Day 4 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this section takes cyclists out of Jarrahdale and into North Dandalup. Leaving the town on rough, gravelly tracks, the trail crosses the Serpentine River before rising steeply on Scarp Rd. Heading along undulating trails across the scarp, the final stretch passes the stunning North Dandalup dam recreation area before a particularly beautiful ride into Dandalup campsite - one of the trail's very best
After my unfortunate crash on the way into Jarrahdale had left me a bit deflated, I had considered calling Alissa to come get me in town, however I decided that the pain was not so severe that I couldn't keep on to our planned pick up point. The entire area around Jarrahdale had been earmarked for a future prescribed burn at the time of my ride, and as a precaution I'd picked a point at the edge of the planned burn zone so as to avoid having to do any diversions.
Leaving town, the Munda Biddi was missing an important directional arrow as it leaves the residential streets, which is very odd considering the Munda Biddi is generally well marked and this is right in town. Turning left onto Curo St, the trail leaves the bitumen as it enters Serpentine National Park.
While the riding into Jarrahdale is well graded and pleasant, the trail out of town is the complete opposite. A few weeks before starting my Munda Biddi End to End, Alissa and I had come out to Jarrahdale to give the Munda Biddi a try. Unfortunately, we took the trail heading south rather than north, and encountered extremely difficult, loose pea gravel instead of the easy rolling to Balmoral. This put Alissa off the idea of doing any of the Munda Biddi. On this occasion, some showers over the last few days had made the pea gravel a bit more compacted, however some locals had recently constructed some bumps into the road that made it almost like a pump track but was mostly just annoying and unenjoyable to cycle on.
Turning left and heading along the edge of private property, the trail levels out and then rises steeply before heading along a few heavily eroded descents. With my brakes tenuously McGuyvered back into existence, I was being very cautious along these descents but would have enjoyed the exhilaration of taking it at closer to full speed. At the bottom of the descent was the bridge over the Serpentine River where Alissa was waiting for me. Having pushed on, I hadn't realised how much pain my arm was in and had to get Alissa to load the bike onto the bike rack.
Given my old Merida was almost 10 years old and already bit worse for wear, I had been considering buying a new bike when I commenced the Munda Biddi End to End. Snapping the brake lever basically sealed the Merida's fate, and I ended up ordering a Polygon Xtrada 6.0 from Bicycles Online. Due to a prescribed burn near North Dandaup Dam, the Polygon made its debut further south in Dwellingup a few weeks earlier, however the Serpentine River bridge marked the point where the baton was passed from the Merida to the Polygon, and I had a small ceremony to salute the Merida for its faithful service.
When I'd finished at the Serpentine River bridge in early May, the river was mostly a dry bed. Just over a month later, the river was actually looking like a legitimate river even with somewhat poor rainfall in early June.
Something I knew from when Alissa and I drove away from the Serpentine River bridge was that the Munda Biddi goes up the very steep Scarp Rd on the other side. This was a section I'd been dreading as I'm certain I would have been out of my depth had I gone straight into it after only completing Map 1, however the experience of completing Map 3 had strengthened my riding to the point where I was able to do the entire Scarp Rd section of the climb without having to resort to pushing the bike up the hill. For experienced mountain bikers that probably doesn't sound like that much of an achievement, but for me it felt like significant progress.
North from the trail is Serpentine Falls and Kitty's Gorge, two of the most popular features of Serpentine National Park. It is a shame the track goes so close to Serpentine Falls without actually engaging with it, however seeing how steep Baldwin's Bluff is suggests the terrain was just too difficult between the falls and where the track has to go.
Leaving Scarp Rd, the Munda Biddi continue climbing along some very rocky vehicle tracks. While the gradient was no steeper than what I had encountered along Scarp Rd, the pea gravel was extremely loose and resulted in me pushing the bike through the worst of it.
While the trail continued to climb, the forest quality improved as it began to flatten out, with more mature and interesting looking Jarrah forest than the scrappy burnt twigs along Scarp Rd.
The trail flattens out for some easy riding as the old vehicle track turns in a more southward direction before rejoining Scarp Rd for 800 metres.
Along the 800 metres Scarp Rd, I encountered a couple of dirt bikers out on a morning ride. The area between Jarrahdale and Dwellingup is popular with dirt bikers, and while I often find them to be annoying and often inconsiderate trail users when they ride their bikes through Disease Risk Areas and use walk trails they are not allowed to be on, this is an area where I feel cyclists and dirt bikers can coexist peacefully, and I found most of the dirt bikers I'd encounter between here and Dwellingup seemed to be doing the right thing and keeping off the Munda Biddi where it was closed off to dirt bikes. For those dirt bikers who complain there is no where for them to ride, this seems like an area that is perfectly suited, and avoids causing irritation to walkers on the Bibbulmun Track.
Leaving Scarp Rd, the Munda Biddi again follows older, narrow vehicle tracks across the top of the scarp. Again, forest quality was better than along Scarp Rd, and with a gently downhill trend the riding was fast and easy.
It is less than four kilometres between Scarp Rd and the next road crossing point, but the scenery changes quite a bit in this short stretch. While initially featuring relatively tall Jarrah, there are some swampier, wet sections filled with Bullich that provide a bit of a contrast - as well as some muddy puddles that were at times impossible to avoid.
Kingsbury Dr is the next major road crossing, after which the forest quality was greatly diminished by a recent prescribed burn that had left the scenery with a less pristine appearance.
I often say that while forest quality is always variable, rocks are less impermanent and the lower forest quality was at least made up for by some granite outcrops along the trail. While not the most impressive outcrops along the Munda Biddi, they did provide a short distraction from the post-inferno blackening and were worth checking out.
Over this entire section, the pea gravel looseness was some of the worst of the entire Munda Biddi and it reached its absolute nadir through this stretch. It looked to me like someone had created more of those pump track style dips through this section, which resulted in piles of loose stone and then dips that were often eroded by rain. Corners could not be taken at speed, or at least I was too paranoid about injury to be riding fast through here!
After passing some farmland, the trail runs alongside a mature pine plantation which, while unnatural, did at least offer a change in scenery. Rounding the corner, the trail rushes downhill to a creek crossing on Scarp Rd.
Interestingly, there appeared to be a bridge on the left side of the road specifically built for cyclists that looks fine to use, but it seems the Munda Biddi maintenance volunteers in this area have just given up on maintaining the single track and the Munda Biddi now just runs along the road. Maintaining a long trail is difficult business, but I'd love to know why this bridge has been abandoned when it is still extant.
Turning off Scarp Rd again and heading into more Jarrah forest, the trail runs along some nice single track. An interesting feature was a small wooden ramp that had been put in place over a fallen tree. The usual practice would probably have been to just cut the tree up, but either a maintenance volunteer or a trail user decided to make it a bit a small jump instead.
The single track continued for a reasonable stretch, and was probably some of the nicest quality trail of the day.
So far, this day on the Munda Biddi had rejoined Scarp Rd a number of times but had not used any sealed roads. Turning onto Boyd Rd, the Munda Biddi uses the bitumen to head uphill. While seal roads do take away a bit from the off-road adventure aspect, the fast, non-slippery riding is actually something I've come to appreciate, and it is certainly far less egregious on a bike than it would be on foot.
A highlight of the time on Boyd Rd is the chance to see an orangutan and bear out in the wild! During the lockdown period of COVID-19, there was a trend of putting stuffed toys out on the street or by windows to cheers kids up. While I don't know if these were part of that movement or another reason, it certainly put a smile on my face!
Continuing along Boyd Rd, the bitumen gives way to unsealed road as the Munda Biddi continues on its way to North Dandalup.
Another highlight along Boyd Rd was a rather impressive Kunzea Bottlebrush growing out the front of one of the rural properties. At this same point, I was also greeted by a massive family of black cockatoos flying from tree to tree which were unfortunately too difficult to photograph with my standard lens. Pulling over to change to a longer lens, the rain that had been threatening to fall all day came down heavy, and I used the opportunity to instead change into my raincoat. So sadly, no bird photos.
Pushing on through the rain, the Munda Biddi turns onto Scarp Rd for a fun, fast descent along bitumen before turning onto some single track where it intersects with Hines Rd.
This was some lovely single track, so lovely in fact that I was not paying attention to the rocky laterite sections and the fact I'd forgotten to wear my riding gloves.
Bouncing along a rocky descent, my rain-drenched hands slipped over the handlebars and while I was able to prevent myself flying over, my knee was not so lucky. As such, I had to stop and patch up my knee for the third time of the Munda Biddi (though second sequentially). With heaps of small cuts, it made me realise I need to pack some gauze in the future as even the larger band aids were pretty much useless.
Patched up enough to keep going, I continued along the Munda Biddi as it reached North Dandalup Dam, the first major dam of the trail given it does not really engage with Mundaring Weir itself.
The Munda Biddi traverses the dam wall along Scarp Rd, offering spectacular views on all sides. Downstream from the dam is a picnic area that includes a small recreational lake. I believe swimming in the lake is not encouraged, but a quick perusal of Instagram shows it is popular swimming hole with the influencer/wannabe influencer set.
On the other side, the lake created by the dam is quite idyllic with its bluish hue, and the dam structure itself has a strikingly Brutalist beauty about it.
Continuing south along the dam wall, the road provides views of the dam's spillway. Beyond the spillway, the Dandalup River can be seen flowing downstream. Alissa and I did an off-track Walk GPS walk through this area and can highly recommend it; there is a large, spectacular waterfall along the river as well as a granite bluff that can actually be seen in the distance in the photo above.
Having traversed the dam wall, the Munda Biddi turns right into the nicest Jarrah forest of the entire day. The forest was filled with many mature trees, and there was a noticeable lack of the unsightly char marks that mar far too much of the Jarrah forest. This is what I really want out of the Jarrah forest, and North Dandalup was delivering in spades.
Less enjoyable was some severely eroded track as the Munda Biddi rises towards Dandalup Campsite. Knowing the hut was just on the other side of the dam wall and having visited the hut before on the Walk GPS walk, it felt a lot further than I had remembered it - even with the speed boost of being on a bike.
As if to make the hut even further away, Dandalup campsite is reached via a spur trail that descends along the ridge.
Dandalup was the first Munda Biddi campsite Alissa and I had ever visited, and we were suitably impressed with them at the time. By the time I'd revisited Dandalup Hut on the Munda Biddi End to End, I'd visited five of the track's twelve huts and I have to say Dandalup still holds up. I'd go as far as to say it is the Munda Biddi's version of the Bibbulmun's Waalegh.
While lacking the wooden decking of some later huts, Dandalup is the northernmost hut to feature a balcony. Unfortunately the trees in front of the balcony prevent any real views down the valley.
The lack of views is made up for by the beautiful Wandoo woodlands and massive granite formations located around the hut. While less open and expansive than Waalegh, there is a enough rock hopping and exploring options around the hut to keep cyclists occupied for the evening.
Overall, Jarrahdale to Dandalup is a bit of a mixed day, with some sections of nice forest and the highlight of North Dandalup Dam, but also some uninspiring stretches on sealed and unsealed roads, through burnt forest and some of the loosest pea gravel of the entire Munda Biddi. While hardly the trail's best day, the home stretch into camp from North Dandalup Dam onwards is excellent, with Dandalup campsite itself being one of the track's best - and one I'd love to return to stay at overnight some time in the future.
Distance: 32.32 km (one way)
Gradient: Mix of steep climbs and descents (especially near Serpentine River) with more undulating sections
Quality of Path: Mix of vehicle tracks and single track
Quality of Signage: Well signed at almost all trail junctions, except just out of town
Experience Required: Mountain Biking experience recommended
Time: 3-4 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: 2nd May, 2020 (Jarrahdale to Scarp Rd), 13th June, 2020 (Scarp Rd to Dandalup
Entry Fee: No
Getting There: No direct access to Dandalup Hut. Car access points can be located at Jarrahdale, Scarp Rd (multiple location) and North Dandalup DamDate(s) Completed: 2nd May, 2020 (Jarrahdale to Scarp Rd), 13th June, 2020 (Scarp Rd to Dandalup
Entry Fee: No
After my unfortunate crash on the way into Jarrahdale had left me a bit deflated, I had considered calling Alissa to come get me in town, however I decided that the pain was not so severe that I couldn't keep on to our planned pick up point. The entire area around Jarrahdale had been earmarked for a future prescribed burn at the time of my ride, and as a precaution I'd picked a point at the edge of the planned burn zone so as to avoid having to do any diversions.
Leaving town, the Munda Biddi was missing an important directional arrow as it leaves the residential streets, which is very odd considering the Munda Biddi is generally well marked and this is right in town. Turning left onto Curo St, the trail leaves the bitumen as it enters Serpentine National Park.
While the riding into Jarrahdale is well graded and pleasant, the trail out of town is the complete opposite. A few weeks before starting my Munda Biddi End to End, Alissa and I had come out to Jarrahdale to give the Munda Biddi a try. Unfortunately, we took the trail heading south rather than north, and encountered extremely difficult, loose pea gravel instead of the easy rolling to Balmoral. This put Alissa off the idea of doing any of the Munda Biddi. On this occasion, some showers over the last few days had made the pea gravel a bit more compacted, however some locals had recently constructed some bumps into the road that made it almost like a pump track but was mostly just annoying and unenjoyable to cycle on.
Turning left and heading along the edge of private property, the trail levels out and then rises steeply before heading along a few heavily eroded descents. With my brakes tenuously McGuyvered back into existence, I was being very cautious along these descents but would have enjoyed the exhilaration of taking it at closer to full speed. At the bottom of the descent was the bridge over the Serpentine River where Alissa was waiting for me. Having pushed on, I hadn't realised how much pain my arm was in and had to get Alissa to load the bike onto the bike rack.
Given my old Merida was almost 10 years old and already bit worse for wear, I had been considering buying a new bike when I commenced the Munda Biddi End to End. Snapping the brake lever basically sealed the Merida's fate, and I ended up ordering a Polygon Xtrada 6.0 from Bicycles Online. Due to a prescribed burn near North Dandaup Dam, the Polygon made its debut further south in Dwellingup a few weeks earlier, however the Serpentine River bridge marked the point where the baton was passed from the Merida to the Polygon, and I had a small ceremony to salute the Merida for its faithful service.
When I'd finished at the Serpentine River bridge in early May, the river was mostly a dry bed. Just over a month later, the river was actually looking like a legitimate river even with somewhat poor rainfall in early June.
Something I knew from when Alissa and I drove away from the Serpentine River bridge was that the Munda Biddi goes up the very steep Scarp Rd on the other side. This was a section I'd been dreading as I'm certain I would have been out of my depth had I gone straight into it after only completing Map 1, however the experience of completing Map 3 had strengthened my riding to the point where I was able to do the entire Scarp Rd section of the climb without having to resort to pushing the bike up the hill. For experienced mountain bikers that probably doesn't sound like that much of an achievement, but for me it felt like significant progress.
North from the trail is Serpentine Falls and Kitty's Gorge, two of the most popular features of Serpentine National Park. It is a shame the track goes so close to Serpentine Falls without actually engaging with it, however seeing how steep Baldwin's Bluff is suggests the terrain was just too difficult between the falls and where the track has to go.
Leaving Scarp Rd, the Munda Biddi continue climbing along some very rocky vehicle tracks. While the gradient was no steeper than what I had encountered along Scarp Rd, the pea gravel was extremely loose and resulted in me pushing the bike through the worst of it.
While the trail continued to climb, the forest quality improved as it began to flatten out, with more mature and interesting looking Jarrah forest than the scrappy burnt twigs along Scarp Rd.
The trail flattens out for some easy riding as the old vehicle track turns in a more southward direction before rejoining Scarp Rd for 800 metres.
Along the 800 metres Scarp Rd, I encountered a couple of dirt bikers out on a morning ride. The area between Jarrahdale and Dwellingup is popular with dirt bikers, and while I often find them to be annoying and often inconsiderate trail users when they ride their bikes through Disease Risk Areas and use walk trails they are not allowed to be on, this is an area where I feel cyclists and dirt bikers can coexist peacefully, and I found most of the dirt bikers I'd encounter between here and Dwellingup seemed to be doing the right thing and keeping off the Munda Biddi where it was closed off to dirt bikes. For those dirt bikers who complain there is no where for them to ride, this seems like an area that is perfectly suited, and avoids causing irritation to walkers on the Bibbulmun Track.
Leaving Scarp Rd, the Munda Biddi again follows older, narrow vehicle tracks across the top of the scarp. Again, forest quality was better than along Scarp Rd, and with a gently downhill trend the riding was fast and easy.
It is less than four kilometres between Scarp Rd and the next road crossing point, but the scenery changes quite a bit in this short stretch. While initially featuring relatively tall Jarrah, there are some swampier, wet sections filled with Bullich that provide a bit of a contrast - as well as some muddy puddles that were at times impossible to avoid.
Kingsbury Dr is the next major road crossing, after which the forest quality was greatly diminished by a recent prescribed burn that had left the scenery with a less pristine appearance.
I often say that while forest quality is always variable, rocks are less impermanent and the lower forest quality was at least made up for by some granite outcrops along the trail. While not the most impressive outcrops along the Munda Biddi, they did provide a short distraction from the post-inferno blackening and were worth checking out.
Over this entire section, the pea gravel looseness was some of the worst of the entire Munda Biddi and it reached its absolute nadir through this stretch. It looked to me like someone had created more of those pump track style dips through this section, which resulted in piles of loose stone and then dips that were often eroded by rain. Corners could not be taken at speed, or at least I was too paranoid about injury to be riding fast through here!
After passing some farmland, the trail runs alongside a mature pine plantation which, while unnatural, did at least offer a change in scenery. Rounding the corner, the trail rushes downhill to a creek crossing on Scarp Rd.
Interestingly, there appeared to be a bridge on the left side of the road specifically built for cyclists that looks fine to use, but it seems the Munda Biddi maintenance volunteers in this area have just given up on maintaining the single track and the Munda Biddi now just runs along the road. Maintaining a long trail is difficult business, but I'd love to know why this bridge has been abandoned when it is still extant.
Turning off Scarp Rd again and heading into more Jarrah forest, the trail runs along some nice single track. An interesting feature was a small wooden ramp that had been put in place over a fallen tree. The usual practice would probably have been to just cut the tree up, but either a maintenance volunteer or a trail user decided to make it a bit a small jump instead.
The single track continued for a reasonable stretch, and was probably some of the nicest quality trail of the day.
So far, this day on the Munda Biddi had rejoined Scarp Rd a number of times but had not used any sealed roads. Turning onto Boyd Rd, the Munda Biddi uses the bitumen to head uphill. While seal roads do take away a bit from the off-road adventure aspect, the fast, non-slippery riding is actually something I've come to appreciate, and it is certainly far less egregious on a bike than it would be on foot.
A highlight of the time on Boyd Rd is the chance to see an orangutan and bear out in the wild! During the lockdown period of COVID-19, there was a trend of putting stuffed toys out on the street or by windows to cheers kids up. While I don't know if these were part of that movement or another reason, it certainly put a smile on my face!
Continuing along Boyd Rd, the bitumen gives way to unsealed road as the Munda Biddi continues on its way to North Dandalup.
Another highlight along Boyd Rd was a rather impressive Kunzea Bottlebrush growing out the front of one of the rural properties. At this same point, I was also greeted by a massive family of black cockatoos flying from tree to tree which were unfortunately too difficult to photograph with my standard lens. Pulling over to change to a longer lens, the rain that had been threatening to fall all day came down heavy, and I used the opportunity to instead change into my raincoat. So sadly, no bird photos.
Pushing on through the rain, the Munda Biddi turns onto Scarp Rd for a fun, fast descent along bitumen before turning onto some single track where it intersects with Hines Rd.
This was some lovely single track, so lovely in fact that I was not paying attention to the rocky laterite sections and the fact I'd forgotten to wear my riding gloves.
Bouncing along a rocky descent, my rain-drenched hands slipped over the handlebars and while I was able to prevent myself flying over, my knee was not so lucky. As such, I had to stop and patch up my knee for the third time of the Munda Biddi (though second sequentially). With heaps of small cuts, it made me realise I need to pack some gauze in the future as even the larger band aids were pretty much useless.
Patched up enough to keep going, I continued along the Munda Biddi as it reached North Dandalup Dam, the first major dam of the trail given it does not really engage with Mundaring Weir itself.
The Munda Biddi traverses the dam wall along Scarp Rd, offering spectacular views on all sides. Downstream from the dam is a picnic area that includes a small recreational lake. I believe swimming in the lake is not encouraged, but a quick perusal of Instagram shows it is popular swimming hole with the influencer/wannabe influencer set.
On the other side, the lake created by the dam is quite idyllic with its bluish hue, and the dam structure itself has a strikingly Brutalist beauty about it.
Continuing south along the dam wall, the road provides views of the dam's spillway. Beyond the spillway, the Dandalup River can be seen flowing downstream. Alissa and I did an off-track Walk GPS walk through this area and can highly recommend it; there is a large, spectacular waterfall along the river as well as a granite bluff that can actually be seen in the distance in the photo above.
Having traversed the dam wall, the Munda Biddi turns right into the nicest Jarrah forest of the entire day. The forest was filled with many mature trees, and there was a noticeable lack of the unsightly char marks that mar far too much of the Jarrah forest. This is what I really want out of the Jarrah forest, and North Dandalup was delivering in spades.
Less enjoyable was some severely eroded track as the Munda Biddi rises towards Dandalup Campsite. Knowing the hut was just on the other side of the dam wall and having visited the hut before on the Walk GPS walk, it felt a lot further than I had remembered it - even with the speed boost of being on a bike.
As if to make the hut even further away, Dandalup campsite is reached via a spur trail that descends along the ridge.
Dandalup was the first Munda Biddi campsite Alissa and I had ever visited, and we were suitably impressed with them at the time. By the time I'd revisited Dandalup Hut on the Munda Biddi End to End, I'd visited five of the track's twelve huts and I have to say Dandalup still holds up. I'd go as far as to say it is the Munda Biddi's version of the Bibbulmun's Waalegh.
While lacking the wooden decking of some later huts, Dandalup is the northernmost hut to feature a balcony. Unfortunately the trees in front of the balcony prevent any real views down the valley.
The lack of views is made up for by the beautiful Wandoo woodlands and massive granite formations located around the hut. While less open and expansive than Waalegh, there is a enough rock hopping and exploring options around the hut to keep cyclists occupied for the evening.
Overall, Jarrahdale to Dandalup is a bit of a mixed day, with some sections of nice forest and the highlight of North Dandalup Dam, but also some uninspiring stretches on sealed and unsealed roads, through burnt forest and some of the loosest pea gravel of the entire Munda Biddi. While hardly the trail's best day, the home stretch into camp from North Dandalup Dam onwards is excellent, with Dandalup campsite itself being one of the track's best - and one I'd love to return to stay at overnight some time in the future.
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