Reynolds River Track; the best of Litchfield by 4WD
We firmly believe that the best parts of Australia are 4WD accessible, and if you’ve done the whole of Litchfield National Park, you’ll know this confirms my motto above. No, don’t get me wrong, the bitumen part of Litchfield National Park is absolutely stunning, but its even better once you get off it.
There’s a couple of places you can do this, but the highlight for us, by a long shot is the beautiful Reynolds River Track. This is hugely popular, and not always open, but if you get to do it, you’ll go through some stunning landscapes, and have the opportunity to stop and swim at two beautiful places, and see some pretty incredible history along the way.
Where is the Reynolds River Track?
You’ll find this great part of the world in the middle of Litchfield National Park, which is about an hour and a half south of Darwin. In fact, you can enter Litchfield National Park from the south on the Reynolds Track, and you’ll end up right in the centre of the park. Alternatively, you can also exit this way, providing you aren’t towing anything.
How difficult is it?
The answer to this is going to vary from year to year, but for the most part, it’s a relatively easy track, minus a couple of deep water crossings, and some rutted bull dust sections. Some of the creek crossings can be challenging when rutted and dug out, but we saw some completely standard vehicles on the track. That said, even our Dmax dragged and bottomed out a couple of times in the bull dust, and whilst we never needed a locker, I reckon there’d be years where it would be harder.
When is the Reynolds River Track open?
Again, this varies from year to year, but you can get updated information from the NT roads website. Occasionally they’ll open the northern part of the track but leave the southern part closed until it dries out further, but it just depends on the damage that the wet seasons has done, and how easily it can be re-opened.
In general though, its open some time between March and June, and it generally closes later in the year, once the chance of storms gets much higher. This is crocodile country, and you’d be foolish to not take precautions when you visit, especially early in the season.
Do you need a snorkel?
There’s some pretty substantial water crossings on the Reynolds Track, and asides from being long, they can be quite deep, and uneven as well. The two deepest ones are near the northern end of the track. One takes you to the historical hut, and the other one is on the main track not far from the start. Both are probably about 50 metres long, and can be up to a metre (or even more) in places.
They’re easily over wheel height in some sections, and to me, that’s more than deep enough to need a snorkel. A lot of factory air intakes are right off the inner guard, and its really easy for water to get splashed, or flicked up, and if you get just a teaspoon of water go through your engine, its game over. I don’t mean game over as in your engine will stop and you’re stuck in potentially croc infested waters, with your car beginning to flood (because that happens too), but game over in terms of the fact that you’ll need a new engine, and that’s not fun for anyone.
Most insurance companies will cover you for water crossings (but some charge you an extra fee, like Club 4×4), but do you really want the hassle of flooding your vehicle, and then being without one whilst it gets repaired?
I would strongly suggest that if you don’t have a snorkel, you should stay off the Reynolds track. It’s simply not worth the potential risk.
That said, we did see a lot of vehicles without them (probably about 30%), and some were not overly tall either. Each to their own, but I bet a heap get drowned here every year.
Can you tow caravans, boats or camper trailers on the Reynolds River Track?
Realistically, you’d easily tow a capable trailer through this track with a capable 4WD. However, there are signs in a number of places that suggest you cannot tow beyond this point. We did see some capable trailers at Sandy Creek, and I think we’d be able to tow our Reconn R2 through easily enough, but its not recommended, or allowed.
How long does the Reynolds River Track take?
If you are just driving North to South, or South to North without any stops, you can probably do the track in about an hour and a half. It’s not that long or slow, but we highly recommend you stop at the different attractions, as they’re stunning. Our day trip from Hideaway Litchfield to Blyth Homestead, Sandy Creek Falls (including the walk), and then down to Surprise Creek Falls and back to camp again took about 7 hours, without rushing.
Where can you camp on the track?
Camping is permitted in the two national park camp sites, at Sandy Creek, and Surprise Creek. These are pre-booked sites, and you’ll get zero phone reception so make sure its done well in advance.
These have the basic amenities; toilets, fire pits and some picnic tables.
Can you do it on a day trip?
Yep, and we did exactly that, from Litchfield Bush camp, down to Surprise Creek, and back up. We did the Sandy Creek walk, stopped at the historic hut and swam at Surprise Creek before heading home.
The entire trip took us about 7 hours, and you could easily do it faster if you wanted to.
Alternatively, its pretty smart to enter from the south and drive north through to the rest of the park, or exit from the south, so you don’t have to double back.
