Larapinta Trail Food Drops.

[etoxin]

I'll be hiking the Larapinta trail in July. I have a few questions.

regarding the food drops provided by the various touring companies at Alice Springs.
- Do I need to provide boxes for the food to be dropped in/stored?
- Do I need to provide the food? Or does the cost include food?

- I'm a seasoned hiker (30's). What's the average time to hike the entire trail west to east?
- I normally hike with a GPS+topo but my GPS recently broke. Is a GPS really required for this hike or will map skills + topo suffice?

[whitefang]

The companies I have looked into supply containers and will pick them afterwards. Some provide the key for the food drop locations in the price, but some might make you organise this yourself. You will need to supply your own food to pack in the containers.

Map and compass is all you need to navigate providing you know how to use them.

[walkon]

The companies supply the tubs but you supply the food. You have to hire a key which you get from the tourism info shop in Alice.
The average time varies greatly. Some people are in a rush treating it like a race which is a shame for them as they miss out on lots, they just don't know it. Anywhere from 10 days, we did it in 14 but I reckon next time I'm there I could easily take a month.
Maps are all you need on this walk. The Mac ranges run east west and the gorges north south so you shouldn't get too stuffed up if you are alright with nav. The Larapinta map kit also had flora and fauna on it which is good.
Btw, the company we used for the food drops (who have this walk prominently in its name) absolutely stuffed them up. Despite being very clearly labeled most of our drops were in the wrong place. This caused issues with dietaries, medications and food spoiling which wasn't great at the time.

[north-north-west]

The track is very well marked and constantly being upgraded, so map and compass are all you need (even if doing a bit of off-track stuff). NT P&WS have a trail pack for walkers that includes a series of excellent map-and-notes which are good enough for any sensible walker to complete the track.

Time varies greatly between groups and individuals. I did 450km, including sidetrips, loops and backtracking, over a total of 13 days (one of which was a half day due to weather), starting mid afternoon on day one and reaching the road before noon on the final day. While there are some decent climbs in there and some rough terrain, there is also a lot of flat easy walking. There were one or two dawn to dusk days in that as well.
Plus, provided you manage your water supplies properly, you don't have to camp in the formal sites. Most days it is possible to walk as long as you feel like.

[etoxin]

Thank you all. This was super informative. I look forward to doing the walk.