Thursday 27 August 2020

Munda Biddi Trail (WA) - Lake Brockman to Yarri


Day 8 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this section takes cyclists from Lake Brockman to Yarri Campsite. Leaving Logue Brook Dam's wall, the trail follows vehicle tracks, single track and sustained sections along particularly good rail trails through excellent quality Jarrah forest, plantations and a memorably large stand of Kingia grass trees. Finishing along a rail form at Yarri Hut, this is a return to form after the previous day's disappointment

Distance: 45.72 km (one way)
Gradient: Some undulating areas with some moderately steep climbs, though with extended descents and sections of flat rail trail
Quality of Path: Mix of vehicle tracks, high quality rail trails and single track
Quality of Signage: Well signed at almost all trail junctions
Experience Required: Mountain Biking experience recommended
Time: 4-6 Hours
Steps: None, this is a bike trail
Best Time to Visit: All Year; but the South West of WA is always best from August-October
Date(s) Completed: 6th June, 2020
Entry Fee: No
Getting There: No direct access to Yarri. Car access points can be located at Lake Brockman, Harvey-Quindanning Rd and Myles Avenue


After a less than stellar stretch from Bidjar Ngoulin to Lake Brockman, Alissa and I returned to Lake Brockman a week later. Being a Victorian by employment, I had the Queen's Birthday long weekend to celebrate and as such planned an overnight from Lake Brockman to Collie via Yarri, with Alissa hiking into the campsite with our heavy car camping tent, airbed and pillows for a bit of luxury. Chronologically, Alissa and I had already enjoyed an overnight at Jinung Beigabup further along the trail, but this would be our first overnight of the trail sequentially.


After the previous section's low scenic quality, I was hopeful for any improvement south of Lake Brockman. While the day started with a moderate but sustained climb, I was immediately elated to be in Jarrah forest that wasn't filled with giant-sized versions of matchsticks and an untidy looking overgrown understory, and even more importantly no obvious scars of mining construction. Sure, the usual signs of prescribed burning were present, but at this stage any improvement was welcome.


After initially following an old vehicle track, the Munda Biddi turns onto some single track as its makes its way through the mildly singed forest.


The single track offered some downhills and relatively flat sections that provided lovely views of the forest-lined creeks nearby. Some of the Jarrah even looked fairly mature and filled me with hope that better quality forest was to come.


While the track did increase in forest quality, the flatter downhill sections didn't last long, with a lot more slow ascending for the first few kilometres.


The track flattened out as it ran parallel to a vehicle track, and with a small handful of four wheel drives making use of the forestry track network over the day I was grateful that some purpose built single track had been put in place through this area. Of particular interest in this section was the appearance of smooth barked Eucalypts that looked a lot like Karri. Given that Karri doesn't grow this far north, I surmised that these must be Bullich, which is sometimes called Swamp Karri due to its similarity and the fact it can commonly be found near waterways and swampy flats.


Reaching Clarke Rd, the Munda Biddi follows the road briefly. With the signage indicating Alcoa sponsorship, I was worried that this might be a bad omen given the low quality scenery of the section that passes through Alcoa's mining lease. Thankfully this was not the case - at least not at the time of writing, but given their rapid and seemingly ceaseless expansions, who knows when this will be a four lane hauling road in the future.


But for now, there is little to worry about in that regard and the short section along Clarke Rd led to a steep and fast descent down the hill. While still a bit pea gravelly, it was not one of the nightmarishly slippery descents that had caused my multiple crashes in Maps 1 and 2, and I was able to enjoy the adrenaline rush of a fast descent without fear of another bloodied knee.


While it was nice to have some fun on a descent, I nevertheless kept my eyes open for any upcoming turns, with the Mund Biddi leaving the broad vehicle track via a sharp turn right that could be easy to miss.


This next stretch featured some of the best riding of the entire day. While there were some mild char marks visible, the forest here was some of the best quality I'd seen since before entering the Waroona Fire zone. While not old growth, the forest was filled with a lot of taller, more mature trees and a nice bed of leaves made for smooth sailing as the trail followed a generally downhill trend. The only problem was the significant number of potentially derailleur-snapping twigs that kept continually getting stuck in my wheels and chain. While most were flung out from the bike as I rode along, some necessitated a quick stop to pull them out and make sure there was no damage to the bike.


Given the smoothness of the terrain and the narrowness of the trail, I had wondered if this was purposely constructed or if it was an old railway form. The answer was made clear as the trail passed a large log that appeared to be one of the old makeshift loading ramps that were use to load timber onto the trains. While these formations make for excellent cycling, it is sad to think that their original purpose was for the mass removal of the magnificent old growth giants that once stood proudly through most of the area.


While the Jarrah forest giants are few and far between now, I was pleased to see a few other giants as I continued along the trail. Leaving the rail formation behind and joining a vehicle track, I was literally stopped in my tracks by the highest density of tall Kingia I've ever seen. While grass trees are often burnt to encourage flowering, the over the top hot burns of recent years often results in the trunks being completely burnt out and the taller trees collapsing, and I've often thought with some frustration that we'll never see the palm tree-like giants that the first Europeans botanists documented in paintings.


Yet here I was in an area filled with so many of these tall grass trees that I thought to myself that even if the rest of the section was terrible, I could say that at the very least the sight of these grass trees made my day.


After stopping to appreciate the grass trees, I got back on the trail which returned to following rail formations, as evidenced by the characteristically raise profile of the trail compared to the surrounding forest.


Not long after rejoining the rail form, the trail crosses a creek and swampy area over a low wooden bridge that was in quite good condition considering the often weather deteriorated or illegal dirt bike damaged nature of many wooden bridges in the forest.


After the creek crossing, the trail passed another suspiciously Karri-looking Bullich that made me begin to question whether these were actually Karri or some other kind of Karri-like, smooth barked Eucalypt.


After the usual slight rise on the other side of the creek, the trail conditions returned to easy going rail form with a general downward trend, served on a nice bed of leaf litter with the occasional twig to keep me in check.


Given it had been almost entirely downhill from Clarke Rd, the good times simply couldn't last forever, and turning onto Stromlo Rd marked the beginning of a three kilometre stretch of vertical gain.


At the speed of bike, those three kilometres didn't last long and I was once again enjoying a generally downhill trend on glorious old railway form.


After six kilometres of easy going downhill, the track suddenly rises up a steep, rutted hill. While I would get better at these ascents by the end of this overnight trip, I was still feeling my leg muscles struggling with the climb. Getting off to take the above photograph meant I'd lost momentum and had to push the bike up the hill. The steep uphill only lasted about a kilometre before I returned to the easy going downhill on a rail form.


The next major landmark of the day was crossing the Muja Northern Terminal powerlines, which I had last seen on the way to Lake Brockman just before the hideous mining scars from Zig Zag Rd onwards.


Thankfully, there was no such transition to mine scar hellscapes awaiting me on the other side of the powerlines this time around, with more lovely, easy going rail trail towards an area marked on the Munda Biddi maps as 'Tallanalla'.


Tallanalla was apparently an old townsite during the logging days, but nothing is left of the town today. In the area that the Munda Biddi map refers to as Tallanalla, the trail passes by some Blue Gums before passing by the most suspiciously Karri-looking smooth barked Eucalypts yet. At the time of riding, I hadn't done the section from Dandalup into Dwellingup, but having seen the plantings of various different Eucalypts, it really makes me wonder if this was a similar post-logging experiment to see which trees could grow in the place of the Jarrah forest giants that had been felled.


After passing the Karri-looking forest, the trail crosses Harvey-Quindanning Rd - an old friend Alissa and I knew well as a Bibbulmun Track access point that used to intersect with the Long Gully Bridge before it was destroyed in the Lower Hotham Fire of 2015. On the other side of the road, the Munda Biddi again follows old rail trail along a section of rocky granite creek bed. Being early in the season, the creek was more a collection of puddles, but I can imagine it being quite spectacular in late Winter/early Spring.


I'd been endeavouring to do the Munda Biddi without any deviations, however I knew that there would be no avoiding the deviation on this day. 3.8 kilometres of the Munda Biddi had been closed due to timber harvesting, with a 4.1 kilometre deviation in place as a result. Early in the day I'd witnessed a local family on an apparently fun family outing chainsawing down trees, and with memories of the mass clearing in Alcoa's mining lease I was more than happy to be diverted away from any timber harvesting ugliness and chainsaw noises.


Initially, I was a bit surprised that the Munda Biddi didn't just go the way of the deviation as it appeared to continue on the old railway form I'd already been travelling on.


As with the regular Munda Biddi route, the deviation crossed the Muja Northern Terminal a second time. Interestingly, on the other side of the powerlines, the rail form had been heavily barricaded with a massive pile of rocks and sand blocking the way, and some effort had been made to cut some single track around the barricade for the Munda Biddi diversion.


On the other side of the barricade was more lovely rail trail cycling through good quality Jarrah forest, and I really had to wonder why the Munda Biddi didn't just go this way to begin with.


The answer became clearer as the Jarrah forest abruptly ended and I entered a pine plantation that initially had some moderately steep climbing. Obviously it is preferable for the Munda Biddi to head through native forest where possible, so the original route planners must have decided it was preferable to leave the rail form and continue through more Jarrah forest instead.


To be honest, I actually really liked the pines through this section as they were more mature and interesting than the extremely utilitarian looking plantations I'd seen earlier along the trail. In a lot of ways it was more like the section of the Bibbulmun Track that goes through the pines in Lane Poole Reserve, which I also found to be an enjoyable change of scenery. I'd be happy with the Munda Biddi going this way on a more permanent basis if timber harvesting left behind an untidy eyesore of chopped logs and clearings on the original route, however the problem with these sort of plantation sections is it is only a matter of time before the pines will also be harvested and create their own eyesore. While diversions are common for safety reasons, it is unfortunately obvious that scenic quality is less of a concern for DBCA (which in fairness is probably underfunded to deal with this sort of thing). I can imagine the Munda Biddi would simply be left going through a desolation of stumps instead of being rerouted, as if such scenery is not a blight to the 'world class' status that the marketing material likes to push with WA's long trails.


Leaving the pines behind on a fast downhill and reaching an odd roundabout loop, a slightly inconspicuous cutting of single track brought me to the end of the diversion and back onto the main track.


Initially, the cycling through this section was fairly easy going, again seemingly following an old rail form.


The problems began just before a bridge over a creek crossing. A fairly substantial tree had fallen across the track, and while I'd encountered a few of these over the day, there was usually an easy way around them. This one required me carrying the bike over the tree, which was made more difficult thanks to the bike being fully loaded with my multi-day bikepacking setup.


Things just did not get any better from there. The trail turned uphill, and while the incline was within my abilities, I was constantly being stopped by twigs getting stuck in my spokes or having to carry a bike over another fallen tree. This grew very tiresome, and I ended up pushing as as soon as I would get momentum, another obstacle would be in my way.


At least the quality of the Jarrah forest was excellent through this area, with many mature trees visible along the trail.


The trail flattened out as it entered a She-Oak grove, and swapping the twigs of the Jarrah forest for the soft bed of She-Oak needles reminded me of why I call it the cyclist's friend. At this point I also saw another pair of emus which were again travelling way too fast for me to photograph. One day I'll hopefully get my Emu photo!


After entering a section of dense understory, the Munda Biddi turns off the old form and onto Myles Avenue, which was a comforting sign as I knew the hut was now not too far away. Perhaps it was because of the anticipation of almost being finished, but Myles Avenue felt way longer than it appeared to be on the map. At least the forest quality through here was excellent, with many mature and beautiful trees creating a dense canopy.


The Munda Biddi leaves Myles Avenue by going back on itself slightly to follow another old rail form. From here it is basically a fun, speedy descent all the way to the hut.


Something I'd noticed with the Munda Biddi campsites is that all of them from Carinyah through to Bidjar Ngoulin are reached via a spur from the main trail. Yarri is the first hut southbound cyclists encounter which is right on the trail, literally being built on the rail form itself.


While Dandalup is the first hut of the trail that features a balcony, Yarri is the first one that features a balcony with a wooden deck, a feature that becomes more common as you continue south.


Perhaps as a result of being built right on a rail formation or because of lower expected patronage numbers in this section of the Munda Biddi, Yarri is also the first hut of the Munda Biddi that is of the more compact style. While it contains the same four bunk configuration, each shelf is half the size of the regular Munda Biddi huts with the seating area moved to either side rather than being on the opposite end to the tables. Another first for Yarri is it is the first hut to feature a proper wooden floor. While only five of the Munda Biddi huts have this feature, to me this is their best innovation over the Bibbulmun Track shelters as it certainly trumps the sandy, dusty floor.


The view from the hut is probably one of the best yet, with many tall but sadly blackened Yarri (Blackbutt) visible in the valley below. I can imagine waking up here in a misty morning would be absolutely magical.


Although the hut was tempting, the plan for these overnight/multi-day trips on the Munda Biddi was for Alissa to hike in with our car camping setup for a luxurious night's sleep, and it was something we'd already had success with overnighting at Jinung Beigabup further south along the trail. Instead of an uncomfortable sleep on the usual thin, noisy Sea to Summit mats and a small Big Agnes hiking tent, it was an absolute pleasure to have a full size air bed, real pillows and a tent you can stand up in. What's more, Alissa was able to hike in better food and some wine, which made this much closer to glamping than our usual hikes. I have to say, I could get used to this!


After the decidedly not world class quality of Bidjar Ngoulin to Lake Brockman, I was pleased to find this next section to Yarri to be a major return to form for the Munda Biddi. Instead of the completely burnt out forest, bulldozed highways and massive clearings, the day was dominated by sections of mature forest and rail trails, with the section of tall Kingias being a memorable highlight. While there were frustrating moments like the ascent with all the fallen trees and twigs, my main memory of this section was the fun riding on the rail trails and the fact that the scenery had a bit of variation to keep it interesting - I'd even keep that pine plantation diversion if they would leave a corridor of pines that they never cleared. With a lovely campsite to enjoy at the end of the day, this was a very good day of the track, and had me once again excited to see where else the Munda Biddi would take me. 

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