Day 8 Brookton to Canning
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
Following the powerlines to the highway with swampy ground either side. It’s easy walking and even along the power lines there are hundreds of wildflowers. And we’re looking forward to our resupply - well I am, at least - Geoff later confides that all he was thinking about was the weight of extra food he was about to carry!
This section is the only one on the entire Bibbulmun where you must resupply between towns, and Brookton Highway is the usual place. However, if you want to lighten your load, two resupplies - at Dale Rd access and North Bannister or Sullivan’s Rock - instead of just one at Brookton Highway creates significantly lighter packs. Here’s the overview map for the day.
And the details for the day.
This is a short day that turns out to be not quite as relaxing as we’d imagined! After a quick hop to Brookton Highway, we meet our trail angel to pick up our resupply, drop off rubbish and for a chat. Trail angels don’t expect any reward but it’s a nice gesture to also pack a small gift for them into your resupply box if you’re meeting them, especially if they’re driving some distance for you: chocolate, beer or wine will be appreciated!
The second half of today’s walk has no photos, and we made the hut in record time for reasons you’ll soon see!
Philotheca spicata. These are absolutely stunning with their arching sprays of pink flowers, and the foliage smells wonderful!
Tripterococcus brunonis in the Stackhousia group. From a distance, or the corner of my eye, I keep mistaking these for orchids. There is something in their asymmetry that is reminiscent of them, as other orchid fans will understand!
We stop at the highway, and our Track Angel is bang on time. He appreciates the red wine! We have a chat to share our enthusiasm of the walk so far, repack our bags and then enter the jarrah. Numerous sun orchids are in bud, as well as more tiny treasures! One big advantage of hiking earlier rather than later is that there are fewer ticks in this northern section. With all the kneeling in vegetation, I’m amazed I haven’t yet had any guests!
Stylidium calcaratum, the Book Triggerplant. Different triggerplants have different trigger lengths and placing, so that the insect is stamped with pollen in a very particular spot – in this case, the abdomen. This prevents species from hybridising. Aren’t plants amazing!
Stirlingia in bud
Cyothamnus ramosus. It looks and smells like a boronia, and was considered one up until recently.
Grevillea wilsonii.
There are usually many interesting plants on and around granite outcrops, and the absence of trees often makes for great views. However, the mosses and tiny plants that grow on them are very sensitive to trampling, so try to step only on bare rock if you go exploring. You’ll also find different plant species in the seepage areas immediately around the granite slabs. Again, tread carefully. Abyssinia Rock is a large granite outcrop and on it I find:
The tiny Drosera glanduligera
Butterfly flower (Philydrella pygmaea subsp. pygmaea), also just a few centimetres tall…
… and Pink Petticoats, Utricularia tenella, about the same size. Bladderworts are carnivorous, trapping tiny things in equally tiny bladders that are under water or below ground in moist soil.
Drosera sp.
This picture, just leaving Abyssinnia Rock, is the last picture I take until we reach camp. See that white on the horizon? That’s not cloud, but smoke. And soon we can smell it. Because of the terrain and our unfamiliarity with this landscape, we can’t judge how far away it is.
My parents and grandparents almost lost their homes in bushfires, fighting off flames themselves, and Geoff and I live in one of the highest bushfire risk areas in South Australia, so we’re both hyperaware of the danger. We are still some distance from Canning Hut, but we know there are several hikers ahead of us. There is no phone reception. It’s probably a control burn, but we can’t be sure. What should we do?
We use our Inreach Mini to message our daughters for information. The Inreach automatically appends our exact location, so they can work out where we are in relation to the fire. They both know we wouldn’t be contacting them in the middle of the day unless it’s important, but sometimes one or the other may have their phone switched off at work, so we contact both.
We also start heading - briskly, very briskly! - to Canning where we know there will be at least 3 other people. The other option is to head back towards the highway, but it’s not at all windy and still very early in the season. Nevertheless, we begin moving before we receive any replies.
We ask:
“Is there a fire SE of Perth?”
After a little while, one daughter replies. ‘Prescribed burns.’ Phew!
Meanwhile, the other daughter is also checking:
From these exchanges, you can see just how useful an Inreach can be. We have sensible folk in our contacts list, so now we know that, although we can smell the smoke, the control burns are 25 km away and of no concern. If they had been bushfires and closer, we could have simply pressed the SOS button, but we would also have sent a specific message to family to ask them to notify emergency services.
It’s important not to move locations after pressing the SOS button because otherwise the rescuers will come to the wrong spot. In any case, the two-way comms also allow them to advise us of the next course of action; for example they might recommend heading back to the highway, which is what we would have done if it was a bushfire.
This is why the two-way communication of an Inreach is far superior to a PLB, even though the latter has a stronger signal in forested areas or deep gorges; you may need both depending on the kind of terrain you’re hiking in. The Inreach in this instance functions like a satellite phone text messenger.
We also used the Inreach Mini in Iceland and the Tasmanian Highlands for weather reports - another thing you won’t get from PLBs. The Inreach Mini 2 has superior battery life to our model, so you can use tracking features more effectively to send automatically to family at home. Although the Inreach has navigation functions (we always enter the location of huts and important waypoints), the screen and resolution aren’t ideal for this. Other models with larger screens can be used more easily for navigation and communication.
Some weeks later we meet a hiker leading a small group of friends. He insists that there is enough phone service on the Bibbulmun to not need a PLB or satellite comms like the Inreach. We can’t stress enough that this is not a sensible approach, especially for solo hikers or those responsible for others. The nature of emergencies is that they are unpredictable and serious: you don’t choose where they happen. A solo hiker who has a medical episode or accident 50m off the track on Abyssinia Rock or even on the track itself, or any of the numerous other places without cell reception is, quite simply, f*&$d. All they can do is hope that someone might happen along, sometime in the next day or two, before they bleed out, pass out, or burn to death.
We reach Canning hut in record time!
I’ve never hiked as fast in my life and am in urgent need of restorative medication , two cups of which are in the background!
Another hiker having a little rest before dinner. We are able to reassure them about what we’ve learned, too.
Another lovely campsite, plus the opportunity to do some washing, seeing as we’re here so early after our sprint from Abyssinia Rock!
I expect washing clothes to happen less often as the hike progresses. Apparently that’s normal!
Pterostylis crispula near camp. We no doubt rushed past many on our way to the hut, but I’m just glad to be here!
