Munda Biddi Trail (WA) - Northcliffe to Yirra Kartta

Day 20 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this section takes cyclists from Northcliffe to Yirra Kartta. Leaving town via some farmland, the trail joins onto the Northcliffe Linking Trail to Boorara-Gardner National Park before heading along a long, continuous section of unsealed road riding. A fairly average day of riding, the day is made by the spectacular side trip to the summit of Yirra Kartta's granite dome

Distance: 49.62 km (one way)

Gradient: Mostly gentle with some moderate climbs and descents

Quality of Path: Mix of vehicle tracks, single track and roads

Quality of Signage: Mostly well signed at all trail junctions

Experience Required: Mountain Biking experience recommended

Time: 4-5 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: 5th July, 2020
Entry Fee: No
Getting There: The Northcliffe Trailhead is outside the town's visitor centre on Muirillup Rd. No direct access to Yirra Kartta campsite

Staying overnight in Pemberton, Alissa and I returned to Northcliffe early the next morning for me to tackle the next town to town stretch of the Munda Biddi from Northcliffe to Walpole. From Collie to Northcliffe, the Munda Biddi does not have any huts back to back, and indeed from Nannup through to Northcliffe there is only a single hut along that entire stretch! With three days between Northcliffe and Walpole, I was excited to be overnighting at two of the trail's huts back to back as this would be a first time for my sectional End to End. 

Leaving the Visitors Centre, the Munda Biddi heads along Windy Harbour Rd as it passes the Northcliffe Pioneer Museum and its assortment of small municipal buildings. One such building has signage for R&I Bank, which, for those who are not old enough to remember it, was the former name for Bankwest.

Crossing the same old railway line from the previous day, the Munda Biddi actually crosses the Bibbulmun Track at this point as the Bibb follows the railway track southwards. From here, the Munda Biddi passes through a small stand of Jarrah just behind the museum before running on the sealed Boorara Rd for a short distance and then turning onto Old Mill Rd. 

Old Mill Rd features some very pleasant farmland scenery. The skies were pretty grey and moody as it was forecast to rain from the late afternoon right through most of the night.  

After initially entering Jarrah forest upon leaving the farmland, the forest transitions to some really lovely Karri forest with a number of mature trees lining the trail. 

As the trail continues, it runs along the edge of some more farmland scenery, and this was where I had an incredible encounter with a Wedge Tailed Eagle. Something I've found enjoyable about the Munda Biddi compared to hiking is that you travel so fast that you often surprise birds as they fly (or in the case of Emus, run) along the trail in front of you. Speeding down the hill, a massive Wedge Tailed Eagle flew across the trail less than 20 metres in front of me as it glided to perch on a tree in the middle of the grassy farmland. It was one of those moments when I wished I had a handlebar or chest-mount video camera filming everything as this was easily my best animal encounter of the entire trail.  

Metres after the eagle encounter, I saw something pretty cool nailed into one of the Karri along the fenceline; a green Munda Biddi marker! These markers were used along the 1988 alignment to mark shorter loops off the main trail. This one looked in remarkably good condition for something over 30 years old, however it looked like the tree was either pushing the nail out or someone was working on removing it. 

Turning right at the farmland's edge, the Munda Biddi joins onto the Northcliffe Linking Mountain Bike Trail for an extended length as both trails head towards Boorara-Gardner National Park.

Something I suspected would happen over this day was a transition to stunted forest in sandy soils as this is a character of the Bibbulmun Track between Northcliffe to Walpole. Leaving the tall Karri forest, the Munda Biddi winds its way through some of this stunted forest, which I think is well known to not be one of my favourite landscapes to travel through. 

To make matters worse, the trail entered areas that were not just filled with stunted, scrappy Jarrah but burnt stunted scrappy Jarrah, which made for some fairly boring scenery. 

While hardly the nicest forest, I did have one really lovely moment through this burnt out area. In a section of forest with taller trees, I saw one of the largest gatherings of black cockatoos that I have seen. I stopped to watch them for a few minutes, and I really wished I'd had a longer lens on my camera to get a close up. Like the Wedge Tailed Eagle, these are the sort of moments that are difficult to capture, and really need to be experienced while out on the trail. 

Leaving the worst of the burnt forest behind (for now at least), the Munda Biddi skirts more farmland while passing an old school site. Alissa and I have joked on numerous times about doing a trip through the South West stopping at all the old school sites. Given how unexciting this school site was, I don't think we'll ever be doing such a trip, but it at least provided a small piece of historical interest.

The farmland scenery continued for quite an extended stretch, and while pleasant I did feel like it was a bit long for my liking. Given I was also chasing the rain to Yirra Kartta didn't help, as the long stretches of sameness didn't make me feel like I was getting anywhere fast. 

Given the sameness, I had to just focus on all the small changes and appreciate that I was cycling on quiet Karri-lined farmland backroads rather than cycling on a busy highway. 

After 25 minutes of the farmland scenery, the Munda Biddi enters the Karri forest of Boorara-Gardner National Park. 

Sadly Boorara-Gardner was very badly burnt in the Northcliffe Fires of 2015, however it has recovered a lot since Alissa and I visited the Boorara Tree and Lane Poole Falls in 2016. My initial plan had been to visit the Boorara Tree and stop for lunch in the replica lookout tower located nearby, however as I was racing the rain and it had started drizzling, I decided to just press on. For those who have a bit more time and favourable weather, I thoroughly recommend taking the side trip and potentially doing the walk to Lane Poole Falls as it is one of the better waterfalls in the South West. 

While initially following Boorara Rd through the forest, the trail turns onto what looked like an old rail form for a stretch through low, Pingerup Plains-type scenery. 

With the drizzle calming down for a bit, I decided it was time for lunch. That morning Alissa and I had had an excellent breakfast at Wild at Heart in Pemberton, and rather than eating the usual tuna and crackers I decided to buy a continental roll for lunch. This was really next level excellent, and while I was not hungry enough to eat it all in one go it definitely had me feeling refuelled for the rest of the journey. 

Thus began what was supposed to be a 12 kilometre stretch almost entirely on Dean and Nelson Rd through forest badly burnt by the Northcliffe fires. This is one of two very dull road sections in the trail's second half that I feel could really do with a realignment to make for more engaging riding. Perhaps it was better before the fire, but the fact it is just one continuous road stretch makes it feel a bit tedious. While not as bad as Marron Rd on the Bibbulmun Track, it shared a similar trudging experience. 

Thankfully not all of the forest was as badly burnt, and there were some nicer pockets that had already recovered quite well in the five years since the blaze. 

Desperate to find any points of interest, I was really pleased when I stumbled upon a moss-covered granite outcrop right next to the road 20 minutes after the previous photo. Given the repetitive sameness, I decided to get off the bike and walk up to the top of the outcrop to appreciate the lovely green scenery. 

Leaving the outcrop, the forest was mostly fairly thin, scrappy burnt Jarrah that left me feeling even more unenthused about this seemingly endless road.

Reaching the junction with Dog Rd (which presumably links up to Dog Pool campsite on the Bibbulmun Track), I was disappointed to see that there was a diversion in place due to salvage work being undertaken to harvest timber from the burnt out forest. The downside of this is that I now had another six kilometres of straight vehicle track riding rather than following the more winding (and thus more engaging) normal route of the Munda Biddi. 

Staying on Nelson Rd and looking north, I came to the conclusion I wasn't missing out on anything by not cycling the regular route. The forest had a ghastly untidiness about it that I found aesthetically unappealing, with most of the trees looking like dead, bleached skeletons.

Entering a lower, swampy area with a very Marron Rd-like quality, I had been on Dean/Nelson Rds for over an hour and twenty minutes by this stage and still had more to go.

Finally, after an hour and forty minutes, I had finally reached the end of my time on the road as I rejoined the Munda Biddi. Due to the way the diversion was routed, Yirra Kartta had to be reached as a spur and I would be riding this same section the next day as well. 

Finally, seeing a section of purpose built single track leading uphill, I knew I was on the home stretch to Yirra Kartta. 

While the forest surrounding Yirra Kartta is very badly burnt, it is one of the deluxe full-sized huts with a wooden deck. These are the best kinds of huts as they mean you can kick your shoes off and walk around bare foot without having to walk over pea gravel. Having beaten Alissa and the rain to the hut, I decided to go explore the surrounds. 

Yirra Kartta means high mountain in the Noongar language, and is so named because it is located right next to a large granite dome. A short side trail allows walker access to the summit. 

The trail heads up along a granite slope that was a bit slippery due to the recent rain, however I was able to pick a safe enough route with enough grip for my sneakers to hold onto. 

Reaching the top of the slope closest to the hut, it was sad to see just how much forest had been burnt by the fire. Nevertheless, the view was quite spectacular, and made all the more impressive thanks to the cloudy skies. 

Heading across the top of the dome, there is a really lovely rock garden of tufty grasses, moss and rock pool that is well worth exploring.

On the far side, there are views of granite formations deep within the forest. This reminded me of the granite formations you can see from Mt Cooke on the Bibbulmun Track which I've always thought would be fun to try out some bouldering on. Being by myself and with wet rock, I decided it was best to forego any scrambling on this occasion and returned back to the hut to eat the rest of my lunch and wait for Alissa's arrival shortly thereafter. 

With the rain forecast, Alissa and I decided to set up the tent under the front annex section of the hut while leaving enough clearance for any other cyclists who we may be sharing the hut with. As it turned out, Alissa and I had the hut to ourselves yet again.

Something Alissa and I have been wanting to do for a long time has been to pimp up a camping meal with a black truffle given it is an iconic ingredient of the Western Australian Winter that coincides with part of the WA hiking season. Since we've usually both been hiking with days of food without refrigeration it has never been practical, however with Alissa running support and able to drive to Manjimup to get a fresh truffle we were set to go. Our dinner of Kraft Deluxe Mac and Cheese with Black Truffle was really delicious and decadent. While expensive, it was well worth it!

After the excellence of Pemberton to Northcliffe, I was wondering if the Munda Biddi would maintain that same level of quality. As you would have gathered it didn't; while not totally horrendous, it was probably one of the dullest days of the track since Bidjar Ngoulin to Lake Brockman. While burnt forest from the Northcliffe fire can't be helped, the fact so much of the day is one long road made it feel like a real trudge. I disliked that aspect of the walking from Northcliffe to Walpole when I did the Bibbulmun and I was sad to see the Munda Biddi didn't do any better with this area. 

The day's saving graces were the incidental animal encounters (the Wedged Tail Eagle and the cockatoos) and the ending at Yirra Kartta and its granite dome. These things - along with Truffle Mac and Cheese and getting to spend time at the campsite with Alissa - at least made the day worthwhile, however it really had me hoping for an improvement over the next two days.