Drapers Gorge
Kennedy Range National Park
Directions - Kennedy Range National Park is located just under three hours east of Carnarvon, and 50 minutes north of Gascoyne Junction. Drapers Gorge is found south of the Temple Gorge Campground, from there take the road back out to the four way intersection and turn right. This leads to the car park for Drapers Gorge, where you will find an area to park and the trail head.
The Hike - Thoroughly enjoying my one day hiking bonanza in Kennedy Range National Park, a fantastic experience in Temple Gorge had me excited to see what the nearby Drapers Gorge was going to offer. It was a quick turnaround, just filling up water bottles before the short drive out to start the next hike. With light cloud cover blowing in during my last walk, along with the transition to softer afternoon light, staring down the rugged cliffs of the Kennedy Range was quite the sight.
Looking like almost a clone of Temple Gorge, there is a bulky mass of rock in the distance that also looks like a bit of a pyramid, just with the top cut off. Walking across the wide car park, I took a quick look at the severely UV affected trail head before heading along the narrow and rocky trail leading into the gorge. Initially things are nice and calm, with the vegetation hiding a little of what's on offer, but as you make your way further into the gorge, the views looking down into the valley created by the creek start to open up. Like the other gorge walks in the Kennedy Range, the gorges contain seasonal creeks that drain the upper plateau of the range towards the Lyons River to the east. While Temple Gorge and Honeycomb Gorge have relatively shallow creeks that you can walk right in the middle of, the one running through at least the lower part of Drapers Gorge has carved a nice ravine into the landscape. Following the blue boot markers, I had some nice wildflower finds early on, including what looked like a Featherflower but turned out to be a Maireana melanocoma.
Starting to climb up steeper gradients, the sandy single trail turns into finding your way by locating the next trail marker bolted to the rocks. This was a fun section of the trail, as I love when you have to hop and jump between different ledges, and this was combined with some lovely views looking up the side of the sloping gorge wall. Climbing up a little steep bit, I got my first views of the narrow slot where the creek has carved out the softer rock. Reminding me of the finish of the Knox Gorge hike in Karijini National Park, you walk along the edge of it, where I could see small pools below that would be out of the suns reach for most of the day. Walking to the head of the ravine, I had a couple of finds here thanks to a Blue Skimmer dragonfly, and setup in a pocket of vegetation was an opportunistic Orb Weaver. From here the view looking into the gorge was an inviting one, with the blue skies and white clouds providing some nice photos.
Moving on from this spot, it was just a taste of what was to come, as I headed on down the wide ledge, joining up the blue trail markers that really pop off the orange rock. Not far ahead was one of the coolest locations along the trail, with a wide bowl found on your right, being fed by one of many waterfalls located within Drapers Gorge. As I'd found with most of the watering holes during the course of the day, there was only a small amount of water left at the bottom. It would be a cool sight to see everything flowing but I had enjoyed good luck in Kalbarri National Park a week prior, with countless waterfalls along the Loop Walk. Admiring everything found within the bowl, and also loving the jumble of rocks found on the flat rim at the top, this was an unexpected delight. Moving on from this spot, the gentle slopes of the wide gorge are filled with rocky scree that you must negotiate to continue along.
While all the gorges require you to climb the further you go along, Drapers Gorge is the only one where it actually feels like you're climbing for most of the way. Reaching the end of the scree field, some more vegetation was a welcome sight, just to provide even more variety to what I'd already seen. Returning to a more natural looking trail, with a path winding through some greenery, this is where the gorge walls start to narrow. This makes for some lovely photos as the small peaks that rise up from the edge of the gorge look a lot more imposing as you're directly under them. Noticing something to my left, a tree was blocking the view of what I thought was another waterfall. Going off to investigate, my suspicion was correct, and I could see the lighter coloured rock and channel where the water would flow after heavy rains. Drapers Gorge was turning out to be full of great terrain, with the end not yet reached.
Walking back to the main trail, I had the final climb to go, and found the next marker, which had switched to the circular style that you often see in gorge hikes elsewhere in WA. Stepping up the rocky path, it looks like the gorge ends at several points but there is always a way through, usually found by climbing up or around a large boulder. Eventually I reached the end of Drapers Gorge and was presented with a dark green pool of water at the base of a circular cliff. A fun feature of this area is a Rock Fig growing on the edge of the pool, which is fed by you guessed it, a seasonal waterfall. With the sun sitting low in the sky, the pool was well shaded, so I took off my pack and set about exploring the area. Walking around and getting different angles of the pool and the rock wall, I eventually settled down on some rocks and enjoyed a drink of beverage. With plenty of time left in the day to hike the final trail, which I wanted to get as close to sunset as possible, I took my time here just listening to the sounds of the gorge, and the peacefulness.
Hopping down from my rock, I circled back around to the spot where you can get right up to the edge of the pool to see what I could find. The murky water probably sustains a great number of birds, insects, reptiles and mammals during the dry months, and doesn't look very inviting for a dip. Staying still for a while, there was movement in the water and soon the culprits came to the surface. Tadpoles of various sizes, along with some large varieties that almost looked like frogs, I believe they are Main's Frogs. The tadpoles were a fun bonus, as well as the green moss growing on the rocks closest to the level of the water. In such a dry and hot environment, it was like a little piece of the South West corner of WA. After a pleasant break sitting by the pool, it was time to head back to my car, and get cracking on the last trail located within Kennedy Range, and the one I'd been looking forward to all day. The walk back was just as good as coming up, and I made time to stop at my favourite places along the way, taking a lot more photos. Back at the car, the lighting was looking amazing, and that only got me more excited for the final hike up to the top of the range.
Final Thoughts - Drapers Gorge isn't as well known as Temple Gorge, and is probably left off the to-hike list of many that visit the park and only have the time/energy for a couple of walks.
That's a shame because there is a lot to enjoy here, with the terrain being a lot more rugged than the main part of Temple Gorge, and if you are here after decent rains, then this would be my pick of places to visit.
A fantastic combination of rugged landscape, winter wildflowers and dramatic rock formations, Drapers Gorge was a real highlight of my day spent exploring Kennedy Range National Park.
Get out there and experience it!
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