Litchfield NP in the NT is a beautiful park where waterfalls and stunning gorges attract a host of people every year. Now I’m not one to judge but I did find it a little better than Kakadu.
Most of the attractions at Litchfield you can access by a 2wd ( Making this park very popular ) but theres two areas where you def need a 4wd. One is the beautiful Lost City where ancient rock formations create a magical type city that has eroded down to what is left today- but more on these later !
The other section is the Reynolds River 4wd track - def 4wd only.
The Reynolds Track is on the southern end of the park and I reckon highlights more of what Litchfield is all about, plus it gets you away from the hoards of scanty clad backpackers.
Its a 44km 4wd track ( well really just a rough road where I only needed 4wd three times to cross the rivers ).
Depending on what you read its one way and towing is not allowed - but I passed others going both ways and there were trailers on the track too.
Opened only during the dry season and only after the rivers drop below 800mm its a cool track with 5 different river crossings over the Reynolds River system. Saying this - theres no hill climbs, damage wrecking mud holes or rocky outcrops to tackle. The rangers do close the track when they feel necessary.
Highlights along the track include a detour into the old Blyth Homestead and mine to explore the old homestead and see how the Sargent Family lived and survived out here in this harsh environment.
There was tragedy too when Dick Sargent was repairing the cattle yards and nearly took his heal off near his ankle using a adze ( old school axe type ), they rode through the night to help him, crossing croc infested flooded rivers but he finally passed away with his father by his side in hospital.
The old homestead has a collective amount of relics from back in the day on display, plus the family has left an amazing book of their history to read and admire dating back to 1924, was hard to believe that they had nearly 14,000 head of cattle here.
Further on theres camping and a day area to explore and swim at Tjaynera Falls, commonly called Sandy Creek. Its a 1.5km walk to the tiered falls and theres a low risk of crocs here too. Next along the track is a diversion into Surprise Creek and falls. Again a two tiered drop into deep pools, theres also a small campsite here.
The track continues across huge floodplains and Savannah lands where some of the best termite mounds can be seen. Back out on the tourist route theres a handful to see, but along here its mind blowing with the thousands off into the distance.
Most of these are magnetic mounds but theres also the impressive Cathedral mounds mixed in.
Reynolds starts to run parallel with the Reynolds river at the far south end of the park and I found that after the last flooding there was plenty of sandy and dust patches along the way, but seriously it didn’t cause any issues.
The several river crossings had a rocky base - the local rangers make sure they contain the rock base after every wet season to allow access through the park. They range from long water crossings through to the East crossing which has a sand island in the middle.
A couple have steep entry and exits but nothing hard. At the end of the track, depending on where your camp is or where your heading, its about an hour drive to Alligator River township and loop back to the park. Even tho its only 44 km long, it takes a good 4 hours to explore, swim and enjoy the drive.
