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….

Tuesday October 25, 35.0km/21.8mi

Yourdamung Campsite (288.5/279m) to Collie Town (320.5/191m) (WA) +3.0 Collie connector trail

It rained steadily through the night and by the time I woke up it had mostly stopped. I hiked out at 7am into a light mist.

The forest has been slowly changing as I hike south, but I did see a spot today that had a ton of those Grass Trees, like I used to see on Day 1.

A couple hours into the morning I ran across another end-to-end hiker (what they call thru-hikers here), his name was “Yeah Yeah”.

He had hiked the Appalachian trail in 2018 (the year before I did) with his son. We chatted for a few minutes and it was really fun to reminisce about that trail, and it turns out we know some of the same people! I hoped a few more minutes to the Harris Dam shelter, where I had a 10am meal (3rd breakfast? Early lunch?). I saw an entire box of food, and got excited — a hiker box with a ton of free food! But then I saw the label, and someone was caching food here for a resupply (which is not allowed). It’s also confusing, because this spot is only a couple hours’ walk from town, so there’s no point in caching food here.

I resisted temptation, and left the box and hiked onward. The Harris Dam was cool to see. This is the spillway:

And this is the actual dam. It’s an earthen dam, so it doesn’t look like much.

Next, the trail passed thru a wet area, and it was fun to walk on the boardwalk for a few minutes.

It was a pleasant walk through a nondescript forest. This trail is kinda like the Appalachian trail, it’s in a green tunnel. And then occasionally you cross a road. This road had a mystery pipeline running next to it.

When I entered this conservation area, I knew I was only an hour from town. It was 1pm, but I had skipped my usual big lunch stop in favor of getting a meal in town.

The park and a ton of wildflowers including these cool shiny purple ones:

And these very vibrant red and green ones:

At 2pm I arrived to the trail junction, where a spur trail leads to the town of Collie.

The trail weaved thru the forest for 15 minutes before emerging onto a nice sidewalk.

This bird was squawking loudly at me and eyeing me suspiciously as I passed.

Welcome to Collie! It’s the biggest town on this entire trail.

Usually these types of signs indicate wildfire danger, but this one was not labelled. I’m hoping this one indicates the quantity of milkshakes available in town.

It’s a cute little downtown area, with many little shops and a covered walking area.

I checked into the Colliefields Hotel just after 2pm, and the room that I had booked was under repair, so they gave me a free upgrade to a larger room.

I went to a nearby deli, and got a chicken sandwich. They didn’t have real milkshakes, so unfortunately I had to go across the street to the McDonald’s and get one there. I don’t usually like going to fast food places but in Australia it seems like the only way to get a real milkshake (aka, one with ice cream).

I used the afternoon to shower, catch up on internet stuff, and do my food shopping for the next trail section. For dinner I went to the kebab shop next door, and got a nice lamb & feta & capsicum pizza.

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!