Day 7: Mt Dale to Brookton
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
Absolutely loving the more open parts of the walk.
This was a delightfully short cruisy walk after the climbs of the past few days, and the packs are light before our resupply tomorrow at the highway. The Bibbulmun has been deliberately designed with short distances initially at either end to ease hikers into the walk, and it has been excellent even without the training we usually do. I’m feeling positive.
Location of today’s walk. Use the Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 1 The Darling Range
Today is a short (7.8 km) flat day with a general down gradient but of course there is still a little uphill… but it’s an easy grade.
Some of the flatter country we walk through is quite different, too so there is still lots to like.
Views through the trees rather than vistas today
Leucopogon strictus
Lovely wide walking track, alternating between sand and laterite.
Soup and crackers for lunch at a pretty spot, but I didn’t take too many photos today as one of my spare batteries turned out to be flat. Arrrggghhh! They have to last all the way to Dwellingup and – oh no!- there are sure to be many more things I REALLY want to photograph! What if I run out? Horror!
The old burnt trees are amazing. This one is dead – how is it still standing? However, many burnt trees are still alive, even when hollowed out, because they are adapted to fire with thick bark. The living tissue is under the bark, not in the centre of the tree.
These Silky Blue orchids (Cyanicula sericea) are very common. From a distance, they look EXACTLY like South Australia’s Purple Cockatoo (Glossodia major). I wonder if they fill the same environmental niche? You can see by my musings – often aloud as we walk – that Geoff is a VERY patient man!
Here’s a closeup of that lateritic gravel and rock. You can see why it’s so tough on tent floors.
There are so many of these bird orchids (Pterostylis barbata). In these shots, you can see the pollination mechanism. There’s the fluttery hairy labellum to attract the pollinator, which enters the backlit hood because its translucency makes the insect think there’s an exit inside. You can see the pollinia inside at the top. The insect climbs up through the hood and then out through an opening at the top front, which has special bristles to direct the insect to brush past the pollen on the way. You can see the little white bristles just below the yellow pollinia. Ingenious!
The open forestry tracks are pleasant, easy walking.
Acacia drummondii and Kennedia coccinea (Coral Pea)
Davesia horrida. Just look at those spines. And what a great name!
The aptly named red ink drosera (D. erythrorhiza)
And quite soon we arrive at Brookton Hut, another one of the newer rammed earth ones rebuilt after fire. They are very comfortable, without bunks but a larger platform, and this one has been carefully oriented with the door in the lee corner as it is a windy site.
Many hikers set up a tent inner against mosquitoes or for privacy when there are few people in the hut. This is one advantage of a freestanding tent on this track - it can be done with non-freestanding inners too, but you have to suspend the apices and weight the corners, so it’s trickier.
Plenty of tables: one inside the hut, as well as these two outside. There are two signs on short wooden posts: one to the toilets, and another to the campsites.
And here we are in another perfect campsite! We chose our Triplex tent over our Stratospire Li for this hike because the Triplex is so roomy inside. The Stratospire Li stands up to tougher and more exposed conditions, but we knew the campsites would almost all be relatively sheltered.
