Walkers Follow Fence: Thru-Hiking the Heysen Trail

A personal account of one hiker’s third experience of the Heysen Trail.

Richard Savage thru-hiked South Australia’s 1200 kilometre Heysen Trail in 2004, hiked it again in 2006, and for a third time in 2013.

The trail begins along the Southern Ocean where sometimes it is atop high cliffs and at other times crosses beautiful beaches. It ends in the rugged and dramatic Flinders Ranges. Along the way the scenery is varied and changes quickly. Wildlife is plentiful, and there is much to see of historic interest including several old towns. This is the story of his third hike of the trail along with some of the highlights from the first two.

The trail had its challenges. There were winds strong enough to blow you off your feet, heavy rains, and flooded creeks. Sometimes there were rough walking surfaces. Almost always there were few other hikers with none at all for 42 days out of 56. There were times when it was even a problem to find the trail. And often water isn’t plentiful.

Although a number of people have walked the length of the trail, relatively few have thru-hiked it. Richard relates what it is like to live on the trail as one walks along from day to day.