonably early to get a site.

Speaking to the owner of the Kings Cannon resort at a recent Camping/caravan show in SA advised that the place has changed ownership and the facilities are in much better condition now.

Give it a go in the dry.
by: Rob Broadley

We too travelled from Kings Canyon to the West MacDonelle Ranges via the Mereenie Loop in mid July 2011 in a Toyota Kluger All Wheel Drive (no trailer or caravan). There had been rain a few days earlier but for us all of the track was dry.

A Kings Canyon Service Station employee told us it had been graded in the last couple of months and he had heard travellers saying it was pretty good.

The first 40km were probably the worst for corrugations. There was thick fine sand (bull dust) if you ventured off the corrugated hard based tracks.

For the most part, we managed at least 80km/h. In some long, straight, well graded sections we confortably acheived 110km/h.

The greatest hazard we experienced was last of visibility due to dust from other vehicles while overtaking (even with the wind blowing across the track). Please, if you're towing, do other drivers a courtesy and pull over occasionally and let other vehicles pass safely. This is a much preferred option than forcing them to pass you at speed and flicking up a stone into your windshield, or radiator. We followed four vans for 50km doing less than 80km/h when we could have been doing over 100km/h.

In the dry, and with the road having been 'recently' graded, we found the road much more passable than what others had led us to beleive. Certainly, in the dry, any soft roader could handle the road. There was only one 2km section where I considered that I might have needed to lower the tyre pressure to cope with sand that had blown back across the track.

It was obvious from the trye tracks that otehrsw had tried to avoid the corrugations by driving on the soft sand on the outer edge of the road. In my opinion, this is extremely dangerous - stay on the well worn and corrugated track and maintain control of your vehicle. There were certainly a number of wrecks rusting on the side of the road.

We were very glad we took the Mereenie Loop and saw the West Macdonnel Ranges on our way from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs. I can't comment, however, on what the road would be like in the wet.

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