Glen Helen

Glen Helen was named after Helen Grant, the niece of Alexander Grant, who took up the first lease of Glen Helen Station, the property on which the gorge was located.

The present chalet has had many owners across the years and nestles beside the Finke River where it has cut the gorge through the ranges over eons.

The ranges dominate the Southern view and it is possible to climb to vantage points on the face to get photographs across the river and chalet to Mount Sonder.

Glen Helen has all facilities including accommodation, campgrounds, meals, snacks, bar, petrol, souvenirs and information.

It is a popular getaway destination for Alice Springs locals and a perfect place to relax after exploring all the attractions between Alice Springs and the chalet.

At various times it has displayed and sold art, had camel and horse safaris and fulfilled most activities expected of remote hosting in the Outback.

Currently Helicopter tours are available and offer an amazing overview of the region.

Today the term Glen Helen is applied to the lodge, the gorge near the lodge and the surrounding 368 hectare Nature Park controlled by the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory.

The Glen Helen Gorge is formed from quartzite.

Sandstone was deposited in the area some 500 million years ago when it was a huge inland sea.

It was subsequently tilted and uplifted.

As this uplift was occurring the Finke River slowly eroded its way through the mountain range.

Glen Helen is known to local Aborigines as Yapalpe and the Finke River is Larapinta which means 'serpent'.

It was a favourite meeting place for the Aboriginal people from the West and Central MacDonnell Ranges.

The rocky slopes around the gorge are home to a colony of black-footed rock wallabies which sometimes appear in the late afternoon and early evening to feed on grass, herbs, leaves and fruits.

The Finke River, which was named by John McDouall Stuart after the Adelaide financier William Finke, rises in the MacDonnell Ranges and flows over 1000 kilometres until it disappears into Lake Eyre.

Over the years the Finke has acquired its own mythology.

Rumours about it abound. It is claimed, even in the Conservation Commission literature, that the Finke is the oldest river in the world - no one quite explains what such a claim actually means.

It certainly isn't recorded as such in the Guinness Book of Records.

It is said that the Finke only ever runs for the entire length of its course about twice every century.

Glen Helen is one of only six permanent waterholes on the Finke River.