Alligator Gorge Circuit Walk

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A roughly 3km loop descending into Alligator Gorge to visit The Narrows and The Terraces, quartzite gorge formations sculpted by the creek.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

14 km

Est. time

3 hr 28 min

Elevation gain

52 m

Route type

Loop

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Mount Remarkable National Park, Southern Flinders Ranges, SA. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Mount Remarkable Leek-OrchidDocumented on this trail

Prasophyllum validum

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, SA: Vulnerable

Prasophyllum validum, commonly known as Mount Remarkable leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to South Australia. It has a single tubular leaf and up to forty five green to yellowish-green flowers with a white labellum. A similar leek orchid occurring in Victoria, previously included in this species, is known recognised as the undescribed Prasophyllum sp. aff. validum.

How to spot it

Prasophyllum validum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single tube-shaped leaf 300–600 mm (10–20 in) long and 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. Between twenty and forty five flowers are arranged along a flowering spike 100–300 mm (4–10 in) long reaching to a height of 200–400 mm (8–20 in). The flowers are green to yellowish-green, about 15 mm (0.6 in) wide and fragrant. As with others in the genus, the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is above the colu

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Prasophyllum validum

Showy SpeedwellDocumented on this trail

Veronica decorosa

Rare — SA: Rare▾

Rare — SA: Rare

Veronica decorosa is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae and grows in South Australia. It has white flowers borne on long stems.

How to spot it

Veronica decorosa is a small shrub to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) high and similar width and mostly smooth. The leaves are sessile, linear to oval-linear shaped, 1–7.5 cm (0.39–2.95 in) long, 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) wide and the margins entire or sparsely toothed and recurved. The flowers are in a long racemes, white, occasionally purple in the centre, four lobed, each lobe 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long, blunt or rounded, upper lobe wider with purple lines, bracts narrowly oval-shaped and 2–9 mm (0.079–0.354

Family Plantaginaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Veronica decorosa

Green-Comb Spider-OrchidDocumented on this trail

Caladenia dilatata

Endangered — SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — SA: Endangered

Caladenia dilatata, commonly known as the green-comb spider-orchid and as koolin by Aboriginal people of the Coranderrk area, is species of flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a single leaf and a single yellowish-green flower with reddish stripes and occurs in Victoria South Australia and Tasmania. It is similar to C. necrophylla which occurs in south-east South Australia and to C. concinna from southern New South Wales.

How to spot it

Caladenia dilatata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single leaf which is 60–130 mm (2–5 in) long, 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide with red spots near the base, but which is often dried by flowering time. A single yellowish-green flower with reddish stripes is borne on a flowering stem which is 200–350 mm (8–10 in) tall. The sepals and petals have brown or yellowish, densely glandular, thread-like tips 5–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) long. The dorsal sepal is erect, 35–5

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Caladenia dilatata

Pale Leek-OrchidDocumented on this trail

Prasophyllum pallidum

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, SA: Rare▾

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, SA: Rare

Prasophyllum pallidum, commonly known as the pale leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to a south-eastern South Australia. It has a single tubular leaf and up to thirty green or yellowish-green flowers. It was previously thought to occur in Victoria but records from that state are now recognised as P. roseum.

How to spot it

Prasophyllum pallidum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single tube-shaped leaf 150–350 mm (6–10 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. Between fifteen and thirty five flowers are well-spaced along a flowering stem 70–100 mm (3–4 in) long which reaches to a height of 300–500 mm (10–20 in). The flowers are green or yellowish-green and as with others in the genus, are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The ovary is swo

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Prasophyllum pallidum

White RabbitsDocumented on this trail

Caladenia xantholeuca

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, SA: Endangered

Caladenia xantholeuca, commonly known as Flinders fingers, is a species of orchid endemic to South Australia. It has a single erect, hairy leaf and up to four white flowers with green backs. There are two populations which are isolated from each other and may prove, with further research to be separate species.

How to spot it

Caladenia xantholeuca is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single hairy, bright green leaf, 150–240 mm long and 5–7 mm wide. Up to four white flowers with green backs and 17–24 mm long and 20-30 wide are borne on a stalk 150–250 mm tall. The dorsal sepal is erect, 12–16 mm long and 3–4 mm wide. The lateral sepals are 17–21 mm long, 5–6 mm wide and held at an angle below horizontal. The petals are 16–18 mm long, about 4 mm wide and spread horizontally. The

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Caladenia xantholeuca

White Cypress Pine

Callitris glaucophylla

Conifer of Central Australia's rocky ranges▾

Conifer of Central Australia's rocky ranges

A small evergreen conifer, 4-12 m tall (rarely to 20 m), found across much of arid and semi-arid Australia including the rocky ranges of Central Australia. Its aromatic, termite-resistant timber was historically prized for building.

How to spot it

Scale-like leaves 2-6 mm long in whorls of three; small globose cones about 1-2 cm across with six triangular scales; deeply furrowed dark bark. Grows on rocky slopes and sandy soils in gorge country.

Family Cupressaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Callitris glaucophylla (redirects to Callitris columellaris)

Margaret Donald, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Native Fuchsia (Common Correa)

Correa reflexa

Widespread understorey shrub▾

Widespread understorey shrub

One of the most variable native shrubs in southern Australia, ranging from a low prostrate mat to a 1.5 m bush depending on where it grows. Its pendant tubular flowers are a reliable winter nectar source for honeyeaters and hover-feeding insects.

How to spot it

Oval leaves 10-50mm long with visible oil glands and a slightly rough feel. Bell-like, drooping tubular flowers up to 40mm long with four flared tips, usually greenish or red-and-yellow, hanging singly or in small clusters.

Family Rutaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: David Midgley (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Wikimedia Commons

Sticky Hop-bush

Dodonaea viscosa

Pioneer coloniser shrub▾

Pioneer coloniser shrub

One of the most widely distributed native shrubs on Earth, having spread naturally across tropical and warm-temperate coastlines worldwide via ocean-drifted seed capsules over the last two million years, and a common early coloniser after fire in the Flinders Ranges.

How to spot it

Leathery, resin-coated leaves that feel slightly sticky to the touch. Small yellow-orange flowers without petals, followed by distinctive papery, two-to-four-winged seed capsules that ripen from red to brown.

Family Sapindaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: J.M.Garg (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Pink Gum

Eucalyptus fasciculosa

Adelaide Hills signature gum▾

Adelaide Hills signature gum

A signature tree of the drier woodlands ringing Adelaide, named for the soft pink-grey tone of its freshly shed bark, and one of the more distinctive eucalypts of the Mount Lofty Ranges and southern Flinders country.

How to spot it

Smooth, off-white to slate-blue bark shed in flakes to reveal a pinkish new surface underneath. Glossy blue-green to green lance-shaped leaves, flower buds in sevens, and conical-to-barrel woody capsules.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Ivan G. Holliday (CC BY 3.0 AU) via Wikimedia Commons

Lavender Grevillea

Grevillea lavandulacea

Drought-hardy heath shrub▾

Drought-hardy heath shrub

A low, spreading grevillea found through the stony hills of the southern Flinders and Mount Lofty Ranges, its red-pink flowers a reliable late-winter to early-summer nectar source for honeyeaters and spinebills.

How to spot it

Narrow, needle-like to elliptic leaves 5-40mm long. Clusters of red or pink flowers with a distinctive silky-hairy outer surface, on a low shrub usually under 1m tall.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Melburnian (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Australian Ringneck

Barnardius zonarius

Not threatened — regionally distinctive parrot▾

Not threatened — regionally distinctive parrot

A medium-sized parrot with a distinctive yellow neck-ring, named explicitly among Mount Remarkable National Park's characteristic reptiles, mammals and birds alongside goannas, emus and echidnas.

How to spot it

Look for a green parrot with a blue face, yellow band around the back of the neck, and a yellow belly patch, often seen perched in pairs on dead branches or foraging on the ground in dry woodland along the park's gorge trails.

Family Psittaculidae · Source: Wikipedia: Mount Remarkable National Park; Wikipedia: Australian ringneck

Jim Bendon, CC BY-SA 2.0