Munda Biddi Trail (WA) - Dandalup to Dwellingup

Day 5 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this section takes cyclists from Dandalup campsite into the twon of Dwellingup. Leaving the dam, the day's riding follows a largely flat to downhill gradient with option side trips to mountain bike trails, a waterfall and a Prisoner of War camp. With somewhat mixed forest quality and obvious mining impacts, the relatively easy riding makes up for the day's obvious compromises

Distance: 41.21 km (one way, not including side trips)

Gradient: Mix of gently undulating terrain with some steep climbs, though with a generally downhill gradient overall

Quality of Path: Mix of vehicle tracks and single track

Quality of Signage: Well signed at almost all trail junctions

Experience Required: Mountain Biking experience recommended

Time: 3-4 Hours (not including side trips)

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: 13th June, 2020 (Dandalup to Whittakers Rd), 20th June, 2020 (Whittakers Rd to Dwellingup)
Entry Fee: No

Getting There: No direct access to Dandalup Hut. Car access points can be located at North Dandalup Dam, Whittakers Rd, Scarp Rd and Dwellingup

Given how idyllic Dandalup campsite is, I would have loved to have spent a bit more time exploring the granite boulders uphill from the hut (or stayed overnight), but having lost time in the bike crash just before North Dandalup Dam, I was running late. Given Alissa was waiting in the car, there was no time for dawdling so I had to push on to our agreed upon pick up point. Heading back along the spur to rejoin the main trail, the Munda Biddi initially continues through more of the nice Jarrah forest that can be seen on the way into the campsite (albeit a bit more thin and scrappy). There were some interesting moss-covered granite boulders through the area as well which add some additional interest to the scenery.

Part of the reason I'd come back to doing Jarrahdale to Dwellingup after doing Dwellingup to Collie was because of a prescribed burn that had been undertaken in April which had diverted the trail at the time. Having waited for the burn to be complete, I was able to ride the official trail through this section, with the Munda Biddi turning right just before reaching a particularly burnt section of forest.

This was a fun section of trail. With so much of the track from Jarrahdale featuring deep, loose gravel, the slightly sandier, leaf-covered trail meant I was actually able to enjoy the fast descent without fear of another bloody gash to the knee or shin.

At the bottom of the descent, the trail flattened out and passed by a section of forest where the signs of the prescribed burn were much more visible. To be honest, I used to actually like a small amount of freshly burnt forest as it has a certain starkness that can be interesting, but after doing the Bibbulmun Track and seeing waaaay too much burnt forest compared to pristine, unblackened trunks, my enjoyment for this type scenery has waned considerably. Given that this is near a water catchment area and residential areas, I can be pragmatic about its necessity, but I was definitely keen just to get through this section rather than lingering to enjoy the oft-used spin of the 'regenerative power of the jarrah forest'.

When the Munda Biddi was originally opened, the trail used to go right through the remains of Whittaker's Mill, which used to be the headquarters of the Whittaker Brothers milling company and later became a camping area. The camping area had fallen into disrepair with a lot of fallen trees, and the Munda Biddi has since been diverted along the road for safety reasons.

As I was enjoying some fast rolling down the hill, the heaviest shower of the day began bucketing down on me, and I was glad that I was at least on the home stretch. At the bottom of the hill, Alissa was parked at our rendezvous point, and after loading the bike onto the car we headed back home with another stretch of the trail completed.

The next weekend, Alissa and I returned to the same spot so I could plug in this last gap in the trail between Mundaring and Collie. The weather could not have been more different; rather than heavy rain, the day would be marked by some of the sunniest clear skies of any day of my Munda Biddi sectional End to End.

The riding from the drop off point was a mix of vehicle tracks with some single track thrown in. While heading along some of the single track, I'd heard voices nearby but couldn't quite figure out where they were coming from. After turning onto a vehicle track, the voices appeared closer as two cyclists overtook me. Other than at major mountain bike networks, seeing other cyclists on the Munda Biddi had become quite a rare thing, so being passed by two cyclists felt like a bit of a novelty!

The cyclists who overtook me overshot a turn onto some single track before doubling back, which made it easier for me to not miss the turn myself! Stopping to take a photo, I let the duo overtake me again so I could continue to photograph the trail, which appeared to turn onto an old railway cutting along a watercourse.

The scenery along the watercourse is pleasant but fairly repetitive, so the sight of a shed along the creek line served as a bit of a 'highlight'. These sort of facilities are often located near a water gauging station, and while I didn't care enough to investigate, I was almost certain something like that would be located behind the shed.

Not long after the shed, the Munda Biddi rises uphill, with some sections being severely eroded with loose pea gravel. My knees' favourite.

Challenging as ascents on eroded track can be, the forest quality improved the further along I went, with some nice mature regrowth forest making for lovely cycling. After the climbing was done, there was a nice section of cruisy downhill where, apart from some large puddles, I was able to just coast on autopilot.

Taking a sharp right, the Munda Biddi crosses a bridge over the South Dandalup River. Stopping to take a photo, I hadn't quite got my gears set up right and have to contend with a quick change of gears as I pushed on up the hill to Del Park Rd.

I hadn't seen a sealed road since Alissa had dropped me off, so seeing Del Park Rd was a bit of a checkpoint for me to see how I was going. Being 15 kilometres into the days 40 kilometres (not including a side trip I wanted to take), I was happy with my progress but knew I had a lot more kilometres to go.

The Munda Biddi follows the road for 250 metres before turning onto my old friend Scarp Rd for a moderately steep ride uphill. The road was well graded at the time of my cycle so it was at least a fairly uncomplicated ascent with no gravel-induced slipping.

At the top of the climb, I heard a dirt bike coming up behind me and then whizz past, thankfully staying on Scarp Rd and not turning onto the Munda Biddi. As I'd mentioned in the previous section from Jarrahdale, this is an area popular with dirt bikers and given the lack of Disease Risk Area restrictions it is probably the most suitable place for them to undertake their activities. As a Bibbulmun Track hiker, dirt bikers have often been the bane of my existence as they often have a selfish 'I'll go wherever I wanna go' attitude that is both a risk to walkers and the environment, but here they seem to be fairly good at being respectful of Munda Biddi riders and the trail. Of course, not everyone is, but I was heartened to personally have positive interactions with dirt bikers while cycling.

From Scarp Rd the Munda Biddi featured some nice, flat and easy going riding for 2.5 kilometres through nice Jarrah forest with a minimum of char marks - my kind of Jarrah!

The Munda Biddi rejoins Scarp Rd where it intersects Edgar Rd right at the edge of a pine plantation. Being regularly used by dirt bikes and four wheel drives, the pea gravelly was churned up and loose making for less than ideal surface conditions - though nothing like the rough riding closer to North Dandalup Dam.

The Munda Biddi passes the turn off to the Turn Hill Cycle Trail. Given the mission brown signage, this looks like a fairly old mountain bike trail. In spite of its age, it is considered one of the best cross country style trails in WA, though it appears much less popular than the Dell or the very busy Murray Valley trails near Dwellingup.

Not really interested in adding an extra mountain bike loop to my day's kilometres, I kept going down the very straight road. Being flat to moderately downhill and with better grading than before Turner Hill, the easy cruising made up for the pleasant but average scenery. 

The straight and flat cycling came to an end after crossing North Spur Road, with the Munda Biddi going uphill through a pine plantation. As with the climb out of the Serpentine River Valley heading out of Jarrahdale, I was delighted to see my ability to deal with long climbs had greatly improved and I was able to get to the top with relative ease. Always nice to see progress when working on improving your skills and fitness.

Veering right after the climb, the trail passes through a really interesting section of forest. As much I think it is fair to say mining companies don't quite put back the forests perfectly in spite of the likes of Alcoa being celebrated for their 'best practices' rehabilitation, in the past there was no clear rehabilitation plan for old sites at all. As a result, there appears to have been a lot of research done through this area about what Eucalypt species would actually grow in Western Australia on cleared lands.

This is a fascinating highlight of the days cycling; there are times you can see a particular species has done really well and has survived in their little stand where others look like they failed miserably and have been overtaken by the native Jarrah forest. The section above looked like young Karri, which if it is would make it the most northern stand I've encountered (although officially Bridgetown is considered the northernmost extent of the Karri forest).

My favourite of the Eucalypts along this stretch was labelled Eucalyptus Maculata. Commonly known as the Spotted Gum and since transferred to the Corymbia genus, the trees smooth bark and mottled appearance makes for an attractive tree. Which would explain why it was chosen for this planting given it is quite far from its native range near Bega in New South Wales.

Having enjoyed the fascinating collection of Eucalypts, the Munda Biddi rejoins Scarp Rd as it crosses Alcoa's conveyor belt. The conveyor carries bauxite from Huntley to the refinery in Pinjarra to be processed into alumina. Huntley is the biggest bauxite mine in the world, and the impacts of bauxite mining on the Munda Biddi become increasingly obvious south of Dwellingup.

Although I've walked under a conveyer along the Munda Biddi, it was interesting riding over it. If not for the constant droning noise, you'd be mistaken for thinking this was a water pipeline - albeit a much wider pipe than any I've seen connecting the dams in the Perth Hills.

After crossing the conveyor belt, Scarp Rd descends steeply and cyclists should be paying attention for a turn off to the left to avoid a long ride back up the hill. If one were to go downhill, they would be able to follow the spur to Oakley Dam. The original alignment of the Munda Biddi used to go to Oakley Dam, however it has since been permanently realigned with an uninviting spur that I'm sure most cyclists don't bother with unless they are extreme dam enthusiasts. Following the Munda Biddi off Scarp Rd, the riding is nice if unremarkable Jarrah forest cycling.

Even less remarkable is a stretch of the trail right under the Muja Northern Terminal. While I'd crossed the powerlines earlier in the day, it was the first of many stretches of the Munda Biddi between Jarrahdale and Collie that follow the powerlines. While visually unexciting, the one upside of this section is that it is an easy downhill roll before it veers off onto Grey Road.

Grey Road looks to have been another old rail formation. Initially, the trail was quite overgrown and filled with dense bush that threatened to reclaim it completely for the forest.

Further along, the trail passes through forest that had been quite severely burnt by either a bushfire or hot prescribed burn. While I don't find the messy epicormic regrowth look to be particularly attractive, the view of the forest illustrated how Jarrah's rough bark means it clings its scars, while the trunks of the Wandoo have peeled the burns away to reveal a much nicer looking post-fire appearance.

The rail formation origin of this stretch of trail became even more apparent as the Munda Biddi follows a raised, flat section that is shared with a bridle trail.

Another short stretch of powerlines cycling continues, being even more downhill fun than the earlier section under the powerlines.

At the bottom of the powerlines, the Munda Biddi veers left towards the old Marrinup townsite, however heading west leads to both the Marrinup POW Camp and Marrinup Falls. Having already checked out the Prisoner of War camp near Jarrahdale, I decided to try my luck with Marrinup Falls. My friends Mark and Bonny has suggested it was a fool's errand to try and see it so early in the season, however with a fair bit of rain I hoped for the best.

Unfortunately it was a bit of a waste of time. While pleasant, the falls were not flowing and I discovered later that the Prisoner of War camp would have been a considerably shorter side trip. The falls were much further away than I had expected, being about five kilometres of cycling to get there and back, with a further 2.6 kilometres of walking along the walk trail loop to the falls. This is something I feel the Munda Biddi could do better with; I really like the touring quality of the trail as being a gateway to the sights of the South West, but some kilometre information at the trail junctions would really help cyclists to make more informed decisions about what side trips they decide to undertake. 

Back from my disappointing visit to the walk trail, I returned to follow the Munda Biddi through the remains of Marrinup (which was basically just a grassy flat). The area was very busy with families given the camping area ans popular Marrinup Mountain Bike Trail, however the single track sections after the campsite were nice, pleasantly quiet forest riding heading into Dwellingup.

The ride into Dwellingup is actually much nicer than the walk in on the Bibbulmun Track, which while not bad is not home to the nicest forest in the area. Where the Bibbulmun follows the railway line from Etmilyn through some fairly scrappy Jarrah and some Blue Gums, the Jarrah between Marrinup and Dwellingup is filled with much more mature trees that were some of the best of the entire day.

Coming into town, the Munda Biddi skirts a farm before heading back into more nice forest. The backs of houses can be seen from the trail, and it led me to think I was done. The trail goes for a little bit longer however, before leading right into the heart of town.

As if to bookend the day which started near Whittaker Mill, my day of cycling ended at a massive felled Jarrah in Dwellingup's main park that can from the same mill. According to the brass plaque, this tree would have been 600 year old, and while it serves as nice reminder of how massive the trees in the area used to be, you know what would have been an even better reminder? If it had been allowed to stay alive! Just imagine how much more exciting a day of riding it would have been if it had headed through 600 year old virgin forest!

The day from Dandalup to Dwellingup was a bit of a mixed bag scenery-wise. It wasn't bad per se, and I enjoyed the experimental Eucalypt plantings and some stretches of forest, but it just wasn't the most interesting day of the trail so far. It was however the second easiest day of the trail between Mundaring and Dwellingup, being mostly flat or downhill. The speed at which I was able to travel made up for some of the visual shortfall, and it ended up being a fairly pleasant and enjoyable day in spite of its obvious compromises.