Friday November 4, 41.0km/25.5mi

Gardner Campsite (625.7/47m) to Dog Pool Campsite (666.7/56m) (WA)

The morning started off comfortably cool and mostly cloudy, and I continued down the mostly flat, sandy path.

After a couple of hours, I came to an old road and crossed its bridge over the Gardner River.

When I left the road and returned to the usual trail, I started to find these short flooded sections. I could usually find a narrow herd-path around the side, but it was slow going.

And then, the snakes started appearing. I saw my first snake yesterday, and today I saw 14! Most of them were lying next to the trail.

Usually the snakes would notice me and move off the trail when I was getting close (2-3m away). This guy just sat there, so while I was able to get a really good photo, it took me awhile to get around him.

After 2 hours of intense focus of scanning the ground for snakes, I was able to take a mental break at the next campsite shelter.

It was 11am, so I decided to have an early lunch and read my book too. This shelter had a ukulele too!

It was next to Maringup Lake, which was a beautiful view.

In the short 100m walk back from the lake, I passed by 2 more snakes. Sheesh. I didn’t get photos of these, they moved quickly off the trail. I left the shelter and for the next 2 hours, I played the game “stick or snake?”. It was like a high stakes game of “Where’s Waldo.

Freakin snakes.

Every 10 minutes I saw a snake, I think most of were Tiger Snakes. Most snakes in Australia are poisonous.

There were a few more swampy areas, fortunately most of these had bridges.

Finally the route joined an old road, and I was able to relax the rest of the afternoon.

I did see a couple more snakes, but on such a wide road, they were far off to the side, and visually easy to spot. I entered this National Park, and had a snack break at its little info kiosk.

The rest of the afternoon was thankfully uneventful, and I cruised along old roads until I got to camp at 5:30pm.

There were many people at the Dog Pool Campsite, 3 were setup in the shelter, and 3 others in tents nearby. We had a campfire (this is the last shelter where they are allowed), and it was a fun group to get to know. Most of them saw “only” 4 or 5 snakes today. Hopefully it’s less snake-y tomorrow!

Thursday November 3, 38.8km/24.1mi

Ridge above Warren River (586.9/149m) to Gardner Campsite (625.7/47m) (WA)

At 5:30am I awoke in my tent, one of the few nights on this trail that I had used my tent. It was a warm morning, already 18C, so I ate breakfast in my tent to avoid the mosquitos. The trail cruised thru Karri forests all morning.

At a dirt road crossing, some prankster had put a “bus stop” sticker on the post. Ha!

The understory of the forest was full of these little blue flowers.

By mid-morning, I was starting to see more farm fields.

At 9am I came to Schafer campsite, which had a beautiful location next to a little lake.

I sat there for awhile and had some snacks, read the journal, and thought about swimming.

The trail journal had some really strange entries but this one was definitely the weirdest. Britney Spears was here last week?!?

After leaving the shelter, I noticed that the trail had become very sandy. I’m very close to the coast now, I think only 50km away.

I walked through a farm for an hour, winding thru on old tractor roads. Most of the fields were full of cows.

A woman drove by in her very old Toyota truck to check on her cows, and we had a chat for a few minutes…. about the trail, where I’m from, and why people do crazy things like this. After I left the farm and re-entered the forest, the Karri trees came back one last time.

And then the forest decided to be really colorful. This bird is called a Western Rosella.

And these cool flowers that are a combination of orange and pink.

Just before I got to the town of Northcliff, I passed by a really tempting picnic shelter. I thought about stopping there for lunch, but it was only another 15 minutes to town.

When I arrived to town, they had helpful signs for hikers everywhere.

There was some fun artwork on various buildings in this town. The town is basically only a dozen buildings.

I went to the post office to get my food box that I had mailed myself 3 weeks ago. Luckily it was a Thursday and the post office was open regular hours. When I mailed all my boxes out, I had a really thought about me arriving to town on a Saturday or Sunday. I walked to the park next door and sat in a pavilion to sort out my food.

While I was there, this very brightly colored bird kept coming over to visit me.

I walked over to a cafe and got a milkshake, and for the first time in Australia, it was a proper milkshake with enough ice cream. Excellent! I went to check out the little Pioneer museum, but it was locked. Hilariously, the note on the door said to call a phone number and somebody would drive over to let you in. Small towns are great!

I left town at 2pm, and for a couple kilometers it was a roadwalk.

After I left the road, I was in a sandy forest all afternoon. Some of the sand was that annoying soft loose sand, where its hard to walk in. Especially on uphills.

I followed the Gardner River downstream, crossing and re-crossing it a few times.

I got to the Gardner Campsite at 6pm. It was a little later than my usual ending time, but I had spent a few hours in town relaxing and eating, so it didn’t feel like a long day.

Surprisingly, I was the only one at the campsite, I’ve been seeing all these names in the trail logbooks, but I think I am just behind or just ahead of them. Maybe tomorrow I will see some people, and maybe see the ocean too!

Wednesday November 2, 29.5km/18.3mi

Pemberton town (557.4/129m) to Ridge above Warren River (586.9/149m) (WA)

The sun rises at 5:15, but I didn’t notice today in my dark hotel room. I had a lazy morning and left the hotel at 10am, walking straight to the Wild at Heart cafe. Except…they were closed. Bummer.

Another cafe was open and I spent an hour enjoying my food and planning travel for the Tasmania portion of this trip.I left the cafe at 11:30 and had a nice walk out of town on the paved multi-use path.

After 30 minutes, I had arrived at the famous Gloucester tree. It was one of 8 Karri trees that used to be used as a fire lookout.

There were rebar rods installed into the tree, so they could be climbed as a ladder.Unfortunately the lookout platform was closed for maintenance this week. It is 58 meters up to the top. Eek.

I continued on into the forest, and saw this unusual bird sitting there in the trail. It moved just enough to get out of my way, but refused to move any further.After an hour, I arrived to the other local attraction called The Cascades. It’s a little waterfall on Lefroy Brook.I had a snack on a nearby picnic table, and departed the loud flume. The rest of the afternoon alternated between forest and fields.Sheep! The forest parts were nice, and I was in a green tunnel again.
I followed the Warren River upstream for hours, and occasionally crossing it. This sign was hilarious to see, I’m glad I can cross on the footbridge.Many of the bridges on this trail are re-purposed old train bridges.The river was flowing very slowly, but it looked deep.I arrived to the Warren campsite at 4:30pm, refilled my water bottles, and decided to keep hiking. Because the campsites are awkwardly spaced in this section, tomorrow was going to be a 48km day. But it was early and my legs felt good, so I decided to knock off some of that distance today. I hiked until 7pm, at which point it was just getting dark. This owl posed for a photo!I setup my tent in the dark, at a nice flat spot on an abandoned road, and up out of the cold river valley…. perfect!

Tuesday November 1, 23.2km/14.4mi

Beedelup Campsite (534.2/148m) to Pemberton town (557.4/129m) (WA)

It’s always a good start to the day when there’s Karri trees! The three older guys who I had camped with last night were all gone by 6am, so I got to enjoy the quiet forest to myself.

It was a chilly (14C), foggy morning. Occasionally the trail would emerge into some farm fields, and the views were very misty.

In order to get in or out of a farm field, you have to climb over the wire fence. Just like in New Zealand, they provide these little sideways stairs to easily get over the fence.

I got to walk along the fenceline for a little while under the cover of the trees. It wasn’t raining… but the fog was being blown by the wind and making things a little damp.

Halfway through the morning, I entered an arboretum that had trees from all over the world. Each tree had a little sign explaining its species and country of origin.

Neat!

From here, the last hour to town was along well developed pathways. I joined the paved trail around Big Brook Dam lake. There were tons of people out for their morning walk.

These developed areas always have lots of little benches and structures to take a rest. I had a snack in this little cabin while listening to the sounds of the lake.

Big Brook Dam Lake. There is a very small developed (sandy) beach across the way.

After a couple of kilometres, I had hiked to the end of the lake, and the dam itself. I love checking out the civil engineering structures of other countries.

At noon, I walked into Pemberton, which is a very small town with one main street. There were a bunch of little shops, half a dozen restaurants and cafes, a grocery store, a post office, and a laundromat. Everything a hiker needs without much else!

The kale and green bean smoothie was excellent. The pies here are always good, they have so many kinds of meat fillings. This one was salmon and capers, basically a lox bagel but inside of a pie.

I went to the IGA to go grocery shopping, I don’t need to buy much since this is only a 2-day section until the next stop, where I mailed a box of food. I noticed that they keep eggs on a regular shelf at room temperature, like every other country I have been to. Apparently the USA washes its eggs in many chemicals, necessitating refrigeration for storage.

Vegemite also comes in squeezy?!? What a time to be alive. (Yes, I love a good Simpsons reference.)

The laundromat was super modern, instead of using coins and trying to find change, you just use the touch screen to select your washer and dryer, and tap your credit card.

The laundry finished at 9pm, and I spent the rest of the night planning my next hike in Australia (Cape to Cape, 140km/87mi), and reading my book.

Monday October 31, 38.9km/24.2mi

Boardinghouse Campsite (495.3/165m) to Beedelup Campsite (534.2/148m) (WA)

I awoke in an empty shelter, and noticed the rain had stopped. Great! It was a cold morning packing up, but I warmed up quickly on the first uphill. At the top of the hill I saw a new kind of wildlife…a rabbit! I didn’t know they existed here.

The trail was in a green tunnel all day, much like this.

The trail followed the Donnelly River all morning, repeatedly climbing up to a ridge, then returning to the valley to visit the river. The first river crossing was on this cool old Karri log.

After climbing 100m uphill and back down again, I crossed a second time on a brand new steel bridge.

The next uphill, this one 150m, was especially steep. This is how an elevation profile gives the middle finger:

The bridge at the bottom of this descent was another neat old log bridge.

The green tunnel along the river continued all the way to my lunchtime shelter, the Beavis campsite shelter.

As I was eating lunch, I saw a group of people drive by on an ATV, which is weird because motorized vehicles aren’t allowed out here. As I hiked away after lunch, I could see the tracks they had left.

One more uphill to leave the Donnelly River valley for a final time, as I would no longer be seeing this river. The tall (50m/170ft) Karri trees provided a nice distraction.

Karri trees are also very identifiable by their peeling bark, it comes off in huge thick sheets.

At the top of the climb, I crossed a road and entered a burn zone. I like that they provide a sign to explain why these prescribed burns are a good thing.

The burn had happened 2 years ago, and already the forest is recovering with new growth.

Suddenly, on another downhill PUD, I saw an emu!

The afternoon went on in the burned forest, with lots of little pointless ups and downs (PUDs). Eventually I came to a tiny waterfall and a unique tree. It’s a Karri tree combined with some other tree species!

I entered Beedelup National Park, and immediately I started seeing more day hikers.

In a few minutes I was at Beedelup Falls, which was a very developed part of the trail. There were walking platforms and stairs and ramps and handrails and interpretive signage everywhere.

From the lookout platform I could see the falls, it was pretty impressive.

This side hike looked pretty cool but I didn’t have the time it was already 5pm and I still had another kilometer to get to camp. Walk-thru tree!

The final bit of trail was very freshly scraped, by what appears to be a bulldozer. It was soft, brush-free, and very nice to walk on.

I got to Beedelup campsite at 5:15 and there were 3 guys already set up in the shelter. I think they must have gotten there really early, because two of them were already getting into bed at 5:30pm! I chatted with them while I was making dinner, it sounds like they are doing a section southbound so I will probably see them again tomorrow in town.

Sunday October 30, 38.7km/24.1mi

Donnelly River Village (456.6/252m) to Boardinghouse Campsite (495.3/165m) (WA)

I awoke to Wayne getting his bunk packed up (Dave slept outside in the 3-sided shelter, he likes it cold), and I got dressed and headed over to the kitchen.

There were 3 of us packing and having breakfast in there (it was the only heated room), so it was busy. I said my goodbye to them and hiked out at 7:45am.

The trail immediately left the village and entered a Karri forest. I love the massive trees.

It kept going in the Karri forest for awhile.

After an hour, I heard a commotion up ahead and saw a large group of Emus (a “stampede”) in the trail. Most of them went off to the side, but 2 kept walking in the trail. I was stuck in morning traffic on the Bibbulmun.

It rained for 10 minutes in mid-morning, and it did this four more times in the afternoon too. I kept walking along the Donnelly River, and occasionally crossed it. There were a variety of bridges.

The river wasn’t very big, but it was slowly increasing in size as I hiked downstream.

The trail basically had 2 modes all morning: wall of brush, and open Karri forest.

I stopped for a very early lunch at the Tom road shelter.

As soon as I got there it started to rain again, while I enjoyed my burrito and snacks from under a dry roof. The shelter was situated right on the Donnelly River, which by now had grown larger. There was a path right to a nice swimming hole! Too bad it was only 13C.

The Sun came back out and I continued down the trail. For a little while I merged with the Munda Biddi trail (the Bibb’s bike trail sister).

And of course, I followed and crossed the Donnelly River a few more times.

The most unique bridge was a historical one, called “One tree Bridge.” A large Karri tree had fallen across the river, and they had decided to build a bridge with that log as the base.

That bridge’s modern replacement was a fun swingbridge.

There was a picnic shelter by this area which was fortunate because it was starting to rain, so I ducked under there for awhile and had a snack. At least these rainstorms only last 10 minutes each…

An hour of hiking later, and I was at the trail’s halfway point, which even had a special sign to commemorate the point. 501km to either end!

Across from the sign was a pole to hold your camera or phone. I thought this was really entertaining.

At the end of the day, I crossed the Donnelly River one final time on a large Karri log.

Tonight’s campsite shelter wasn’t directly on the trail so I had to hike an extra 300m.

Just after 5pm I sat down and took off my pack, and signed into the trail register as usual. Some of the other hikers’ entries were especially entertaining, and reading this joke about photons made my day complete.

I started making dinner and then another rain storm came through, but I didn’t care as I was sipping hot tea under a dry roof. Hopefully tomorrow’s weather is drier!

Saturday October 29, 38.4km/23.9mi

Blackwood Campsite (418.2/269m) to Donnelly River Village (456.6/252m) (WA)

I was the first one awake in the shelter, so I packed up quietly and was on the trail at 5:45am. The very first thing I saw was a kangaroo!

The trail meandered along the ridge before dropping down into the valley.

That was coming downhill on switchbacks, and I came around the corner to see this giant animal staring me in the face. It quickly ran off and made a loud squawk. I think it was an emu?!?

At the bottom of the descent, the trail traverses through some private farmland.

10 minutes later I exited the farm and was walking along a dirt road when I saw this cooler. Trail magic!! But upon closer investigation, it was empty.

I walked upstream along the Blackwood River for half an hour, it felt like a nature preserve with how talkative the morning birds were.

It was a very cool 10C morning, so the long climb out of the valley felt good, and I was able to warm up. After climbing up 150m, the final bit of climbing was slippery, on a damp clay surface. Yikes.

I saw another lake, but this time I was not disappointed about being unable to swim, as it was quite cold. Millstream Dam Lake is used for municipal drinking water.

The forecasted rain didn’t really materialize all morning, just a little sprinkle for 10 minutes and then stopped again. But the forest still felt very gloomy.

One short section was overgrown, and I was very happy that it wasn’t raining. Overgrown sections become carwashes when the plants get wet.

I stopped at the Gregory Brook shelter at 9:30 and had a meal. It was nice to get off my feet and rearrange my remaining snacks for the rest of the day.

I left the shelter at 10am and hiked for the rest of the day, motivated to get to Donnelly River Village by 4pm (when the general store restaurant closes). Just after I left the shelter, it started to rain and continued for the rest of the day. I was now in a forest full of giant Karri trees, so I had plenty of nice distractions.

I put my umbrella next to a tree for size reference. The umbrella is 1 meter diameter.

I trudged along in the rain for 3 hours on mostly nice trail. There was one short 1.5km section where it was completely overgrown, and I used my umbrella as a shield to keep most of the wet plants out of my way. That strategy kinda worked, I was still a little wet, but was able to dry quickly as my body heat evaporated the moisture. At noon I came across another small shelter, which I didn’t expect to see, but it was for an equestrian trail that intersects the Bibbulmun track. I finished my burrito, about to leave, and I saw two bikers coming up. Dave and Wayne were riding the Munda Biddi trail, which parallels the Bibbulmun track. We chatted for a bit, and I took off for DRV. The trail followed old roads, some of which still had road names.

Snake road! Sounds like it leads to Slytherin. The huge Karri trees were cool.

I made it to Donnelly River Village!

The General store has a small cafe/restaurant, tiny grocery section, and souvenirs.

After a chilly damp day, the first thing I ordered was a big hot cocoa with marshmallows.

And then a giant kangaroo burger with beetroot and streaky bacon.

I finished my meal and then asked about accommodations. I could camp for free in one of the usual 3-sided shelters, or pay $25 to sleep in a bunkroom in an old schoolhouse. I chose the schoolhouse.

The 3-sided shelters didn’t look as inviting when all of these animals were roaming around.

Like these emus:

And kangaroos, one had a Joey in her pouch! Cute.

All the animals in this village (which is really just a holiday park) are domesticated, and you can even buy pellets at the store to feed them. I loved this extra close-up shot of a kangaroo.

Dave and Wayne (the bikers) showed up to the general store a few minutes after I did and booked bunks in the bunkroom too. We had a fun evening of discussing every topic you could think of, while sitting in the nice warm kitchen that is provided for campers.

It rained pretty hard all evening, hopefully it stops overnight!

Friday October 28, 39.5km/24.5mi

Grimwade Campsite (378.7/263m) to Blackwood Campsite (418.2/269m) (WA)

I saw that the next campsite shelter was 40km away, so I started extra early at 6:30am. It was a nice cool 12C in the forest.

The morning hours flew by, with a few interesting landmarks. This tree was huge and probably ancient.

The trail skirted by a winery, and I briefly had a great view onto the green hills below.

The trail followed an old road for a bit, and then suddenly turned sharply onto an overgrown track. I almost missed it!

I saw a few more bob-tail lizards, this one even posed for me!

The descent out of the forest into town was steep, and it was made more exciting by slippery gravel and a nearby barbed-wire fence.

This was the 2nd most impressive bridge I’ve seen yet on this trail. So much lumber.

And I immediately found out where the lumber probably came from, as I walked thru a beautiful pine forest. I don’t think these are native here, but it reminded me of home.

The last bit of walking into Balingup was on a paved road, lined with these gum trees.

Balingup was a small charming little village.

It was 11:30am, so I stopped by the Mushroom Cafe (yeah I know, terrible name) for lunch. I got the Friday special, fish & chips. I had to ask for ketchup, and she only brought me one tiny packet for like 1lb/500g of fries. So strange. Maybe they charge for salt & pepper too, haha.

The trail left town by wandering thru an arboretum of sorts. The Golden Valley Tree Park had trees from all over the world.

A Swamp Cypress:

And a Fan Palm:

And a Red Maple:

Among dozens of other trees, for some reason there were sheep wandering thru the park.

After leaving that area, I climbed up to a ridge top, and the Bibbulmun joined a local interpretive trail, the Greenbushes Loop.

It had some signs along the way explaining the old mining equipment or sites. And my favorite, the bench with a view.

I loved seeing the juxtaposition of the two trail markers – the Wagyl (Bibbulmun) and the Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo (Greenbushes).

Apparently, the Bibbulmun is a “sister trail” to Canada’s Bruce Trail. Neat!

I was excited to get to Mt Jones Lake, but then I found out there’s no swimming, because it’s a drinking reservoir.

There was a brief roadwalk for a couple km, and I passed by some highly unusual things. Dirt mound on top of a stump, aka “mushroom”:

Horse made out of bushes:

Less unusual were the curious cows, as I walked by a farm.

The final hour of the day was thru some farm pastures, which was windy but very scenic.

I arrived to the Blackwood shelter at 6pm, to find 4 other women already there. While my dinner was cooking, I explored around the shelter. It’s perched on top of a ridge overlooking the Blackwood farm valley.

The ‘roos are everywhere up here.

I finished dinner and tried to talk with the group, but they were all excited to see each other so I didn’t get many words in, haha. The sunset was a good one tonight.

Thursday October 27, 35.6km/22.1mi

Glen Mervyn Lake (343.1/215m) to Grimwade Campsite (378.7/263m) (WA)

I packed up my tent, damp from camping near a lake, and hiked along the shore for a km. I crossed the end of the lake on a dam.

For the next hour I had a nice gradual downhill walk thru a jarrah forest, and ended up on a road at an intersection. Hmm which way to go?

I turned right, and immediately passed by an abandoned looking building, the Mumby Pub.

I found out later that it is indeed still open, daily for dinner. Fascinating. I continued the roadwalk for a couple more minutes, I don’t think I’ll be exceeding this speed limit!

I crossed the road to follow some old railroad tracks, which was a very pleasant walk in the shade, and away from the highway.

After 30 minutes I left the tracks, and joined a dirt road. All of the mailboxes at the bottom of the road were microwaves!

I saw this in some of the poorer sections of New Zealand too. The road led uphill for almost an hour, where I passed this fun hiking sign.

And since I was hiking thru farmland, I also saw COWS! Hi cows!

The farmland was a nice change of scenery, I love the rolling green hills.

The dirt road ended after climbing up for an hour, and I entered Preston National Park.

The rest of the day was a pleasant forested walk.

I stopped at Noggerup shelter for an early lunch, and enjoyed my usual cheese and salami burrito with hot sauce. I saw a road only once all afternoon, it was such a remote forest.

The final couple of hours went by quickly, as I sauntered up and down the gentle slopes of the trail.

I arrived to Grimwade shelter around 5pm, to find one other person there. Sue was very nice, and quite talkative, as she hasn’t seen anyone else on the trail in awhile. I did my usual evening chores as we swapped stories about the trail. She’s leaving at 5:45am so I might not see her in the morning…

Wednesday October 26, 25.6km/15.9mi

Collie Town (320.5/191m) to Glen Mervyn Lake (343.1/215m) (WA) +3.0 Collie connector trail

After another shower, breakfast, laundry, and some more breakfast, I walked out of town at noon. I stopped by this little museum, the admission was only $3! It was neat to learn about a defunct energy source.

I reentered the tranquility of the forest on that 3km connector trail, it’s nice to be back.

An hour later, I saw TWO of those bobtail lizards next to the trail. They don’t seem to move or do anything, but I’m still wary.

The Collie River was flowing fast and deep. Unfortunately there was a bit of litter and graffiti in this area, probably because of all the dirt roads that give easy access.

This tree swing was cool, I’ve never seen one so tall.

The trail briefly joined a road for 100m to get across the river on a bridge.

An hour later, I passed the Mungalup dam and lake. This is the town’s water supply, so no access to the lake was allowed.

It was another uneventful afternoon in a green tunnel, but the forest kept it interesting by providing kangaroos, lizards, and loud cockatoos. This was the first junction all day, it goes 20km on a side-trail to another dam/lake where you can’t swim. No thanks.

I walked a few more minutes to the Yabberup Campsite, where I stopped briefly to get water. There were 4 people already there, who were confused about why I was hiking onward. I said I planned on hiking another hour (it was 5pm) and camping wherever I find a flat spot. It’s amazing how many people here *only* camp at/in the shelters. They are nice, but sometimes they aren’t spaced out where you need them. It was an easy final hour of hiking on a flat trail. I kept seeing these huge dirt mounds… creepy.

I got to the Glen Mervyn Lake, and by now it was 6pm. Time to start looking for a campsite.

This area is popular with car campers, which meant while there are many flat spots for camping, many of them are soiled with food scraps, used toilet paper, or dirty charcoal logs. Blech. I finally found a clean spot across a tiny stream, so it was inaccessible to cars (and therefore most people).

There is an animal walking around my tent as I write this, turns out it was a curious duck. That’s a new one. At least it wasn’t a wild pig, possum, or any other nuisance mammal. There are 3 or 4 groups car camping nearby, I can hear them singing along loudly to their music, hopefully that doesn’t last too long….