Gunshot Creek Crossing
For many people, the famous Gunshot Creek crossing is the absolute highlight of their whole Cape York trip.
While people like to hang their memorabilia in trees in many remote places on the Peninsula, nowhere else can you tell that the excitement levels have been this high up.
What Is So Special about the Gunshot Creek Crossing?
It isn't easy to find a moment to have this creek crossing for yourself - there is always someone who is just sitting here waiting for cars to come down to clap their hands and take photos.
Doing the Gunshot Creek crossing. ©cape-york-australia.com
It really is an exciting place, and when done properly, it is indeed something that puts your adrenaline levels right up. "Doing it properly" means going down at one of the steep drops, the most right-hand track (right-hand when you are on the top and left-hand once you're down and look back to it- the dark-mud one) is nowadays the more usual one.
The dark, left-hand drop is the most usual place to do it. ©cape-york-australia.com
The easy alternative is to do the so-called "Slingshot", which means driving left along the creek a bit until you come to the easiest slope and do it from there. Walk down and have a look first - don't let the steepest crossing turn you off if you know yourself and your vehicle.
People going up the Slingshot. ©cape-york-australia.com
Hey, I have done it and I am a girl (and yes, it is scary but only the first time!). Also note that I was safe because I could trust the vehicle - I wouldn't drive down there in any vehicle. So, you have to make up your own mind - you cannot blame me if you make the wrong decision!
While it is really exciting to do it and can easily be the highlight of the whole trip, make sure you know yourself and your vehicle before you decide to do it! Once you start dropping you're going down and there is no way back :-)
Me after doing Gunshot in 2011. ©cape-york-australia.com
Also have someone to guide you (preferably down on the other side) to make sure you get your wheels right. Because when you are up there, you cannot see anything down where you are going.
At wetter times it can also be easy to get bogged once you have come down it, so it can be a good idea to make sure you have another vehicle there to pull you out, unless you have a winch. When we were there in 2011, Dave and Justine from Toowoomba came along and did it just because we were there to pull them out. They were right - they did get bogged because it had been raining a fair bit lately.
Dave and Justine from Toowoomba. ©cape-york-australia.com
There is heaps of memorabilia on the northern bank of the creek, so it's a good idea to bring an old thong or T-shirt if you want to hang your name up there (that's of course only exciting if you did the real Gunshot).
Memorabilia in 2011. ©cape-york-australia.com
And once you drive up the slope after the Gunshot Creek crossing, there are some great camping spots on the left hand side of the track.
Camping at the Gunshot Creek. ©cape-york-australia.com
More Gunshot Creek Videos
Below are a few videos by other people...
Doing the "dark-mud" drop..
That's how simple it is if you do it right.
Doing the middle drop:
I so much agree with the author, who says, "cameras never justify it"...
Doing the so-called Sling Shot:
This is a good one of Slingshot!
And finally, a goodie:
Did You Do Gunshot Crossing?
Tell us! Send in a photo, send in a video! (The video cannot be attached here - please let me know so i can send you my email address, or put it on You Tube and send me the link - i can embed it from there right into your page).
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Me and the family went up AND down it! 
We were driving to the tip and we came to Gunshot and my uncle, the adrenaline junkie he is decided to do joy rides UP and down continulesly for nearly …
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