Walpole to Booner Mundak
Munda Biddi Trail
Start
Walpole
Time
4-7 Hours
Finish
Booner Mundak Hut
Date Ridden
7th September 2021
Length
55.4km
Elevation
1129m
Traditional Custodians
Minang People
The Ride - With a brief stay in Walpole before a planned two nights at campsites, it had been a warm and enjoyable rest in this South Coast town. With all the closures of businesses down here due to staff shortages, there wasn't a cafe to have breakfast at while we were passing through. After packing up our bikes and saying goodbye to the owner of Tingle All Over, we set off into the middle of town to meet Aron's mum and partner for breakfast at the bakery. After a basic but enjoyable snack of a cheese and tomato toastie and coffee, we applied some sunscreen and said goodbye to Aron's mum and partner.
Today would see us climbing up into the Tingle forest around Valley of the Giants, meander around the Frankland River and then head north into the great vastness of Mount Frankland South National Park. The weather forecast was a sunny day in the mid 20s, which I wasn't too thrilled about given the thicker forests of the South West are much harder to photograph in bright sunshine. There would also be a lot of climbing in the first half of the day with some of the more infamous ascents of the whole trail (looking at you Boxall Road). Starting the Strava at the bakery instead of the Visitor Centre, I knew roughly where the trail exits town so took us towards Inlet Street and then left at Park Avenue but after not seeing a Munda Biddi marker yet, we checked the map to see where we needed to go. Turns out we should have been north of the highway and then the trail crosses over further east of town before heading along the Coalmine Beach Heritage Trail.
Eventually we found the trail and made our way along a familiar section, having hiked it back in 2019 when I started the Walpole to Frankland River day on the Bibbulmun Track. Following a vegetated corridor of compacted gravel, this makes for pleasant riding in the morning air and it wasn't long until we had reached the Coalmine Beach area. I was a bit bemused when the Munda Biddi markers point you along the road and away from the path leading you along the edge of the water but figured it might cut in a bit later. Unfortunately it doesn't but you do get to see the Nornalup Inlet after one of the parking areas as it takes you past a lookout shelter. Taking the opportunity to connect with the water after spending the past couple of weeks in the forest, it was looking a lot better than my previous visit (cold, wet and windy). With some pleasant views looking across the inlet, we both snapped some photos and moved on to the highway crossing. This marks the entry to the wonderful Karri and Tingle forest that will be home for the first half of the day.
Continuing to enjoy the "Dominion de Souza" (my podcast partner and his wife's maintenance sections), we started climbing up some switchbacks through the first impressive stand of Karri trees. This area had been burnt in the past couple of years and based off photos from The Long Ways Better, it is recovering nicely with the Karri trees having mostly stripped their burnt bark. The switchbacks certainly help to tackle the ascent but don't get used to them for the rest of the day as that's all folks. Joining the Bibbulmun Track once again, the romance is brief as the trail heads downhill towards the next uphill. This is really the story of the day as there is very little flat riding and you are either on a noticeable ascent or coming back down one. The nature of the forest changes as you reach another hill with the lush Karri forest replaced with a drier mix of She-Oak and dense heath, with the occasional larger tree. It was a nice change but the exposed nature of the trail meant I was starting to feel the heat of the day as we were directly facing the sun.
The climb was the first of the steep pinch climbs that you'll become familiar with over the course of the day and it may require coming off the bike to push. The wildflowers through here were nice with lots of Purple Flag dotting the more exposed and sandier sections and eventually we came across the crossing of the tourist road leading up to the Giant Tingle Tree (it's a 140m vertical ascent if you want to take the detour). Spotting a vehicle parked up on the other side, it turned out to be a DBCA ute and as I gently rode by, I gave the occupant in the front seat a scare. He had the cruisy job of reading the paper in the ute while the other guy was in a big digger clearing/grading Monastery Road that we were about to descend down. It was nice of them to clear and grade what can be a slippery road thanks to the mud being chewed up by 4x4s as they tackle the steep gradients. After about 1.5km of gently sloping terrain with one of the most impressive She-Oaks I've ever seen just off the road, we reached a turn-off onto some welcome single trail.