Typical Bibbulmun Track scenery

In late December this year, I will be hiking the Peaceful Bay to Albany section of the Bibbulmun Track. The Bibb runs 1,002km from Kalamunda just east of Perth to Albany on the southern ocean of Western Australia.

This final section is 148km and is one of the harder sections on the trail involving inlet crossings by canoe and beach walking. It offers some of the best uninterrupted coastal scenery along the south coast. It passes through the town of Denmark and finishes right in the centre of Albany itself.

Route of the Bibbulmun

The Bibb is gaining popularity with hikers all the time which is due in part to the great efforts of the Bibbulmun Track Foundation in promoting the trail. There are now lots of interstate hikers who travel to Perth to hike the trail. It is also very noticeable even in the last five years just how many international hikers are now taking on the Bibb. I have met hikers on the trail from many different parts of the world including the States, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, England and many others. The website is fantastic and offers a wealth of information for trail planning, photos, a section by section guide and a distance calculator.

Finishing the trail will be partly bitter sweet for me. Whilst I have been interested in hiking for many years, my recent journey really began along the Bibb. To some extent, I have grown in my knowledge, experience and skills as I have walked south from Kalamunda. I started in 2011 with most of my hiking experience having been in the UK.  As well as adjusting to Australian conditions (and yes, that means bugs..), I have evolved my gear knowledge and base weight considerably over that time. In the same time period, I have section hiked the Bibb, I have also hiked the John Muir Trail in the US and climbed Kilimanjaro.

When I finish the trail, I know that there will come a time that I will walk it again in an uninterrupted thru hike (or end-to-end as they are called here). Somehow, I feel that will give a different experience of what the trail has to offer…