Day 51: Lake Maringup to Dog Pool
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
Today is - you guessed it! - more wading!
Lake Maringup to Dog Pool Aerial Overview Map
Use Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 6 - Northcliffe
Elevation and distance details for the day. At 25.7 km, this is the Bibbulmun’s longest day. However, the climbs are short and relatively gentle; if you’re an end-to-ender, you will have built up a degree of stamina by now.
Nevertheless, after the recent storms, the track is a little daunting. Yes, that is it right there, straight ahead over those logs! Because the track is completely obscured, we spend a few minutes casting about for it. In the end, we are guided not by what’s on the ground, but by open areas in the scrub above.
Overall, the track surface is not soft mud but firm sand, sometimes covered in a thin layer of black ooze. However, most of it isn’t slippery and it’s surprisingly easy hiking. What is tiring is the deadfall - you can see it behind Geoff - and the clambering and ducking and weaving that prevents any kind of ground-eating rhythm.
The wading is kind of fun in this warm weather, but I’m beginning to loathe the deadfall. It’s easier with two, as you can hold the branches aside for each other.
You might initially think you’ll be able to avoid the puddles by detouring around them but very quickly it becomes apparent that it’s just not worth it, not least because you’ll be damaging surrounding vegetation and you’re often hiking through a shallow lake rather than a creek. Very soon you’ll be happily splashing straight through them. In many of these areas, the track is more puddle than dirt so it is what it is.
The sun breaks through the clouds and lifts our spirits still further.
Boronia stricta
The track. It’s flat but oh my, that deadfall!
For a bit of fun, we decide to count the puddles: 38 deep ones (above boot level) and 18 shallower ones is our tally for the day! Goretex boots are a pain in this kind of wading because they fill up with water and become leaden buckets at the ends of your legs.
I’m not sure what number this one is.
Or this one, but at least the sun is out again!
Dry ground!
Duckboard strategically placed over one of the smallest, shortest puddles of the day!
We’ve heard quite a few snakes in the last couple days: it’s an all-you-can-eat McFrogs for them here. This is a dugite (Pseudonaja affinis) in the process of shedding (you can tell by the opacity of the eye). Dugites are lethally venomous but they aren’t aggressive so you can generally skirt around them; they’ll either stay put or, more commonly, flee into the bushes. Unless you step on one while it’s eating a frog, as our friend Helen did yesterday, of course. This one is probably feeling a bit ordinary, as would anyone taking off their entire skin.
Stepping logs! Luuuuxxxuuury!
Plenty of different Stylidiums, here S. androsaceum
Cheerful bright white Scaevola filifolia
Some people detour to avoid the plains and swamps but they are a unique part of the Bibbulmun story, whose different chapters are what make this hike so much fun. And the wide swampland feels more remote and wild than many other parts of the track. We both think it’s beautiful.
Nearing Dog Pool Hut at last. Orchid enthusiasts should keep their eyes peeled on the verges of white sandy tracks like these, for they are often scattered generously with the tiny duck and hammer orchids.
An unusual Prostranthera. Or Eremophila. It was the only one I saw on the entire track, so it’s uncommon, I think.
Microtis media
Dog Pool is beautifully situated right by cascades on the river, and it’s one of the new rammed earth huts. Boots are leaned up against the wall in a futile attempt to dry them.
It’s delightful sharing the hut with Helen and Pat. They use the classic modular Trangia for cooking, a tried and true alcohol system that has been famous for its reliability and indestructibility for almost a century. The aluminium is tough, and our caldera cone system is a modern, lightweight titanium riff on the Trangia. If you’re a classicist, want utter reliability, are hiking with kids or are rough with your gear, the Trangia is bombproof and stable, unlike tippy jetboils and most gas systems.
Dogpool, raging after the recent rains. In lower flows it would be fun to swim in, like a natural spa, but it looks very dangerous now.
We never get tired of these fantastic tent pitches!
Even the loo is picturesque!
Pat manages to get the fire going even though the drizzle comes and goes. Today has been Type 1-2 Fun, and I can already see that it’s going to be a banner memory of a unique experience that will banish the Type 2 parts. Thank you, Bibbulmun Track!
