MY APOLOGIES- I have stalled on writing this up- I did finish! 49 days this time. Just as speccie as the first time- hope to finish writing up at some point!
Breakfast prep in the Caravan parks camp kitchen is unhurried, luckily, as it takes about 15 minutes to work out how to get the induction stove turned on for my egg boiling fiesta. Very nice to have a toaster and kettle too although I dont miss these things at all when Im on the trail. Farewell Geoff under a bright blue sky at 9am, the trail head is directly opposite the caravan park, zero chance of getting lost. The first 6.5 kms for the day is spent exiting Denmark through a series of bush tracks, footpaths, wooden bridges and bitumen roads. Quite a few very nice houses on display. A couple of friendly waves. Its surprising to me how much I actually enjoyed this bit- last time walking north to south I remember this same 6.5km as absolutely tedious, it was such a let down of back streets and suburbia (after the beauty of the forests
and coast before it) and was a seemingly never ending trudge at the end of a long day, this time it was the beginning of a day and the beginning of a new stretch heading into the forests and coastline. Completely different perspective. People often ask if the walking of a trail twice is boring on the second time- I think it this morning is a case in point.
I made dot point notes on my xl planning spreadsheet- todays points wereinteresting traverse through Denmarkgranitemountains (WA style)multi terrainsducking showerskangaroosfootprintsNO mosquitosabsolutely magical view from granite boulder near the shelter
It was a really great day and Id highly, highly it as a day walk if anyones actually reading this. The hike up to the Mt Hallowell summit was superb (see dot point - granite), a beautiful jumble of shady granite boulders. I found it well marked but pretty challenging, mainly due to the slip factor. There is a section where there is some metal railing to get down a boulder, the railing isnt actually very secure and I did a fairly uncontrolled swing
through the air. Met a group of 4 up on the summit, had a bit of a chat, some photos were taken of the stellar views, said goodbye and enjoyed the breeze up there before the descent. The descent was well shaded albeit pretty wet with intermittent showers, very slippery requiring focus. Not ideal trying to keep the umbrella up, balance the pack and take a few steep sections with 1 trekking pole. Got down to the Monkey Rock car park (didnt detour to the actual rock this time as it was still raining but if anyones reading this - do it, speccy spot, great for a picnic on top of) and had a well deserved coffee and snack under my umbrella, chatting with a stream of dog walking young couples. Only 9 kms to go for the day.
A dip into farmland with bright green pastures and big black cows in the rain was followed by coastal vegetation and Lights Beach where I dumped my rubbish in the bin and had a bit of my lunch, quite a few people around. Onto the sand and crossed a little creek into the dunes, following lots of footprints. Met the
owners of 2 sets of prints on their return to the car. We had the typical conversation- what are you doing/where are you going/all the way to Perth?????/are you by yourself???? Most people are quite astounded when I tell them its my preferred way of hiking. So, back to the footprints, I get to a single set- fresh today and heading my way, I feel slightly disappointed - I think Im going to tonight.
Another beautiful interlude in the karri forest and more granite and the hut sign pops out of the bush, so do the footsteps. Pull into the hut at 4pm and... its deserted. No one has signed into the book, I go wander to the viewpoint... no one. Silently celebrate. Back to the hut where I set up and finish my lunch (which has now dinner), dinner is a chocolate bar (absolutely nothing wrong with that!). The hut is great, I love the limestone rock floor, so clean.
