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Destinations > Canning Stock Route, Part 1
Canning Stock Route, Part 1
Issue: March 2006
Words and photos by Vic Widman
Final Frontier
The Canning Stock Route is the harshest 4WD track in the world. Vic Widman travels this iconic trail and finds there's more to it than meets the eye.
When it comes to 4WD adventures few, if any, can equal traversing the Canning Stock Route. A bold statement indeed but let's expand it even further. There would be few places on earth where you can drive a motor vehicle for close to 2000km or 16 days, day after day, without encountering some major form of civilisation. That's exactly what the CSR offers.
Driving the CSR is the pinnacle of offroad travel in Australia. Some people strive all their life to achieve this epic run. Others have failed part way only to be faced with expensive repairs and recovery and sadly people have even perished in the lonely and cruel wastelands of the Great Sandy Desert.
What seemed like a good idea to many becomes a logistical nightmare once they realise the planning and preparation required to drive what is the longest stock route in the world, traversing some of the most inhospitable land on our planet. I've driven the CSR, my company Great Divide Tours has led several CSR tag-alongs and we have seen just how harsh this sandy, meandering track can be and yet, with a properly prepared 4WD, appropriate planning and sensible time frames it can be conquered with few, if any hassles.
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So what is the attraction to such a desolate and remote land? The answer is a mix of that remote and desolate nature, and the challenge of doing something that as few as 2000 people accomplish each year. But there is also the history of the Stock Route and the amazing scenery found scattered through the red desert sands of the Little and Great Sandy Deserts.
As mentioned, trip preparation is critical to successfully completing the CSR. Having a properly set-up vehicle and being a capable bush mechanic are ingredients of a successful CSR adventure.
So let's set off on a journey along the greatest 4WD adventure track in Australia. Although Alfred Canning built the chain of wells to bring the cattle from the northern tropics of Australia to the railheads at Meekatharra, the numbering of the wells starts at Wiluna in the south of WA. I prefer to drive the CSR in ascending well number order; apart from the opportunity to tick off each well as it is visited the route north leads from the colder climates of southern Australia to the delightfully warm weather of a northern Australian winter. Winter is the only real time that this route should be considered. Anything before May or after September will lead you into horrendously hot desert climates that will sap your energy and make your vehicle labour in powder-like red-hot sand. The CSR is definitely a winter route.
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Words and photos by Vic Widman
Final Frontier
The Canning Stock Route is the harshest 4WD track in the world. Vic Widman travels this iconic trail and finds there's more to it than meets the eye.
When it comes to 4WD adventures few, if any, can equal traversing the Canning Stock Route. A bold statement indeed but let's expand it even further. There would be few places on earth where you can drive a motor vehicle for close to 2000km or 16 days, day after day, without encountering some major form of civilisation. That's exactly what the CSR offers.
Driving the CSR is the pinnacle of offroad travel in Australia. Some people strive all their life to achieve this epic run. Others have failed part way only to be faced with expensive repairs and recovery and sadly people have even perished in the lonely and cruel wastelands of the Great Sandy Desert.
What seemed like a good idea to many becomes a logistical nightmare once they realise the planning and preparation required to drive what is the longest stock route in the world, traversing some of the most inhospitable land on our planet. I've driven the CSR, my company Great Divide Tours has led several CSR tag-alongs and we have seen just how harsh this sandy, meandering track can be and yet, with a properly prepared 4WD, appropriate planning and sensible time frames it can be conquered with few, if any hassles.
read on below advertisement
So what is the attraction to such a desolate and remote land? The answer is a mix of that remote and desolate nature, and the challenge of doing something that as few as 2000 people accomplish each year. But there is also the history of the Stock Route and the amazing scenery found scattered through the red desert sands of the Little and Great Sandy Deserts.
As mentioned, trip preparation is critical to successfully completing the CSR. Having a properly set-up vehicle and being a capable bush mechanic are ingredients of a successful CSR adventure.
So let's set off on a journey along the greatest 4WD adventure track in Australia. Although Alfred Canning built the chain of wells to bring the cattle from the northern tropics of Australia to the railheads at Meekatharra, the numbering of the wells starts at Wiluna in the south of WA. I prefer to drive the CSR in ascending well number order; apart from the opportunity to tick off each well as it is visited the route north leads from the colder climates of southern Australia to the delightfully warm weather of a northern Australian winter. Winter is the only real time that this route should be considered. Anything before May or after September will lead you into horrendously hot desert climates that will sap your energy and make your vehicle labour in powder-like red-hot sand. The CSR is definitely a winter route.
next page »
