Nancy Peak | Devils Slide

Directions - Located in the Porongurups, the turnoff for the Tree in the Rock car park is located along Mt Barker - Porongurup Rd at the end of Bolganup Rd. The trail head is located on the western edge of the car park.

 

The Hike - The Porongurups, located 50km north of Albany, is home to two very nice day walks in the Castle Rock Granite Skywalk and the awkward Frankenstein mix of Nancy Peak/Devils Slide/Wansbrough Walk. The latter is one I had been wanting to do for quite a while now and had it pencilled in for around this time last year before inclement weather on my planned day of visit laid that plan to bed. I am back though for another visit to this amazing area and was fortunate enough to have the weather on my side with some dark and moody cloudscapes haunting my hike. This was the start of a planned two week road trip taking in plenty of hikes in the South West around Albany, Denmark and Pemberton but the best laid plans... (more on that in future posts). Leaving Perth in the morning I had loaded up the phone with podcasts and enjoyed the lovely drive down to the turnoff at Mount Barker. The skies in Fremantle when I left were sunny and clear but when I hit Armadale things changed and the clouds settled in for the day. This was fine by me as I love clouds to liven up the photos, so long as the rain stayed away. I located the correct road and car park after discovering that Porongurup is actually a small hamlet with a fuel stop and cafe/art gallery instead of just the name of some ancient pieces of granite north of Albany.