Day 16: Mt Wells to Chadoora
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
We set off through more burnt country. Hopefully we are coming to the end of it soon!
Today’s overview:
Today is a much easier walk with a long descent from Mt Wells followed by flattish ground and a shallower climb at the end of the day. The terrain will be welcome.
I’m surprisingly weary and am ready for a hot shower and a warm bed in a couple of night’s time, but Geoff is as bouncy as ever. It’s disgusting.
Use the Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 2 Dwellingup
We are both greatly looking forward to a hot dinner, too, preferably big hunks of flesh – neither of us are big meat fans at home but our bodies are telling us in no uncertain terms that more protein is needed NOW!
But even at the start there are still orchids and flowers to see.
Caladenia nana ssp nana
Caladenia reptans ssp reptans.
And then, an hour or so out, we come to unburned country! There’s a distinct change implying a higher rainfall environment, with native bracken fern now dominant in the understorey.
I find two orchids that look to be a hybrid between the yellow cowslip and the pink fairy orchid and indeed this is so: Caladenia x spectabilis.
Clematis is also in full bloom, draped over shrubs and logs
The xanthorrhoeas are magnificent. It’s wonderful to see such healthy specimens. Many in our local Adelaide Hills region at home are dying due to the introduced pathogen phytophthera as are many in Western Australia but this lot, at least, are in fine form.
Lunch on the track... literally! There are so few hikers we’re not worried about blocking anyone’s path, not least because we were alone at the hut last night. Soup and crackers is a yummy lunch but not as nutritious as it could be. Geoff’s homemade crackers are certainly good, but for the next cold weather hike I’ll make some higher calorie, higher protein home-made soups.
We don’t rush at lunch time and take 45 minutes or so when the weather is nice. We’ll often take a look at the map to see what’s in store, and to build a picture of the landscape ahead. Sometimes I even have a little nanna nap!
Leucopogon verticillatus
The pig diggings here are appalling. Wild pigs do an enormous amount of damage. Some days later we meet a ranger and ask him whether it is worth reporting the location of the pigs and he replies that there simply aren’t the funds to control them. So, despite the 1080 baiting of cats and foxes, nothing is being done about this equally damaging pest. A great shame.
Some of the track follows old logging bullock tracks, with a gentle and even gradient. Delightful.
We arrive at Chadoora Hut. The design of most of the huts is similar, but they are all in different settings and it’s always fun - or a relief! - to reach them.
The campsites are good, but there is a lot of rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow and we no longer trust the floor of the Triplex. It may simply have been condensation under the mats, but we have damaged tent floors before on limestone with polycro: it’s just too thin. We hadn’t expected the laterite gravel to be this rough. In Dwellingup we’ll order Tyvek online and get it sent to Collie.
The campsites are great but we’re expecting heavy rain…
… so for the first time we’ll sleep in the hut. The sleeping platforms are very smooth and generally spotlessly clean. No boots on platforms – you can see ours at the foot.
You can see our sleep system here very clearly. There’s our twin quilt, which has a split underneath where the fill would be squashed flat and wasted, but the foot end is closed, like a wide sleeping bag. It’s a very warm quilt with a lot of loft, and this is after a fortnight in cold, damp nights. I’ve stood my pack up as a bit of a headboard.
The yellow pads underneath are Neoair Xtralites. Although these pads are notorious for being noisy (they sound like rustling paper or chip packets), ours are surprisingly quiet; the newest model is much worse. I think it’s possibly because we use individual blue silk liner bags on them under our green twin quilt, so they don’t squeak or rustle, and the pads are strapped together, further limiting movement.
Or, it’s because we slip our cheap foam sitpads underneath the torso area of the mats for added protection against punctures. You can just make out a little of the blue pad peeking out under the yellow.
Many people who haven’t used a quilt or twin quilt worry that it will come untucked. This doesn’t seem to happen in our case. You can cinch up the neck on each side so it closes like a hoodless sleeping bag. We do have to wear beanies or a balaclava at night, though.
The above system is by far the most comfortable we’ve ever had because it most closely resembles the way we sleep at home. We can still spoon, or sleep back to back or in any combination.
A few mosquitoes buzz around at dusk and then vanish. We carry a tiny bottle of insect repellent to use if necessary.
The long drop loos are a luxury. There is toilet paper in this one but don’t expect it every time or you will be in for a nasty surprise. We always carry loo paper and have included just the right amount for every section in each resupply box.
On the inside of the door of every loo is this sign. You’ve seen the kind of country we’ve been hiking through – being caught in the bush or even in the hut in a fire is not a good outcome. And it’s why the track should not be hiked in summer.
After today’s delightful, easy hiking I’m feeling weary but much more positive. My entry from the log book reflects this, as well as how much we’re looking forward to a hot shower: although we are both somewhat aromatic, we are Embracing the Stink, the motto of thru-hikers everywhere!
