Beavis campsite to Boarding House campsite

Mileage: 12 miles/19.2 km

Sectional total: 42.7 miles/68.3 km

Today’s section is notorious on the Bibbulmun as being one of the hardest sections on the entire trail. This is because of three very steep climbs and descents of which one, known as the ‘V’, is very unforgiving. This is particularly the case for southbounders as the climb for them has no switchbacks and goes straight up.

The trail started off in a benign way from Beavis and was pretty straightforward for the first couple of km. After that, it was the first big climb of the day. It certainly got the heart pumping and the calf muscles. Whilst tough, it is all great training. I can’t imagine how people with 30kg packs manage this section though as it’s pretty tough.

Once we got to the top, the trail undulated a little before hitting the ‘V’. As we were heading north, we had a slightly easier run of it as our descent headed straight down, steeply with no switchbacks. The climb had switchbacks most of the way up which made things much easier.

It was much easier for the next 5km or so as the trail gradually descended to a road bridge and then turned right to follow the Donnelly River valley. This section provided occasional glimpses through to the karri forests surrounding the river.

The trail descended down to a log bridge and then began the final climb of the day. This was pretty easy compared to the preceding ones and was soon over.

The trail then followed a long straight section which appeared to be an old rail line given how level and straight it was. It so easy just to go on autopilot that I almost missed the tiger snake on the right hand side of the trail. It was only a couple of feet away when I saw it and it then headed off under a log before I could get a photo. That makes three tiger snakes in three days. In my end-to-end sectional hike, I only saw one tiger snake the whole 1,000km.

The next few kms were all downhill and before long we reached camp at Boarding House nice and early around 2pm. We met a guy at the campsite who was nice to chat to who was semi-retired but very fit and a member of the army reserve.

Nice to know the hard km are now out of the way and it’s pretty straightforward from here to Donnelly River Village in two days. I understand there’s a group booking at Tom Road which is our campsite tomorrow so I think it will be a busy last night.