Stapelton Falls - Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory

Upper Stapelton Falls

Stapelton Falls is an apparently little known waterfall In Litchfield National Park NT.  There are no roads to it, no signs, no paths.  One of those places I stumbled upon looking over old topographic maps like the nerd I am at heart.  It may not be as wide as Florence or as tall as Wangi but it's a pretty nice spot for a quiet swim when the rest of the park is ridiculously crowded.  Which is often the case and takes away some of the magic of the place.

Looking back up towards lower Stapelton Falls

I've visited Stapelton twice now.  The easiest and most accessible access I've found is leaving by foot from the Tolmer Falls car park.  The car park is located 39.8kms from the Litchfield NP sign when you take the Bachelor entrance in.  Conveniently there are toilets and an emergency call device (ECD) located there.  Coming via this route the road is sealed all the way.  From here the falls are only about a kilometer away 'as the crow flies'.

Tolmer Arch

Last year my mate Alex and I took the awkward way there.  We climbed down a stupidly steep drop then pushed our way along the creek flowing from Tolmer Falls then over the side of a hill and up to the falls from the bottom end of Stepelton Creek.  The trip back was much easier since we went over the top of the escarpment and did a sneaky crossing over the Tolmer rock arch (shhh!).

Learning from my mistakes, this year when I went back with my girlfriend Jess we took the easy route there and a similar path back.  The walk over the top of the escarpment is relatively flat but I'd highly recommend the wearing of gaiters or at least long pants because the spinifex is pretty dense.  And bring your bushmans!  There were hungry flies an inch long that loved to bite.  Also watch your step closely, we happened upon a random drop to a cave a very long way down.  Falling into something like that would not end well. 

When it comes to navigating I have a personal preference for the MGRS coordinate nomenclature.  Mostly because you can read it directly off of the Royal Australian Survey Corps maps I use.  You will find the top of Stapelton Falls on the 1:50,000 Mount Tolmer map at 52L FL 85864 38689.  Jess and I had a little discussion about how we would describe Stapelton:

'The Shower'

"There is a series of cascading rockholes culminating in a 10 meter drop.  The water cascades vertically down the rock face, dodging the trees growing determinately from the stone.  From the plunge pool at the base the water sweeps around to the right via a narrow creek.  Here it takes a short plunge into a walled spa.  It then flows under a stone archway and over a 6 meter descent into a large 'shower alcove'.  A final short drop into a wide but mostly shallow pool marks the base of the falls.  The water then trickles down a small creek to join the runoff from Tolmer Falls".

Water flowing into the 'spa' and under the stone archway

Jess and I both agreed we'd rate Stapelton as well worth a second (third) trip.

Now that the wet season is slowly beginning it's a pretty nice time to hang out at the falls.  The water is flowing strongly so stagnate water in the larger pools isn't an issue like it was when I went the first time.  The flow into 'the shower' at the moment is so strong that standing underneath feels like a rough Thai massage.  Though on the other hand it's damn hot trekking around in the buildup/wet season.  We left Darwin pretty early in the day to avoid the heat on the walk out but by the return trip the sun was out with a vengeance.  So if you're going this time of year make sure you bring lots of water and drink it even though it's not a long trip.  Parks wouldn't be very happy about stretchering you out.  If they do, don't tell them I sent you!



Visited 02.12.2013