Pemberton to Beedelup campsite

Mileage: 16 miles/25.6 km

Sectional total: 16 miles/25.6 km

The day started bright and early with us setting off from Ben’s house at Leschenault just north of Bunbury. This made the drive to Pemberton that little bit shorter than driving down from Perth but it was still 2 hours before we arrived at Pemberton.

We set off from Pemberton and began a long slow climb out of town along Lefroy Brook. It was good to be back on the trail again and I was looking forward to the days ahead.

The trail leads up to Big Brook Dam which looked really nice on such a beautiful day. The locals were out enjoying themselves on the water but it was time for us to keep going.

The next stop was the arboretum which has trees there from all over the world. Whilst there are some beautiful trees in WA, being a European I love to see trees from other parts of the world. We stopped here for lunch and had a nice break wondering why nobody else was here enjoying the place. The highlight was seeing a US sequoia grove which was planted there in 1929.

After lunch, we had a bit of a climb for the next few km through some great karri forest. The karri stands are really different in character from the rests of the forests in WA and are really special only growing in this part of the South West.

The walking in the afternoon felt more like walking through a green tunnel as we walked through mixed jarrah forest and the trees closed in around us offering limited views.

Later the trail exited the forest and crossed a stretch of farmland which is one of the the few such sections on the trail. The light was beautiful as it streamed through the trees across the open fields.

We then walked through mixed jarrah and marri trees for the last few km to the campsite. We saw out first tiger snake of the trail which fortunately was as keen to get away from us as we were from it.

Once at the campsite, we met Brad, Jerome and Ralph who were experienced thru hikers and were finishing off a sectional hike from DRV to Pemberton which was the reverse of our route.

As I write this, it’s 7.30pm and everyone is settling down for the night. Hiker midnight! Tomorrow we head past Karri Valley and on to Beavis campsite.