Munda Biddi Trail (WA) - Quinninup to Pemberton

 

Day 18 of the Munda Biddi Trail, this section takes cyclists between the small settlement of Quinninup to the popular tourism town of Pemberton. Leaving Quinninup through Greater Dordagup National Park, the day heads through a mix of Karri, Jarrah and farmland scenery, including an excellent stretch in Gloucester National Park. Passing the tranquil Pemberton Swimming Pool as a finale, this a mixed but overall enjoyable day

Distance: 39.47 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: 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: 13th September, 2020
Entry Fee: No
Getting There: The Quinninup trailhead can be accessed from Wheatley Coast Rd, while Pemberton's is outside the Pemberton Visitor Centre on Brockman St/Vasse Hwy

After completing the Munda Biddi from Manjimup to Quinninup on the Saturday and having lunch at the pub, I was feeling like I had enough energy to go all the way to Pemberton, but with the option to spread it out over two days I decided to call it for the day and pick up the trail on the Sunday. Starting back at the Quinninup trailhead, I followed the Munda Biddi runs along Wheatley Coast Rd briefly before it then turns into the forests of Greater Dordagup National Park. 

Initially utilising vehicle tracks around the edge of the national park, the Munda Biddi follows some excellent technical single track that weaves around the tall Karri forest. The only disappointment was the area was very recently burnt by a prescribed burn or a bushfire, so the trees had a bit of a blackened appearance that made it less impressive than it would have otherwise been. 

Descending a series of switchbacks and briefly turning onto Wheatley Coast Rd, the Munda Biddi turns back onto some single track as it reaches the trailhead for the King Karri Walk Trail. This is a walk I've not done before but was written up by Mark for the Life of Py before the area had been burnt. Alissa had decided to do this walk after dropping me off so I thought I might run into her, however the Munda Biddi veers off to the right instead of following the walk trail. 

While well graded, the trail work in the area was a bit untidy here, with a fallen tree chopped up as logs on either side of the trail. 

To my delight, the Munda Biddi rejoins the King Karri Walk Trail for a bit, and as it happened I caught up with Alissa along this stretch where the two trails run concurrently. 

In hindsight, I kinda wished I'd stayed with Alissa to check out the King Karri as it later occurred to me that cyclists doing the Munda Biddi can collect the Four Kings as side trips - the King Jarrah of Lane Poole Reserve, the King Karri of Donnelly River Village, the King Jarrah of Manjimup and the King Karri of Quinninup. After riding along at a walking pace with Alissa for a while, we parted ways again as I continued on my way to Pemberton. 

Leaving the King Karri Trail, the Munda Biddi crosses South Western Hwy as it continues through Greater Dordagup National Park.

The trail through here is the kind of width where you're never quite sure if it is wide single track, a converted rail trail or narrow single lane vehicle track. Whatever the case, the riding was enjoyable if a bit charred with a slight uphill gradient before some smooth, flat riding. 

As the trail continues, the forest transitions away from the tall Karri-dominated forest encountered earlier to a scrappy mix of Jarrah and banksia that thankfully had a much less burnt appearance that made it more attractive than it would have been if was burnt and scrappy!

Crossing Wheatley Coast Rd again, the Munda Biddi turns onto Tinks Rd, which, while broad and a bit dull looking, at least had a few tall, mature trees to give it some interest.

Following more vehicle tracks, the Munda Biddi passes by a mix of forest and farmland before entering a sustained section of regrowth Karri forest. 

I'm not sure if this was a plantation or just Karri being planted to reforest and area, but this was easily one of the day's lowlights. While Karri is one my favourite trees, it is not all that exciting to cycle through in its regrowth form. Ironically, my most vivid memory of regrowth Karri was also on the way into Pemberton; on the Bibbulmun, there is a supremely boring stretch of infinite right turns through regrowth Karri between Beavis and Beedelup that I didn't enjoy. The regrowth Karri here is even worse, with a sparse understory and even thinner young trees but at least on a bike you can motor away through these sort of underwhelming stretches. 

So here's something I never say; I was delighted to transition away from Karri and back into Jarrah forest(!) as the trail takes a hard right turn onto Horne Rd. From here there was an epic, rollercoaster descent down the hill towards a dip before the equal and opposite ascent along farmland.

As Horne Rd turns into Grays Rd, the trees transitions back to Karri as the trail passes by some truly spectacular farmland with rolling hills and large dammed off sections of the creek creating glassy reflections. 

Near a bend in the road, the private property features an excellent waterside gazebo that would be perfect for an idyllic picnic. Cyclists should note though that this is a private property and is well signed as such. A tempting as it is, people should not trespass to check out the gazebo. 

Crossing the Warren River, the vehicle track turns to bitumen along the farmland properties before reentering Karri forest riding along more unsealed vehicle tracks. 

After so long on vehicle tracks, it was a relief to return to nice, wide single track/rail trail/narrow vehicle track through the beautifully dense and green forest. 

As the trail gets closer to Pemberton, the forest gets taller and more impressive; this is exactly what I'd been hoping from the Southern Forests area, and I was really glad to be riding through one of my favourite forest types in all of Australia

Joining Eastbrook Rd, the Munda Biddi runs along a lesser known stretch of Gloucester National Park. While not top quality single track or anything special in that regard, the scenery was really spectacular as it runs along East Brook and provides great views of the tall Karri forest of this small but popular National Park. 

Following an old equestrian trail, the Munda Biddi crosses East Brook as it rises up through more lovely Karri forest. 

Emerging out of Gloucester National Park, the Munda Biddi passes through some smaller semi-rural lots before reaching Vasse Hwy. 

Rather than turning directly onto Vasse Hwy, the Munda Biddi makes use of what looks like an old rail trail to run parallel to the highway before reaching the crossing. 

Crossing Vasse Hwy was one of those major milestones for the Munda Biddi. While road crossings come and go along the track, the ones that are along roads I've travelled along many, many times are the ones that always feel like an achievement to me as from now on I'll be able to visualise the track every time Alissa and I drive by. 

On the other side of Vasse Hwy, the Munda Biddi follows Gold Links Rd on a circuitous route for a northern entry into Pemberton. 

Passing multiple avocado plantations, views across a grassy property reveal the first glimpses of the houses of Pemberton along the hillside.

Passing Kemp Rd, the road takes a sharp, fast and fun rollercoaster-like descent along the bitumen under some really lovely Peppermint trees. 

While it is easy to get caught up in the fun of the descent, cyclists need to keep an eye out as the Munda Biddi very suddenly veers off the road and travels along a narrow stretch of single track that runs parallel. 

I knew I was on the home stretch when I reached the Pemberton Mountain Bike Park. Work on the park commenced in 2007, and it has grown to include a reasonable number of blue and green rated trails. 

While the park doesn't seem as talked about as the highly publicised trails in Dwellingup and above all Collie (which is constantly being positioned as world class by the marketing gurus), the scenery definitely appealed to me and I would love to come back here with more time to just explore and check out the network.

As a spectacular finale to the day, the Munda Biddi skirts the edge of the Pemberton Swimming Pool. Built in 1932 and set against a backdrop of spectacular Karri forest, the pool is basically a dam along the brook. I would love to visit the area at a time of year when I'd actually be enticed to go for a swim, but I generally end up visiting Pemberton in the cooler months of the year where going for a swim would be absolutely frigid. I'm not that fussed about swimming anyway to be honest, so I was happy enough to just appreciate its visual aesthetic qualities. 

From the swimming pool, the Munda Biddi and the Bibbulmun Track run concurrently along sealed pavement into town. 

When I walked in on the Bibbulmun Track, I photographed this house that is along the route and I thought I should keep with tradition and do the same on the Munda Biddi. 

Turning onto the main street for the final few metres, the Munda Biddi passes by the Pemberton Mill Hall where, in what seems like another lifetime, I once was the recording engineer for an album by the singer-songwriter James Teague (you can hear the album here). From there it was only a short distance to the visitor centre where Alissa was waiting for me. 

With this day done, it really felt like a major milestone in my Munda Biddi End to End; I now had every section from Mundaring to Denmark linked up, with all that I had left to do being a short diversion section near Denmark and the finale into Albany! Overall, this was a bit of a mixed day; with some really spectacular Karri forest and farmland, but also some stretches that felt like a bit too much road or vehicle track riding for my liking and the regrowth Karri was quite uninspiring riding. Nevertheless, I think the highs of this day greatly outweighed the lows and almost any excuse to spend some time in Pemberton is time well spent.