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The Canning Stock Route in Western Australia — part one
Words Robert Crack Pics Matt Williams
Is this the world’s most remote 4WD track?
Three words. Say them out aloud.
“Canning. Stock. Route.”
Few other three-word 4WD route names evoke stronger thoughts and mental images of remoteness, rugged terrain and general isolation than the Canning Stock Route (CSR). Whether it be the weather, long distance, desert conditions, challenging roads or the wildlife, when it comes to ‘triple-word named’ extreme driving routes globally, the CSR is not only in good company; it is also — arguably — the leader of the pack.
Sure, the Trans-Sahara Highway (Algeria, Niger and Nigeria), India’s Leh-Manali Highway, Bolivia’s North Yungas Road (nicknamed El Camino de La Muerte, or ‘Death Road’), Peru’s Cotahuasi Canyon Road, Italy’s Passo dello Stelvio, Namibia’s Namib Naukluft Park, New Zealand’s Skippers Canyon Road, South Africa’s Namakwa Eco Trail and the James Dalton Highway in the United States all each lob a big, bold tick into at least one ‘extreme’ box. A few of them tick … well, a few.
But how many of the world’s most challenging driving routes have earned world renown for their mixture of unforgiving terrain, harsh arid climate, remoteness, distance covered, weather changeability, corrugations, gibber/stones/rocks, soft sand tracks, extreme heat, sand dunes and dearth of fuel, fresh food, water, shade and shelter combined?
Not many. You can count them on the fingers of one hand.
And it is undoubtedly the CSR that has earned pride of place as the thumb of that hand.
Is this the world’s most remote 4WD track?
Possibly. Probably. Actually, let’s make that ‘almost certainly’.
The only countries with a lower population density than Australia are Mongolia and Greenland, and the 4WD/overland routes in Namibia and Mongolia, while remote, are easily surpassed by the CSR for remoteness (sheer isolation of the route, long distance desert travel, travel time, terrain, lack of connectivity, lack of fuel and water — the list goes on).
But for now, let’s focus on sovereign states, shall we? Earlier this year, the Namibia Statistics Agency published census results which showed that Namibia (previously more sparsely populated than Australia) had put the pedal to the metal in the overtaking lane of lowest population density globally, surpassing Australia. In the process it grabbed the bronze medal and nudged Australia into the silver medal position, with Mongolia on the highest step (or should that be ‘steppe’?) of the podium.
Do people undertaking 4WD/overlanding treks in the Gobi Desert encounter a remote, challenging, unforgiving environment? Yes.
Do any tracks in Mongolia traverse no fewer than four different named deserts? No.
Sure, the Gobi Desert contains 33 smaller, drier deserts, however they are components of the Gobi Desert and — to my understanding — don’t have geographic names.
Does the CSR traverse four different named deserts? Yes, it sure does. The Little Sandy Desert, the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Tanami Desert.
And where Mongolia ‘disqualifies itself’ from any claim to have the world’s most remote 4WD track lies in the fact that quite a few people live in the Gobi Desert. Dornogovi Province in the east of the Gobi Desert has a population of more than 65,000 people, around 40 per cent of whom live in the town of Sainshand. And Ömnögovi Province in the central part of the Gobi Desert also has a population of around 65,000, about 20,000 of whom live in the town of Dalanzadgad. Both Dalanzadgad and Khanbumbat have airports with scheduled passenger services. Erenhot, located in the Gobi Desert in China, has more than 75,000 inhabitants. And so it goes on.
So, with the Gobi Desert ‘disqualified’, and with the four deserts traversed by the CSR being home to a population totalling fewer than 2500 people, I reckon that settles it: the CSR must surely be the world’s most remote 4WD track.
Return for part two
We’re not finished with the Canning Stock Route yet! Come back next week for part two for some great info on the history of this iconic Western Australia track, the permits you’ll need and more.
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