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.

Thursday October 13 & Friday October 14, 0km/0mi

Alice Springs NT to Perth WA

I packed up from the hostel, said goodbye to Alex, Dana, and a few other friends I’ve met over the past week. The airport shuttle service is operated by Emu Run (same as the Uluru tour), and since they only have 4 pre-set shuttle times, I had to arrive at the airport an hour earlier than necessary…but it’s only $19! (The taxis are at least twice that). The Alice Springs airport is tiny, and I was thru security in less than 5 minutes. We even got to walk on the tarmac, since they don’t seem to have any jetbridges.

The flight to Perth connected thru Adelaide, so I had 3 hours to occupy myself in that airport. I had a nice first dinner, a chicken and leek pie.

And my 2nd dinner was a delicious fish n chips. I will never tire of fish and chips.

The 4 hour flight to Perth was uneventful, and with the 2.5hour time difference, I landed at 11pm. I spent most of the flight time on my phone, planning out my Bibbulmun food resupplies on various spreadsheets.

I was too tired to figure out the bus system, so I got a taxi to my accomodations at a nearby holiday park (fancy RV campground, kinda like a KOA). Tomorrow morning I will be doing some food shopping, then starting the Bibbulmun in the afternoon!

Wednesday October 12, 3.4km/2.1mi

Kata Tjuta National Park, Anangu Cultural Centre, Uluru National Park (NT)

I had booked a bus tour last week, as I wanted to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Uluru is a massive sandstone monolith in the middle of the “Red Centre” desert, and is sacred to indigenous Australians. The bus picked us up from the hostel 5:55am. Early!

It’s like a 5-hour/400km drive to Uluru, so there was plenty of time to stare out the window.

We made a few stops along the way, the first was for a breakfast buffet at Erldunda, the only sign of civilisation we have seen in 2 hours.

After eating way too many eggs and bacon, I wandered through the yard to see the Emus.

Our second stop was at a little rest area which had nice view of a nearby salt flat.

The road stretched into the distance, it’s the only sealed (paved) road for hundreds of kilometres.

At the break the driver asked us what we wanted to eat for lunch (beef, chicken, vegetarian), so of course I chose chicken.

Our first stop was at Kata Tjuta, to the Walpa Gorge area.

It was only a 1.2km walk (each way), and it felt good to stretch the legs after that long bus ride.

Getting closer…

The size of the rock walls is not well captured by these photos, the felt like they were squeezing the path between them.

The path ended at the narrowest point, which was probably only 20m wide. I stayed there it looked around for at least 15 minutes. Surprisingly only 20 other people showed up, even though we had 50 people on the bus. Talking to some of them later, they said it was too far to walk, haha! I got to enjoy watching the aquatic wildlife in this little pond, all to myself!

I walked back out to the parking lot, and had 20 minutes to spare before our departure time. The long view of Kata Tjuta…there are 36 redrock domes, though only a few are visible from here.

Next, we went to the Cultural Centre, which explains the importance of these areas to the aboriginal people, and their creation history. Photography was forbidden, so if you want to see, go visit yourself, ha!

We drove a few minutes over to Uluru, seeing it from a few sides as the road wrapped around the huge monolith.

First stop was the Mutitjulu Waterhole, a sacred place.

I thought the benches along the path were cool!

Along the short 500m walk, there were some very old pictographs (not petroglyphs!) on the rocks.

The tour guide explained what some of the more common symbols meant, along with a creation story of Uluru. He was a little hard to understand with his Indian accent, but I had downloaded the park brochure on my phone to help.

The water hole. It was very peaceful here, only the sounds of splashing water.

During the walk out to the carpark, the sun decided to peek out from the clouds.

Our last stop at Uluru was the Mala walk, which passed by several areas used during ceremonial times.

More cool pictographs.

I tried to get a photo of the entire rock, but it’s just too big!

Even after walking away for a few hundred meters … still doesn’t fit in the frame.

This shows the main part of Uluru, and there is a faint path on the right side of the rock. Climbing the rock had always been discouraged for cultural and environmental reasons.

And it 2019, it was legally closed to the public. There were too many rescues and safety incidents.

The bus picked everyone up, and we drove 10 minutes to a nice area for our BBQ dinner. Finally, I was able get a photo with the whole of Uluru!

The group was mostly older couples who kept to themselves, but I had some fun conversations with a guy from France, a young couple from Toronto, and a set of twins from Auckland. The BBQ pork, beans, and salad were a little spicy and delicious. They even had beer and wine!

I enjoyed a beer in front of a massive 348m (1142ft) tall sandstone monolith.

We departed at 7pm, and I mostly slept on the ride home. I was barely awake when the bus dropped us off at midnight, and I went straight to bed. What a cool place!

Tuesday October 11, 17.5km/10.9mi

Wallaby Gap Campsite (209.6/648m) to Telegraph Station/Eastern Terminus (223.5/592m) (NT) +3.6 hike to Alice Springs

I was awake at 5:30, so I could have an early start and beat the expected heat that was forecast today. I had packed up my campsite 20 minutes later, which apparently is about what time the sky starts to brighten. Sunrises are sweet.

I hiked 15 minutes and found myself on the last highpoint of the trail, Euro Ridge. The sunrise still looks glorious.

An hour later, I crossed some train tracks (I didn’t even stop and put down my windows). I believe this is the south -north passenger line that runs from Adelaide to Darwin.

Less than a km later, I crossed under the A87 highway that also runs Adelaide to Darwin.

This trail makes everything feel so polished with its signs for every little thing! Geoff Moss Bridge.

I noticed some weird tracks in the trail, like a dashed line on a road. When I looked it up online later, it turns out these were kangaroo tracks. Specifically, the kangaroo’s tail drag-marks as it hopped.

The trail began to follow the old telegraph line, which existed from 1872-1932, and is the reason Alice Springs became a hub for the region.

Only 1km to go! These markers were appreciated most of the time, but sometimes I just wanted to hike and forget where I was for more than 13-minute intervals.

Just before the finish, there was an old cemetery where like only 4 people were buried, and the sign explained that 2 of them died of tuberculosis. Sad…and odd trail placement.

The Finish! I hiked 223km on the Larapinta, including side hikes it was more like 235km.

The plaque up close. It’s a very new trail! Established 2002.

The final trailhead kiosk /infoboard.

There was a nice 3.6km concrete walkway to downtown Alice Springs, called the riverside walk. It looked pretty new, and I only saw two bikers on it.

The Riverside Walk, intuitively, followed the river. The Todd river is dry most of the year.

The path was very nice, and surprisingly, the usual morning clouds hadn’t dissipated yet, keeping the temperature rather comfortable.

This was something interesting I’d noticed all week, but didn’t get a photo until now. Most of the roads here don’t have bridges, but rather go directly thru the riverbed. It’s such a dry climate, that the rivers only have water in them a few days a year. And when they are full of water, there are roadside depth gages to help drivers decide if they should drive thru the water (depends on vehicle height). Note that there is still a bridge for pedestrians, so they don’t have to get their feet wet!

I walked directly to The Locals Cafe, as I was starving. Plus it was only 10am, and I can’t check-in to the hostel until 1pm. The salad hit the spot, the bacon was a nice meaty cut, and the fruit smoothie was legendary. I was in a happy food coma.

I dropped my backpack in the hostel’s storage closet, and walked around downtown for a couple hours. I had to buy this soda pop to find out how it tasted….terrible. Like mixing cream soda with pickle juice. Blech.

I checked in to the hostel, got a shower and laundry done, and had a short nap. The afternoon flew by, and it was dinnertime! So, I went to the only place open on a Tuesday that served a kangaroo steak.

I ordered it medium -well, not knowing how it should be cooked. Pretty good, but expensive so I won’t do it again. Altogether it was a great day and finish to the Larapinta Trail!

Tomorrow, I’ll be relaxing on a bus tour to Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park!

Monday October 10, 27.0km/16.8mi

Mulga Camp (182.6/687m) to Wallaby Gap Campsite (209.6/648m) (NT)

I naturally woke up at 5:45, I guess I’m all caught up on sleep! After packing up my tent, I walked over to the picnic table and noticed the moonset!

A few minutes down the trail, and I saw the sunrise too.

Arenge means “euro”

I cruised along on an easy trail all morning, looking around at the sights and ridges around me. After a couple of hours I came to a trail junction for the Woodland trail. It’s a 16km interpretive loop trail that starts at Simpsons Gap.

There wasn’t much notable to mention all morning, just more easy trail .

Finally, I spotted Simpsons gap in the distance. It’s another gorge cut through the mountains range, and like most of the others, it is accessible by road and is popular with tourists.

When I entered Simpsons Gap, the trail weirdly went under a roofed six-sided shelter.

Near the parking lot there were bathrooms, picnic tables, BBQs, and this cool cell phone reception dish.

It was early, just after 10am, so I decided to do the quick 10-minute side trail to Simpsons Gap.

I’m fascinated by some of the symbols on the sign. Like, who takes cats to a park? Are those two stick figures in a tug-of-war? The answers would have to wait…onward!

I walked as far as I could into the gap before I was stopped by a larger pool of water.

This was another gorge where the signs indicated no swimming was allowed. Bummer. After a nice cool morning, it’s hot now! I soaked my feet in the cold water and then hiked out.

Only 10km to Wallaby Gap! I planned on camping at Wallaby Gap tonight, which would leave only 13km for tomorrow to the finish. Perfect, since tomorrow is supposed to be brutally hot and I want to be done by 10am.

It was only 11am, so I hiked an hour to the top of a hill and had lunch in the shade up there.

I finished my lunch and now it was quite warm, like 29C. But it was only 7km to camp, so I slowly hiked onward, and it definitely helped that the trail was flat and easy to hike. I saw some tracks in the trail, I think a snake had just been here. Wildlife!

There were a couple of short side trails along the way, leading to what were probably dried up springs. Scorpion spring sounded especially unappealing.

I pulled into Wallaby Gap just after 2pm and sat in the shade of the shelter for awhile.

It was a weird wooden octagonal-shaped shelter, unlike any of the others I’d seen so far. It didn’t have the usual storage cabinets to protect your food from rodents, or USB chargers. But it was much cooler in the shade….so I laid on one of the benches and took a nap!

I woke up an hour later and decided to go check out the water hole in Wallaby Gap.

It was only a 5 minute walk, but wasn’t really worth it. The water was mostly dried up, and what remained was full of green scum.

I wandered back to the campsite and saw some large lizards crawling thru the rafters of the shelter! More wildlife! I enticed them to the opposite side of the shelter as me, as I didn’t want them dropping onto my head. I sat down and read some of my book, and eventually I started making dinner.

The temperatures really cooled down as soon as the sun went behind the hill. Today’s high temperature was “only” 29C, tomorrow is supposed to be 36C (human body temp is 37!)… glad I’m finishing early tomorrow!

Sunday October 9, 24.8km/15.4mi

Standley Chasm campground (158.2/763m) to Mulga Camp (182.6/687m) (NT) +0.4 Standley Chasm

I woke up late and went over to the cafe, which opened at 8am. I ordered a toastie (a grilled sandwich, in this case ham and cheese) and juice and enjoyed them while I updated my journal and figured out some travel logistics. I made sure to pack up my tent by 8:30 (that’s when the sprinklers come on), and I hiked out at 9am…a very late start for me. I decided to take the side trail into Standley Chasm.The path was cool with lots of shade and greenery.

The Chasm itself was still in shade (it only gets sunlight 90 minutes a day), and there were a few tourists walking about.

I backtracked a few hundred meters to the trail junction to the Larapinta. “Experienced walkers only”… I wonder how many tourists wandered down the wrong track.I immediately knew I was no longer on the tourist trail, when it climbed 50 meters in the first 10 minutes. Looking back down that what I had just climbed up.The trail then descended back into the gorge, which was now more of a valley, and followed a series of dry stream beds. Some of them were really fun, made of smooth rock, and required a little scrambling. Looking down:

I had just turned the corner around a boulder, and this enormous lizard was waiting for me. He didn’t seem too eager to move out of the way, so I had to go around. He looked about a meter long.

The trail soon left the stream beds and once again became a proper trail. I then had a decision to make… High route or low route?

I went with the high route, which is definitely more effort, but should get me good views and a nice breeze. The climb up was certainly very steep, and kept switchbacking up against a rock wall.

These flowers seem to be thriving in their little crack in the cliff….Good for them!Once I got to the top, it was as I expected, a very nice ridgewalk with some wind.

It only lasted a couple kilometers, and then I headed down. Down, down, down….Once I was back down in the valley, the trail cruised most of the way to Jay Creek campsite.The last km before the campsite was in a sandy wash.I stopped in at Jay Creek campsite to refill my water bottles and sit down for a few minutes. There were some flies buzzing around so I didn’t stay very long. (This has been the only spot on the trail so far where I’ve had to deal with flies, despite warnings from several people that they were all over the trail). It was 10 km to the next campsite at Mulga camp, which only took 2 hours, because the trail was so nice.There was one little spot where I had to walk through a wash, at Spring Gap.

Surprisingly it even had water! There was a sign warning not to drink the water, as it had been polluted by camels.I also saw hoofprints in the sand a few minutes later. HmmI got to Mulga camp at 5:45 pm, so this was a pretty short day, since I didn’t start till 9 am. It had most of the usual things – toilet, water tank, picnic tables. I’m a sucker for a good picnic table. Dinnertime!I setup my tent in a very nice soft sandy spot, with the sun setting on one side…And the (almost?) full moon rising on the other….I think the moon is full tomorrow night, which is also my last night on this trail!