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Sea to Summit Comfort Plus Insulated

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The Comfort Plus by Sea to Summit is a premium dual layer inflatable sleeping pad.  Whilst this is not a light sleeping pad, it makes up for it in comfort.

The sleeping mat weighs in at 820g on the scale in a regular without the stuff sack which is a little over the specified weight. The regular comes in at 183cm x 56cm and rolls up to a size of 12cm x 23 cm in the included stuff sack. You may want to dispense with the stuff sack and keep the pad flat against the back of the pack or, alternatively, in the sleeping pad holder if you use a Gossamer Gear pack.

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Sea to Summit Comfort Plus Insulated

The sleeping pad is a unique design in that it incorporates air cells throughout the pad with the design comparison being similar to a coil mattress at home providing support across the body. Continue reading →

Day 43: The finish

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Mutton Bird Campsite (977.7 km) to Albany (1,002.3 km)

Mileage: 24.6 km/15.4 miles

We started bright and early from Mutton Bird campsite at 6 AM having risen around 4.30 AM. It’s amazing how quickly the body clock adjusts to the daylight hours and your routine adjusts to that schedule. At the moment in Western Australia at this latitude, it gets light at that time and is not fully dark until 8.30 PM so there is plenty of available hiking time.

The morning started with a few isolated rain showers which were a feature of the first few days. Fortunately, these had mostly cleared by the time we got underway.

Morning rainfall at sunrise

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Day 41: Across the Nullaki

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Denmark (917.6 km) to West Cape Howe Campsite (948.8 km)

Mileage: 31.2 km/19.5 miles (+1.8 km side trail from town)

It was good to rest and refresh in Denmark yesterday. The town has several cafes (yes, chai latte…) and a large supermarket so I was able to get the resupply done for the final three day stretch into the end of the trail in Albany.

To leave Denmark, you need to get across to the Nullaki peninsula which can be done by foot (the long way), road (the cheap way) or boat (the 007 way). Being the debonair individual that I am, I chose the boat and arranged for John from Madfish Charters to take us across Wilson Inlet. Our little cheery boat arrived at 7 AM exactly to take us across the 3km inlet. The good news is those kms are included in the official trail km so we don’t have to walk them.

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Day 40: Into Denmark

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William Bay campsite (897.6 km) to Denmark (917.6 km)

Mileage: 20 km/12 miles (+1.8 km side trail to town).

Today was a day when I was glad to have done the longer km yesterday. The highlight of the day  was climbing Mt Hallawell which would have been difficult on top of the beach walk of Mazoletti Beach yesterday which is the longest beach on the trail.

We left William Bay campsite around 6.40 AM with the aim of arriving in Denmark around lunchtime (for obvious reasons). The trail after the campsite was fairly easy being along ridges and being generally undulating rather than the demanding ups and downs of yesterday.


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Day 39: A wild day to William Bay

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Quarrum Nature Reserve (864.2 km) to William Bay (897.6 km)

Mileage: 33.4 km/20.9 miles

It was quite stormy last night with some strong winds, a couple of intense rolls of thunder and frequent lightning during the night. The Hexamid stood up reasonably well and I had a fairly low, taut pitch. That also meant some condensation though it was quite manageable. The rain continued this morning so a lie in was called for to wait out the rain. The forecast was rain this morning then clearing by 10 AM as the cold front cleared through. It is unusual to have cold fronts in WA in summer as they are considered more of a winter phenomenon but at least it’s cool.

The day began wandering through Quarrum Nature Reserve which was impressive. It is also known as the Showgrounds and I imagine the wildflowers are really impressive in the right season. There were lots of kangaroos, most of whom were very tame. The scenary was almost English-esque with only the Australian fauna giving things away.


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Day 38: Irwin Inlet by canoe

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Peaceful Bay (854.2 km) to Quarrum Nature Reserve (864.2 km)

Mileage: 10km/6.25 miles

Today was a long day.  Not just because of the drive but due to a difficult day yesterday.  We had to take my daughter to  the emergency department yesterday as she took a tumble and hurt her back. I didn’t leave the hospital until after 1 AM and Nicole ended up staying all night. Lauren turned out to be fine but, unfortunately it meant a long day today on next to no sleep.

Peaceful Bay is a 450km drive from Perth but a fairly pleasant one going through some nice little towns on the way such as Balingup and Walpole. We arrived at Peaceful Bay at around 3pm and got going shortly after.


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Heading south (and then east….)

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On December 26th, it will be time to head south to complete the last section of the Bibbulmun Track between Peaceful Bay and Albany along the southern coast of Western Australia.

This section of the track runs for 148km and has, apparently, some of the most beautiful stretches of coastline anywhere in Western Australia.  Halfway along this part of the trail is the town of Denmark which is 63km from Peaceful Bay (or 2.5 days hiking) which will help break up the section.

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On the John Muir Trail

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Hiking the John Muir Trail

Hard to believe it is already two years ago I was hiking the John Muir Trail through California. The JMT is some of the most epic scenery in the US and winds for 211 miles from Yosemite to the summit of Mount Whitney.  The trail goes through the Sierra Nevada which were called by John Muir “the range of light”.

“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail.”  John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901

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Listed gear weight

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In the interests of lowering base weight as much as possible, I recently ordered a new Hexamid Solo from Joe at ZPacks. I formerly owned a Hexamid in blue a couple of years ago and, to be honest, really regretted selling it. It was an awesome tent. It had a few idiosyncrasies sure but also many advantages – even against the Solplex.

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