Turon Gates - Sofala

[Turbo Piston Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Turbo Piston]

Hi!

Has onyone recently done the track from Turon Gates to Sofala?

I managed to get there at sundown over the weekend, got to see Turon Gates with a bit of light but then carried on to Safala during the night.

The track was starting to get quite narrow and shrubs everywhere - didn't want to scratch the prado so after 7kms into the hard stuff I turned around. Just want to know if anyone has done it recently? How long does it take to get to Sofala?

With those tracks and rocks protruding, should tyre pressures be down?

Thanks!

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

I did it the other way towing a Tvan. It's quite narrow and would have scratched the car a bit. There were lots of nice camping spots along the way. In hindsight I'm not sure doing it by myself with a camper trailer was a great idea - there are long sections where it would be impossible to pass someone coming the other way! Otherwise it wasn't too hard - our standard (at the time) Prado made it easily towing a Tvan!

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

PS I should add it was about 9 months ago...

[Turbo Piston Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Turbo Piston]

I was thinking how it would be to take a trailer through!

Some of the ruts looked a little intimidating for a newbie, not only that I was doing it at night for the first time.

Did you lower tyre pressures for that?

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

I don't think I lowered the pressures - probably should have though. We were doing it as a long way home after camping on the Bridle Trail further west. I didn't have any recovery gear with me or a pump, it was 3pm on a Sunday afternoon and I had 3 kids and no extra food... in hindsight not the smartest way home!

The ruts may be worse now and will look worse at night. The key is to put your wheels in the right spots - often they are then not so bad!

[Clubbie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clubbie]

Hey Turbo Piston...I did that track last year as a day trip which took all day, only cause we kept stopping at different parts of the Turon River...so not too sure how long it would take to do without stopping.

As soon as we reached the rough terrain, tyres were dropped down to 22psi and we made it through comfortably. Though I would caution doing the entire track on standard road tyres as some rough parts on the track may damage them.

It might be a bit of a challenge on some parts of the track as well if you're fully loaded with camping gear and the family, but it certainly wouldn't be hard to do.

Peter_mcc...pretty crazy going through the track with a camper trailer, especially on your own. But good to know you and your family made it through safely.

FYI...there is an air pump at a service station/cafe/general store at Capertee (about 2km south of Turon Gates Road). There is no air pump available anywhere in Sofala and I have heard the small service station/general store at Wattle Flat (about 8km south of Sofala) has been closed.