Monday October 24, 40.5km/25.2mi

Dookanelly Campsite (248.0/240m) to Yourdamung Campsite (288.5/279m) (WA)

I laid in bed listening to raindrops falling on the roof of the shelter, but it turns out it was just dew falling from the trees! It was a nice sunny morning for hiking.

After 30 minutes, the trail crossed the Murray River, which I had been following for the last two days. It’s a brand new swingbridge!

The old railroad bridge had burned in a fire in 2015, and a new bridge was built 12 downstream of the old bridge. It’s 82m across, and 6m above the river.

The Murray River in the morning light.

Once across the bridge, the trail was on old 4wd roads all morning. Because it had rained yesterday, all the animals traveling thru it were leaving tracks. I think these are kangaroo tracks.

Every time there was a dip in the old road, it was flooded. If I skirted the puddle on the left or right to keep my feet dry, I got a little wet from the brush on the sides…

Finally I was leaving the road.

All morning I was hearing this low mechanical noise, and this conveyor belt was the cause of it.

The conveyor moves bauxite from a mine 100km away, to a refinery near Collie where it is turned into Alumina, and from there it is shipped by rail to a port on the coast. Neat!

The trail was nice the rest of the way to Possum Springs shelter.

Possum springs shelter is brand new and is built in the new style of concrete and metal frame, making it fireproof against the bushfires. It was a nice place to have lunch.

I left the shelter just before 1pm and almost immediately saw a dead Roo on the trail. Gross.

At 1pm, it rained heavily for 5 minutes so I put up my umbrella. This pattern continued for the rest of the afternoon, where it would rain on the top of the hour for 5 minutes. Weird. This was a neat little section of trail that was made into a tunnel by the overgrown bushes.

I definitely used my umbrella in that section because bumping into any bushes would make it rain. I emerged back into a more open forest, and saw kangaroos all afternoon. Most of them were too fast for the camera, but I was able to get a shot of one of them.

These new golden yellow wildflowers started appearing today, I’ll have to look up what they are.

It was a peaceful walk all afternoon and I saw no people. The sky was very moody.

I arrived to the Yourdamung shelter just *before* 5pm (it rains at the top of every hour!).

I was very excited for dinner, tonight’s meal was Mexican chili and some spicy tuna.

While waiting for dinner to cook, I reviewed my maps and realized I’m only a day away from the next town, Collie. So if I hike 32km tomorrow, I’ll be in town for dinner!

Sunday October 23, 36.0km/22.4mi

Swamp Oak Campsite (212.0/192m) to Dookanelly Campsite (248.0/240m) (WA)

There were so many people milling around the shelter at all hours that I didn’t get much sleep, one group didn’t go to bed until 10pm, and another was awake at 5am. I got packing at 6am and said “goodbye for now” to Sam and Tessa.

It was a pleasant walk all morning under partly cloudy skies and perfect temperatures. The path was flat and enjoyable.

Sadly, I didn’t see any wildlife, but after I passed a big loud group hiking just ahead of me, I started to see some lizards and birds. I climbed to the top of a hill, and one of the marker trees had a cellphone signal sign, ha!

It also had a bench nearby too, which was engraved with “Venturers View”. A nice spot to sit and take a rest after that little climb.

I had a snack and posted my journal while sitting there! The rest of the morning was the usual trail thru Jarrah forest with grass trees, and I listened to some podcasts to pass the time.

Just before I arrived to the next shelter, I caught up to Cat, who had left a few minutes before me that morning. The Murray River shelter looked pretty nice, and I ate an early lunch there (it was only 11am).

We swam in the Murray River, which was a great refreshing temperature. It felt great to rinse off my sweat and swim around a bit.

At noon I departed the shelter, aiming to ‘double-hut” today. The rest of the day was on a trail right next to the Murray River, so the brush was pretty thick.

I listened to a couple more podcasts, catching up on the NY times, and some avalanche stuff. I ran into some trail maintainers who were trimming all the overgrown brush from the trail, perfect timing! The ground was littered with trimmings, which were easy to walk thru.

At 3pm I heard some thunder, and started walking faster, and it rained lightly 30 minutes later. I arrived to the Dookanelly shelter just after 4pm, where I saw Steve and Maryanne once again! As I was unpacking and chatting with them, it started to rain…hard. Good timing! We had dinner and I got some good advice for my upcoming trip to Tasmania, altogether a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday October 22, 12.2km/7.6mi

Dwellingup Town (199.8/266m) to Swamp Oak Campsite (212.0/192m) (WA)

I slept in and had a relaxed morning in the caravan park, enjoying a warm shower and a late breakfast at 10am. Angeli, Sam, Tessa, Kat, and I went food shopping at the IGA after breakfast. Since we are all camping together tonight, we decided to make s’mores, so each of us picked up an ingredient. The four of us (Tessa was coming an hour later) left town and started down the track at noon.

It was an uneventful afternoon on easy terrain, and this is the first day that I *didn’t* see any kangaroos. Kat and I had some fun conversations as we worked up and down the short hills.

We arrived to the campsite rather early, before 4pm, and there were already 12 people there! I forgot it was a weekend and we are close to a town, so this campsite is easy access to the weekend campers. We claimed spots in the shelter upper bunks, and met some of our new neighbors. And then a group of 4 showed up, and soon after another group of 3. I think there were now 25 people including our group of 5…it felt a bit claustrophobic. I did enjoy dinner with our fun group, with many entertaining and interesting topics. The s’mores were excellent, much less sugar than the American version.

We all went to our bunks just after 8pm (sunset is at 6:45pm), planning for an early day tomorrow. I’m kinda sad I probably will not see my new friends again, as they are mostly hiking “single hut” days, which is generally 15-20km between huts. I’m “double-hutting”, so 30-35km per day. This trail has its own vocabulary and culture, I love it.

Friday October 21, 19.9km/12.4mi

Chadoora Campsite (179.9/296m) to Dwellingup Town (199.8/266m) (WA)

I was awake at 5:30am at sunrise, as the other people in the shelter were already moving around. I was excited for town food today, so I hiked out at 6:30 and had a nice quiet morning of kangaroo sightings and birds chirping. I came across one northbound hiker, Alex, and she was super interesting to talk with. I ended up taking a longer break on a log and we swapped trail and life stories. Sam walked past, and I was reminded I should get moving again so I can make breakfast time at the cafe. After a couple of hours, the trail turned onto some old narrow-gage railroad tracks!

So, I followed the tracks for a few km.

It was easy and enjoyable walking, a perfect 20C temperature, and no flies. A great relaxing morning. These trees start appearing, I think they are called Blue Gums.

A few minutes later, I walked thru a whole forest of them! Such cool trees, with their smooth white bark.

I followed the railroad tracks all morning, and eventually they became usable tracks. The line is no longer used for lumber, I think it’s just a tourist attraction now. This was Etmilyn Station.

I walked into Dwellingup at 11am, it is a tiny town, but seemed pretty nice.

Many of the town names here have “up” at the end of their name, it means something like “place near water” in an aboriginal language. I walked straight to the Blue Wren Cafe and ordered brekkie. I love the bacon here, it’s more meaty and less burned/crispy. The milkshake, however, was another disappointing one. Not thick at all, I could pour it like water.

After that hearty meal, I walked a couple of blocks over to the Visitors Centre, which was huge.

It had recently been expanded and upgraded, and they sold clothing, camping supplies, and cafe bakery items. It was now 1pm, so I decided to walk over to the caravan park and try to check into my bunkroom. There was a playground on the way, but I didn’t see Ruben.

The caravan park was a short 500m from town.

The reception lady was super helpful, and I got to check in an hour early… and even got some laundry soap. I took a highly anticipated shower, and sorted my dirty laundry. I met another hiker, Angeli, and along with Sam, we walked over to the pub to have a beer. Or 3. And then some nice Australian wine, too. Later in the evening we were joined by Tessa, Maryanne and Steve.

Good times! Around 8pm we all kinda felt tired, and it was a nice walk back to the caravan park.

Thursday October 20, 29.1km/18.1mi

White Horse Hills Campsite (150.8/443m) to Chadoora Campsite (179.9/296m) (WA)

I woke up from the upper bunk of the shelter, and went downstairs to have breakfast and join Sam (who was already up) at the picnic table. I didn’t notice it last night, but someone had arranged a small bouquet, ha!

I packed up and walked out at 7:45 with Sam, and I quickly outpaced him going up the hill. I love uphills in the morning. The top was another summit, with this cool split boulder.

And the view from the top of South White Horse Hill was neat, it even had a small pond in a depression in the granite.

The descent back into the forest was nice and gentle, and I was greeted by these burned out trees at the bottom.

I’m still amazed they survive so well like that. The rest of the morning was on a flat wide part like this.

I’ve noticed these ferns starting to appear everywhere, I think I’m hiking into a different climate zone.

I had a bigger climb up to Mt. Wells, like 200m. It was steep on that round gravel, so progress wasn’t fast. At least the top had a nice tower and hut.

I climbed halfway up the tower, which was the limit.

I would’ve liked to be able to go all the way to the top, to get a view above the trees. I climbed the ladder back down and explored the hut.

It is the only 4-wall enclosed shelter on the Bibbulmun, so it’s a neat landmark. It used to be the fire-watcher’s residence, and had a kitchen with fireplace, and a couple of bedrooms.

Every campsite has a couple of books, the green one is a trail log (where you sign in your name/date/address/destination), and the other is a freeform journal to write your thoughts/poems/drawings/etc.

This drawing seemed especially applicable!

I had lunch at one of the tables, and headed out as two northbound guys arrived. On my exit, I noticed someone had even made a little flower garden!

The descent from Mt Wells was another easy gradual one, and I hiked the rest of the afternoon on a flat, wide trail. There were a few interesting artifacts along the way, like this old piece of mining machinery.

As I get closer to the coast, I’m seeing new plants, like these purple flowers.

And I saw another Echidna! These are supposed to be rare, but I’ve seen one 3 days in a row now.

I arrived to the Chadoora Campsite at 3pm, intending to stay for a break and move on. But some brief light rain came in, and I ended up unpacking and setting up for the night.

There were two women already there on an overnight trip, Barbara and Corinne.They showed me this really old grass tree, which had 7 growth “heads,” meaning it was over 200 years old. Wow.

Sam arrived around dinnertime, and Tessa a little while later, so we had 5 of us sleeping in the shelter. This is the most people I’ve seen so far! Tomorrow is a short day into town, I’m excited for Dwellingup!

Wednesday October 19, 33.3km/20.7mi

Nerang Campsite (118.1/329m) to White Horse Hills Campsite (150.8/443m)
(WA) + 0.6km to Boonering Hill

I was awake before 6am in the brightly lit tent, and read my book for awhile before getting moving at 7:30. All morning the trail traveled thru flatland forests.

Some of the trees were impressively large, especially when framed against the tiny grass-trees.

I found it hilarious that someone put up a sign for the Serpentine River, which was just a dry streambed.

I arrived to the Gringer Creek campsite for an early 11am lunch, and found one other hiker there named Tessa. She had camped here last night, and hadn’t left yet, spending the morning organizing all her stuff and planning the rest of her hike. She was fun to talk with, but I wanted to get moving before it got really hot (forecast for 30C). I said goodbye and continued thru the flatland forest, quickly crossing a hot sunny highway.

For an hour I walked thru a nice shaded forest, paralleling some dirt service road for trucks.

As I walked on, I could see the road served some sort of tree plantation.

Yup, looked like pine trees. They were so small, so maybe a nursery, and not for lumber?

After departing the tree farm, I had a steep but short climb up to Boonering Hill (524m). It was a cool exfoliating granite dome.

I spent awhile on the summit, enjoying the breeze and the sun. I put my pack next to the summit cairn to catch all the UV light, so it would smell less, ha!

The view to the west was a new perspective to me.

I descended from the summit and re-joined the main Bibbulmun (the summit was a 300m side-trail), and spent the last couple hours walking to camp. There was another cool granite slab on top of Kimberling Hill (505m).

I arrived to White Horse Hills Campsite at 5:30 and met Sam, a friendly Aussie who had many of my same interests. He had just gotten a resupply at that last road crossing, and carried in a steak for tonight! He kindly offered me some, and we swapped other foods too. It got dark at 7pm, and we both went to bed around 8pm. Tessa arrived around 9pm as I was reading my book.
Only 2 more days until my first town, Dwellingup….

Tuesday October 18, 40.2km/25.0mi

Canning Campsite (77.9/288m) to Nerang Campsite (118.1/329m) (WA)

For the first time this hike, I started at a normal time of 7am. It would be easy to start even earlier, since for some odd reason WA doesn’t use Daylight Saving Time, which means the sun rises at the useless hour of 5:15am but sets early by 6:30pm. The morning hiking was great as usual, the air was crisp and full of sunshine.

I ambled along for over an hour before crossing this neat bridge.

There was an actual river underneath it! I was pleasantly surprised, most of the streams so far have been dry.

After crossing the bridge I entered another burn area, everything was so blackened and charred.

I came across this burned artifact lying on the ground.

It took me an hour to get thru the burned section, and then I had some nice easy walking on an old dirt road. I came to the Monadnocks shelter at 10am, where I decided to have “3rd breakfast”!

There were three mountains to traverse today, the first one was Mt. Cuthbert, which I think had the best views of all of them. The trail heading up traveled across open slabs.

They were tons of these little lizards sunning themselves on the rocks.

The summit was a nice open rocky summit, with views to the east and North.

The requisite summit selfie.

I continued on, and a couple km later, hit the summit of Mt. Vincent. This one was less scenic, and there were bushes growing everywhere.

Fortunately, just beyond the actual summit, that was an open slab of rock with better views. I decided this was a good spot for “first lunch”, and enjoyed a salami and cheese tortilla while gazing down at the valley below.

The descent from Mt. Vincent actually had better views than the summit. I loved walking across those open slabs of rock (though it would be terrifyingly slippery if it were raining).

I descended back into the forest and some of the huge ancient trees had been burned out inside their trunks, but the rest of the tree seemed perfectly healthy. Interesting.

An hour later, I passed the 100km mark!

And in another hour, I came to the Mount Cook campsite, where I ate second lunch. And I met this cool group of hikers, and we talked and joked for almost 2 hours. They are from Belgium, Germany, and Australia (in photo order).

They are the first people I had seen in 2 days, it was so exciting! I almost forgot that I had more hiking to do, so eventually I headed out to hike one more mountain. Within a few minutes I had come across this weird spiky creature. I think it’s called an Echidna. Cool!

After a couple km of moderate uphill hiking, I was on the summit of Mount Cook. It’s the highest point on the Bibbulmun Track, at 583m.

The views were decent, but the sky was a little smoky from some of the burns happening nearby.

I descended off the mountain quickly, knowing I still had 2 more hours of hiking to do, and it was almost 5pm. The descent was mostly on those nice slabs of rock, and I could see a fire burning in the distance.

More slab descent, wheeeee!

I re-entered the forest and followed an old road for the rest of the day. I was walking pretty quickly, and made it to the campsite at 6:45pm, about 10 minutes before darkness. Perfect! By the time I had setup my tent and made dinner, it was completely dark.

Monday October 17, 32.2km/20.0mi

Beraking Campsite (45.7/285m) to Canning Campsite (77.9/288m) (WA)

I left camp a bit earlier today at 7:45am. Still not early, but I got to enjoy the morning hiking before it got too warm. The grass trees (right side of photo) were everywhere.

An hour into the morning, I came across a pine plantation, growing on the right side of the trail.

For much of the next couple of hours, I walked thru a burn area. Even the ground was eerily black.

As I approached the summit of Mt. Dale (546m), the forest opened up and I started to have some distant views.

A little higher, and I had views to the south and east.

The actual summit was full of towers and radio equipment, but just below it was a nice picnic area with a lookout. View to the west from the summit of Mt Dale:

I descended from the mountain, and as soon as I was out of the slight wind, flies were everywhere! Yuck. I hiked back into another burn area, and the flies didn’t improve, but at least I had other things to think about. Like how this burned tree was still standing, despite being attached to the ground at only one point.

At 1:30pm, I had come to the first major road crossing of the trail.

The trail sign gave some distances, I’ve already hiked 68km since leaving Kalamunda!

I stopped in the shade of a large sheoak tree and had my lunch. The flies had finally gone away, and I could enjoy my cheese & salami wrap in peace. The last 8km of the day was pretty uneventful but had tons of wildflowers to look at. I checked my guidebook, these are Red kangaroo paw:

And Yellow Buttercup:

And Blue Leschenaultia:

And Purple Flag(?) :

As I came over the crest of a small hill, another one of those bobtail lizards was sunning itself on the trail. I’m told these things aren’t dangerous, but it always gives me pause when an animal doesn’t move out of my way.

An hour later I came to Abyssinia Rock, a fascinating area full of granite slabs.

Looking uphill from the trail, there was even more slab, and nothing could grow on it for some reason.

I pondered the geology of it for awhile as I walked, and suddenly I was in a swampy area, which was a first for this trail.

The water was very still and kinda black, it reminded me of the swamp scene in Lord of the Rings. It didn’t last long, and soon I was back on a nice smooth old road for the last bit of hiking into camp.

Canning campsite looked like the rest of them, with a shelter, picnic tables, water tank, and toilet.

Someone must’ve donated some extra money and gotten a step named after themselves, ha! Allen’s step.

My dinner was a zesty mac n cheese, combined with a chilli salmon. Yum.

As I waited for the food to rehydrate, I read the guidebook for details on the upcoming trail tomorrow. I finished dinner and was going up to my bunk at 7pm, but not before getting a supremely orange sunset photo.

The guidebook promises more summits tomorrow! I didn’t see any people today, hopefully tomorrow I’ll meet some hikers. This is the prime season for this trail, and it’s supposed to be popular…

Sunday October 16, 32.2km/20.0mi

Near Golden View Lookout (13.5/230m) to Beraking Campsite (45.7/285m) (WA)

I got a late start, it was 8:30 when I started walking. Apparently the dam opened at 8am and I could’ve started earlier, oops.

I love seeing civil engineering projects up close, even if this one was built for a ridiculous reason, like pumping water into a desert town 500km away.

On the other side of the dam, the trail followed some pipes for almost a km, I could hear the water inside!

After climbing a small hill, I could look back at the reservoir and the dam.

I came into the Perth Hills Discovery Centre, and there were people and birds everywhere. This bird was especially loud!

The Discovery Centre is some kind of park, and the trail went right thru the porch of one of the historic buildings.

Apparently this place provides educational programs on the local wildlife.

I like when they acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, in this case the Whadjuk Noongar people.

After leaving the busy-ness of the park, I had some solitude amongst these tall trees.

The first campsite shelter I passed was called the Ball Creek Campsite. Like the Larapinta, these have long-drop toilets, picnic tables, a water tank, and a sheltered area for sleeping.

The wildflowers here are in prime season, I have good timing!

The trail continued down a hill, and up another one, and I was mostly walking in these rocky outcrops. It kinda reminded me of a fells.

After descending and re-climbing another hill, I had a shock when I almost stepped on this guy. At first my brain thought “snake!”, but then I saw he had no long body. It’s a bob-tail lizard!

Even with the rollercoaster of climbs and descents, the trail was an easy and lovely walk. These purple wildflowers were everywhere, I’ll have to lookup their name

Sometimes the trail followed an old disused road, which made for nice relaxed walking. The gravel underfoot was a bit slippery, like ball bearings, so it kept me alert!

The next campsite was called Helena campsite, and I stopped there for lunch and chatted with a nice couple from Perth who are hiking this trail in sections. They told me how nice the toilet was (it was rebuilt in 2019 after a bushfire) and I just had to see for myself.

At 2pm I hiked on, and almost immediately I saw another bobtail lizard. They don’t really move out of the way, so I had to walk around.

I think these tall white trees are called Wandoo trees. They are cool! And they smell nice too.

I walked uphill to a ridge, and there was a whole forest of them!

The ridgewalk was a nice break from the constant uphill/downhill cycle of the afternoon. Plus I had great views back to the north and west.

The final hour to my planned camper was on another old road, which was perfectly nice easy walking at the end of a tiring day.

I arrived at the Beraking campsite at 6:30pm, to find one other guy there. I made dinner as Greg told me about his hike, and then we discussed tomorrow’s section of trail as I shoveled mac-n-cheese into my mouth. We are both walking southbound, though he is going at a slightly slower pace than me, so I might not see him again.

I setup my sleeping bag in the shelter (which I hardly ever sleep in shelters), and heard a light rain starting to fall. Good timing! Hopefully tomorrow is dry.

Saturday October 15, 13.5km/8.4mi

Northern Terminus / Kalamunda (0.0/296m) to near Golden View Lookout (13.5/230m) (WA)

I had a ton to do this morning, and barely enough time to do it. I found a shopping plaza with a Woolworths (grocery store) and Post office, so I wouldn’t have to make trips to 2 places, which is much harder without a car. I bought over $200 worth of food at Woolworths, and most of it I shipped at the post office. I’ve done these resupplies tons of times, but it still takes time to buy the food, strip all the excess packaging, fit it into an appropriate size box, and figure out the proper mailing address. I had 3 boxes labelled and ready to go at 11:55am, and the PO closed 5 minutes later…close call!

I then took a bus up to Kalamunda, which is the starting town. I got off one stop early at the hardware store, which is called Mitre10. I loved the joke at the entrance – “There was a king who was 12 inches tall…”

I bought my fuel canister, and went directly over to the Visitor Centre to buy a guidebook. The employees were super helpful and friendly, and even printed a map of a detour for me. I signed the register for Bibbulmun hikers, it’s a fun way to keep track of who’s hiking, there is a register in each town along the trail.

I walked a block to an old pub which had some interesting lunch specials…. chicken Parm on a bed of…fries. Ha! Nobody here seems to include ketchup with their meals, and after I used up a third set of ketchup cups, the waitress finally just gave me the whole ketchup bottle.

I walked over to start of the trail. The Northern Terminus had a cool sign and a little park to celebrate the start/end of the Bibbulmun track.

I guess I should be expecting to see lots of snakes?

My first trail marker…of many! It a Wagyl, or rainbow serpent.

And at 3pm, I started my hike! It felt good to be moving, my legs had become restless. And I just strolled along and relaxed, with nothing else on the agenda today except hiking. Almost immediately, I saw this huge bird.

It starts off as a nice trail thru an old golf course.

After a couple km, I entered Kalamunda National park.

The vegetation here is so different, it definitely felt like I was far from home. The trail became even nicer.

Since I’m so close to civilization, there was a brief roadwalk, to connect two different forests. It only lasted 5 minutes.

This was a VERY loud bird. I’ll have to search my guidebook for it’s name.

A camel farm! Unfortunately the owner had just died last month, and all the camels were sold off to other camel farms. Bummer, I really wanted to see (and ride) a camel.

For the rest of the afternoon, I hiked in some burned areas.

Just before sunset, a loud noise of an animal crashing thru brush almost gave me a heart attack. But it was just a couple of cute kangaroos!

After another km of walking, I found a campsite off the main track. It’s near a road and there are some car-campers here too, so hopefully it stays quiet. It was a quiet and relaxing afternoon, after such a rushed morning.

Tomorrow I am forced to sleep in, since the trail crosses a dam in a couple km, and it doesn’t open until 8am.