Days 37 and 38: Tom Road to Boarding House

Jul 27

We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track

Picturesque small gently flowing river with overhanging fringing vegetation and rocky outcrop from one bank — Beautiful river scenes at Greens Island

Tom Road to Boarding House would have been long if done in one day, but this is the second section we had decided to split when rejigging our itinerary in Balingup. Greens Island is around halfway between Tom Road and Boarding House, so a perfect location. It’s a drive-in campground with a toilet, but only one campervan is there when we stay. This makes for two comfortable days and now my body is noticeably healing: fantastic because it means small tweaks as needed will ensure we can complete the hike.

An alternative is accommodation near One Tree Bridge at Graphite Road. There are at least three places in close proximity: One Tree Bridge Chalets, Karri Glade Chalets, and Blue Moon Forest Lodge. Our friends Patrick and Helen did this and treated themselves themselves to a little luxury. You most likely will need to book in advance and check for any minimum two or more night stay requirements. Or you could get a prearranged taxi into Manjimup (which is about 15 minutes drive away - there is no phone reception at One Tree Bridge).

Aerial image overview of Bibbulmun Track the main track in blue, the section from Balingup to Pemberton in yellow and the days hike in red — Overview map. Use the Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 5: Pemberton

Aerial image of the days hike with elevation graph, track is in red fo the first day and orange the second day — Tom Road to Greens Island is 14.7 km with 270 m elevation gain and Greens Island to Boarding House 10.4 km and only 225 m elevation gain

hiker walking down wide wooden leafy steps in forest — After a truly astonishing dawn chorus - twitchers will love this section! - we set off. A few short steep ups and downs with - oh, joy! - steps!

hiker walking along a wide easy graded leafy track in forest — Some of the Bibbulmun follows old bullock logging tracks. I love them because the gradient is so gentle. Sometimes you’ll see these enormous logs beside the track, with a small dirt ramp beyond, which were used to load timber onto the drays.

these little orchids are growing here on a mossy log deep in the forest they appear in wide range of places and on many days of the hike — *Caladenia flava ssp sylvestris* in bud, growing on a log

close up of small pale purple spider orchid flower — *Caladenia latifolia*

fallen debris blocking track but it is easy to make your way through and over it — With one of the wettest Junes on record and huge storms before we walked, a lot of deadfall litters the track. Although volunteers are cleaning up it is a massive job and, rather than complaining in the hut logbooks, we hikers should be grateful that it’s being done at all. Just let them know where the issues are, and it will be taken care of: thank you so much, trail vollies! The vast majority of us hikers are hugely appreciative of everything you do: ignore the self-entitled whingers.

close up of a bunch of small pale pink flowers with fly on it — *Pimelia sp*. with a native fly.

hiker with orange backpack walking along easy graded wide leafy track through forest — More flat bullock track. Yay!

close of pale pink pea flowers — Some hikers also complain about this section: it’s the 200 km “tunnel of green.” Actually, it’s not. If you take your time there is an enormous amount to see, like this lovely pink form of *Hardenbergia comptoniana*, and the towering trees overhead are exhilarating.

small tent pitched under casuarina trees — Here we are at Greens Island campground amongst the casuarinas. It’s been raining on and off - mostly on - so we set up the tent in the rain and then warm up inside. Single skin hybrid tents like the Zpacks Triplex, Tarptent Double Rainbow and Durston XMid Pro, and double-skin ones like the Durston XMid 2P and Tarptent Stratospire Li that can be set up fly-first or all-in-one, are vastly better on rainy hikes than ones where you must set up the inside first, then throw over the fly. If there is no break in the weather, the inners of these tents will be drenched by the time you get the fly on.
All our backpacking tents can be set up in bucketing rain without getting the inner wet. It is a HUGE advantage and, if you are choosing a tent for a thru-hike where you will be spending consecutive days in a tent and you expect to experience significant rain, we recommend that you ensure that it is single skin or can be set up fly-first or all-in-one. There are many budget options that do this too, like the Lanshan.

two hikers eating in small tent — Enjoying dinner in the tent. We try to avoid cooking in the vestibule and don’t recommend anyone cook in them, but sometimes it’s necessary.

small three sided registration hut in cleared area provides some shelter — Not tonight, though, because there is a tiny shelter in the form of a registration station that provides cover. You could set up your tent under the verandah if you had a mind to, and cook in the little alcove.

Hiker cooking on concrete floor of registration hut out of the rain — Here’s Geoff cooking breakfast the next morning.

bowl of rice flakes with nuts peas chillies and other spices looks great — Poha! We’ve since tweaked it to include more protein in the form of dried edamame and extra nuts.

picturesque gently flowing river though the forest with much overhanging vegetation — Today we’re following the Donnelly River the entire way to Boarding House.

close up of purple flower with orange and red flowers in blurred background — Common dampiera *(Dampiera linearis)* with *Chorizema* in the background.

close up of fan shaped purple flower mixed with red and orange pea flowers — Fan flower *(Scaevola sp)* and *Chorizema*

sea of orange and white flowers on bushes beneath the Karri trees — So this is the much-maligned “tunnel of green”, with coral pea *(Kennedia coccinea)* and white clematis draped in fabulous abandon.

roof of small chalet visible in forest through trees — Glimpses of One Tree Bridge Chalet accommodation near One Tree Bridge. The chalet is right next to the track.

remnant of old wooden bridge made from a single tree laid across the river and sign next to it say "Bridge Closed" — Well yes, clearly it’s closed, as it has been moved away from the river. It must have been a monster tree, though.

steel swing bridge for hikers over rive — A separate bridge for hikers beside the road bridge. The small interpretive gazebo/shelter in the background would be a nice place to stop for a break if it’s raining.

View from the bridge over the Donnelly River, with sunlight filtering through the trees.

two smiling hikers under halfway sign — And then - oh my goodness! - we are halfway! Halfway through our E2E! I have deliberately avoided tallying up the daily distances, although of course I know we will reach halfway sometime this week. But I did not expect it today!

The reason for not tallying distances is because, for me, this detracts from my enjoyment of each day. Hiking ten kilometres when you have a thousand to do is such a small proportion that it would be too easy to get discouraged. It would be too easy to focus on the end rather than the journey, and make it more difficult to appreciate each day. But still: the rain has stopped, the sun has briefly emerged, and I am thrilled. Geoff, who has of course been recording every step, has stayed schtum, knowing what works for me!