Munda Biddi Trail (WA) - Donnelly River Village to Karta Burnu

Day 15 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this short section takes cyclists from Donnelly River Village to Karta Burnu Hut. Leaving town with the Bibbulmun Track, the Munda Biddi diverges along an eastern route through a mix of Jarrah and Karri forest to One Tree Bridge, including some lovely sections along the Donnelly River. Rising steeping to Foresters Wood, the day end at the idyllic Karta Burnu with its expansive views across the valley

Distance: 23.2 km (one way)

Gradient: Mostly gentle with some moderate to steep inclines and descents, including a steep, sustained climb to Karta Burnu hut

Quality of Path: Mix of vehicle tracks and single track

Quality of Signage: Well signed at all trail junctions

Experience Required: Mountain Biking experience recommended

Time: 2-3 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: 29th August, 2020

Entry Fee: No
Getting There: Direct access is possible to Donnelly River Village, though no direct access to Karta Burnu hut. Alternatively the trail can be accessed from One Tree Bridge

After reaching Donnelly River Village, I spent the rest of the day catching up with the family as we went for lunch in Manjimup at Tall Timbers (highly recommended) and then had a relaxing time back at the cottage before sharing a delicious family meal. After a good night's rest, I packed all my things I set off for the day's cycle. While not a long day at 46 kilometres total doubling all the way to Manjimup, I wanted to get there in good enough time for the drive back home to Perth so there was not time to waste. 

The Munda Biddi leaves Donnelly River Village via the same section of track as the Bibbulmun, heading through some lovely Karri forest south east towards Jeffries Rd. I've got a very high tolerance for cold weather but this morning was so exceptionally freezing I began the day wearing my full down jacket - the only time I've done so the entire trail, including riding in the middle of winter!

As I noted while doing the Bibbulmun Track, it is surprising at how thin the facade of Karri forest is around Donnelly River Village before you're back in fairly ordinary Jarrah forest. Unlike the Bibb, the Munda Biddi remains on Jeffries Rd for an extended period of time, and as I began getting into it I got warm enough to take off my jacket. This was a mistake; as I rounded the corner onto where Jeffries Rd connects up with Gregory Rd, the Munda Biddi goes down a steep, fast stretch of downhill vehicle track. The wind chill was bracingly, almost painfully cold and while fun I was also looking forward to it flattening out so I could thaw out!

The Munda Biddi and the Bibbulmun Track cross paths again at the bottom of the descent. While both trails head towards One Tree Bridge, they take remarkably divergent paths to get there from Donnelly River Village, with the Bibbulmun heading west while the Munda Biddi follows a more eastern route. 

Mirroring the Bibbulmun which follows Yanmah Brook downstream, the Munda Biddi crosses Yanmah Brook upstream before running parallel to it for just over five kilometres. 

Given its appearance, this first section of track parallel to Yanmah Brook looked like it began its life as a rail cutting and as such it provides some nice, flat and easy going cycling to begin with. 

It did not last long however, with the Munda Biddi taking a sudden short but steep rise up from the creek's valley. 

The trail heads across the top of the plateau, following an old vehicle track through dryer, Jarrah-dominated forest. 

Interestingly, the Munda Biddi takes a few welcome diversions off the vehicle track which head down closer to the creek and through beautiful, tall Karri forest. 

While the day had been pleasant enough, the trail quality takes a major jump up as it heads along some excellent single track through magnificent Karri forest. There are some nice, fun twists and turns through the forest before the trail settles along a stretch right along the Donnelly River itself. 

The track here looks eerily similar to the hand cut section of track that follows the Donnelly further downstream on the Bibbulmun Track, and it really had me wondering if this was a part of the 1988 Bibbulmun Track alignment given the quality of the trail and its proximity to the water. There were some narrow sections that also reminded me of the Grose Valley walk in the Blue Mountains where the trail is basically a narrow shelf cut into the side of the valley. 

Leaving the close proximity to the river, the quality trail continues through more lovely Karri forest and moss-covered logs.

While there were no fallen Karris to worry about (thank god), there were a quite a number of smaller branches across the track at the time of my ride which slowed down progress slightly. Not long after this section, the Munda Biddi crosses Cow Brook along a bridge that is shared with the Bibbulmun Track. 

Rising up away from the brook, the Munda Biddi and the Bibbulmun Track again part ways as they then run separate but parallel through the Karri forest. 

The trail through here is again excellent; Karri forest is easily one of my favourite forest types anywhere in Australia, and even with some pockets of Jarrah and Marri, this was exactly the kind of forest scenery I love in the South West. Even better, it continued in this fashion for an extended length of time.

As per what I said about the section from Nala Mia to Nannup, this was really 'lousy' scenery (in the de Souza dinner party sense of the word). 

The scenery turned from 'lousy' to actually lousy as it entered a section of Karri forest that had been very recently turned into charcoal by a prescribed burn. Pragmatically, being Karri forest it will recover relatively quickly compared to Jarrah but as for now it was not the nicest forest to be cycling through. 

What will not recover is the damage that fire had done to some forestry heritage that was located along the way. It was fairly clear to me that this was an old rail trail in the past, and the burnt out log on the side of the trail was one of the old loading ramps.

At least the burn hadn't been so hot that it had burnt out the forest to the crowns, and it did improve the further along I went towards One Tree Bridge. 

Meeting up with the Bibbulmun Track again, the Munda Biddi passes by the old One Tree Bridge. Built in the early 1900s, this bridge was used to cross the Donnelly River at this location until it was replaced in 1971. The log itself dates back to 1904, while the decking across the top is from the 1930s. The above photo also serves as a perfect example of how different a forest looks after a burn - see how it looked back in 2016 for comparison. 

After stopping to appreciate One Tree Bridge, I continued along the Munda Biddi as it passes under the Graphite Rd road bridge.

Back when the Munda Biddi and Bibbulmun Tracks first opened, they both used to travel along the road bridge to cross the Donnelly River, however a purpose built suspension bridge has since been built alongside the road to provide a safer and more satisfactory crossing for hikers and cyclists.

On the other side of the road, the Bibbulmun and Munda Biddi part ways again. As a cruel twist of fate for cyclists, the Bibbulmun takes the flat low road while the Munda Biddi has to go uphill at this point. 

At least the climbing is fairly short and the forest scenery enjoyable. After some flat riding the trail descends rapidly to the river. 

Reaching the river, the Munda Biddi again rejoins the Bibbulmun Track as it follows the old rail form along the Donnelly River.

After running concurrently with the Bibbulmun for about a kilometre, the Munda Biddi veers off and heads steeply up the hill. I remember thinking 'gee, would suck to be a Munda Biddi cyclist right now' when I was last here on the Bibbulmun in 2016, and now here I was being the sucker about to ride up one of the most notoriously steep ascents of the Munda Biddi. 

In actual fact, the ascent here is tempered by the fact it is on a series of switchbacks, thus taking some of the edge off. While it is a ceaseless climb, I was surprised to find it much less difficult than I had expected; I'd be expecting a lot of pushing due to absolute leg muscle burn, but other than having to stop to carry the bike over two fallen trees, I was able to do the entire ascent pedalling. 

Reaching a clearing that crosses a vehicle track, I thought that I'd finally reached the end of the climb but this was only a short respite before a second lot of sustained switchbacks. 

Interestingly, the trail passes through a stand of Spotted Gums. A tree that I'd seen earlier along the trail in the experimental plantations on the way into Dwellingup, the Spotted Gums are from New South Wales but have been naturalised in this pocket of forest. 

After passing the Spotted Gums, the switchback continues through some of the most spectacular Karri forest of the day, reminding me of Boranup Forest in its seeming limitlessness while the gradient recalled the climb up into the Walls of Jerusalem in Tasmania. 

After about 20 minutes of ascending, the Munda Biddi exits the Karri forest as it enters an area apparently called Foresters Wood. Overlooking a valley, the area is filled with a plethora of exotic tree plantings. As with many of these plantings/arboretums in the South West, the origin and purpose of the area is fairly opaque to riders and the scant information I could find online indicates it was supposed to be 'an innovative long-term forestry project involving the planting of groves and individual trees of important species of the world on a 30 ha site near Manjimup, W.A.' but to me it looks like the 'ongoing' part of the equation seems to have fallen by the wayside. 

Whatever the case, the Munda Biddi benefits greatly from Foresters Wood's existence given Karta Burnu hut is located within it. Position high on a grassy hill, the non-native scenery and valley views strongly echoes Blackwood campsite on the Bibbulmun Track. Given it has not been terribly burnt by bushfire as Blackwood was in 2013, I would go as far as to say Kartu Burnu is superior. Given I was doubling through to Manjimup, I would not be staying the night here, however it is a campsite I'd love to come back to stay at another time. 

Being a meagre 23.2 kilometres, Donnelly River Village to Karta Burnu is so short a 'day' on the Munda Biddi I imagine most people would combine it with a day on either side to make it a more substantial day of riding. What the day does offer however is excellent; other than some very ordinary Jarrah forest near the beginning, the sustained riding through Karri forest is magnificent, with a fair amount of rail form and single track. While a considerable ascent, I was surprised at how the switchbacks were actually not as hard as I had expected, and indeed there are some loose gravel climbs in areas graded as 'green' that I found much less rideable than this. With a lovely campsite at the end, this is a section that makes up for its shortness by being filled with quality, and though I like to say the long way's better, give me quality over quantity anyday.