Canning Stock Route — Well 36 Gibson Desert Claypan Flats Dispersed Camp

Between Well 36 and the northern Gibson Desert transition, overlanders running the CSR mid-section find rough-graded claypan flats that serve as natural bivouac sites alongside the stock route corridor. The ground here is hard-baked red clay edged by spinifex and the occasional desert oak — firm enough to camp without sinking, exposed enough that you feel every star in the southern sky. No infrastructure, no signage, no other vehicles for days at a stretch. This is the real CSR mid-route experience: self-sufficient or nothing.

Access requires a minimum 4WD with a full recovery kit, high-lift jack, multiple spare tyres, and enough fuel to run well over 500km without resupply. A CSR permit from DBCA is required. Season is May–September; summer heat is lethal. Satellite comms mandatory. Nearest services are Newman to the south or Wiluna to the south-west — neither is close.

Mid-CSR claypan bivouac, Gibson Desert silence.