Monday October 31, 38.9km/24.2mi

Boardinghouse Campsite (495.3/165m) to Beedelup Campsite (534.2/148m) (WA)

I awoke in an empty shelter, and noticed the rain had stopped. Great! It was a cold morning packing up, but I warmed up quickly on the first uphill. At the top of the hill I saw a new kind of wildlife…a rabbit! I didn’t know they existed here.

The trail was in a green tunnel all day, much like this.

The trail followed the Donnelly River all morning, repeatedly climbing up to a ridge, then returning to the valley to visit the river. The first river crossing was on this cool old Karri log.

After climbing 100m uphill and back down again, I crossed a second time on a brand new steel bridge.

The next uphill, this one 150m, was especially steep. This is how an elevation profile gives the middle finger:

The bridge at the bottom of this descent was another neat old log bridge.

The green tunnel along the river continued all the way to my lunchtime shelter, the Beavis campsite shelter.

As I was eating lunch, I saw a group of people drive by on an ATV, which is weird because motorized vehicles aren’t allowed out here. As I hiked away after lunch, I could see the tracks they had left.

One more uphill to leave the Donnelly River valley for a final time, as I would no longer be seeing this river. The tall (50m/170ft) Karri trees provided a nice distraction.

Karri trees are also very identifiable by their peeling bark, it comes off in huge thick sheets.

At the top of the climb, I crossed a road and entered a burn zone. I like that they provide a sign to explain why these prescribed burns are a good thing.

The burn had happened 2 years ago, and already the forest is recovering with new growth.

Suddenly, on another downhill PUD, I saw an emu!

The afternoon went on in the burned forest, with lots of little pointless ups and downs (PUDs). Eventually I came to a tiny waterfall and a unique tree. It’s a Karri tree combined with some other tree species!

I entered Beedelup National Park, and immediately I started seeing more day hikers.

In a few minutes I was at Beedelup Falls, which was a very developed part of the trail. There were walking platforms and stairs and ramps and handrails and interpretive signage everywhere.

From the lookout platform I could see the falls, it was pretty impressive.

This side hike looked pretty cool but I didn’t have the time it was already 5pm and I still had another kilometer to get to camp. Walk-thru tree!

The final bit of trail was very freshly scraped, by what appears to be a bulldozer. It was soft, brush-free, and very nice to walk on.

I got to Beedelup campsite at 5:15 and there were 3 guys already set up in the shelter. I think they must have gotten there really early, because two of them were already getting into bed at 5:30pm! I chatted with them while I was making dinner, it sounds like they are doing a section southbound so I will probably see them again tomorrow in town.