A crisp and clear mid Autumn morning welcomed the Team as they set out from the northern suburbs of Perth to the much loved Yanchep National Park to take on the day’s hike. An air of ambiguity surrounded the hike as three different websites reported varying lengths for the hike, ranging from 11 kilometres to a decidedly longer 19km. If there was one aim for the day, it was to prove once and for all just how long the Yanchep Rose hike was, thus finally bring peace to the Middle East.
The park has been ‘Perth’s Playground’ for many years, being one of the oldest established National Parks in Western Australia, perhaps only behind John Forrest National Park (the state’s first). Much of the park’s facilities were built by private enterprise in the 1930s, including the delightful tavern, which not surprisingly would be the Team’s destination at the end of the day’s hike. Carbohydrates are an important dietary requirement when exercising, whether they be delivered in solid or handy liquid form. That later is certainly preferred by all members of TeamSCAB.
Yanchep is truly a beautiful National Park, and while it has recently been ravaged by ferocious bushfires, this has only served to increase its uniqueness, with the denuded landscape in places akin to a science fiction writer’s alien world as the various hardy grass trees and Yanchep Roses start to spring back into life. Everyone commented that it would be a great hike to take on again in around six months time, perhaps in the spring when not only will the wildflowers be in bloom but the park will truly be coming back to life.
The hike starts out at a rather genial pace through the grounds of the park on the shore of Loch McNess (we’re not making that up!). The first port of call was the Park Office to register our hike in case something unforeseen should happen, such as a drop bear attack, or should team member Scott run short of supplies and be forced to subsist on berries and emu scat. Thankfully for the team, it would seem, none of the above were to transpire and this was welcome because when the Park Office staff member had to be reminded that we needed to check in, we were filled with no end of confidence of a speedy rescue…
…if they could find the bit of paper we wrote our details on. Apparently ‘the book’ had gone missing. One hopes that all of the hikers who’d left their details in that book had returned safely!
After avoiding the sea of kangaroos and their associated detritus, we ambled over to the trail head for the obligatory ‘this is where it all begins’ photos. This proved in itself to be a rather humorous point of the march, because as mentioned, information on the hike’s length was variable at best and we found that the trail head marker indicated a total length of 19 kilometres and nine hours of hiking, yet the brochure, the very useful and full of sensible hiking tips ‘Wild about Walking – Yanchep National Park and beyond’, given to us on the way into the park clearly indicated 14 kilometers and seven hours. Were we in for a darkened return to our car? Was there some sort of trans-dimensional worm hole somewhere around the ten kilometre mark? Only by hiking on (and indeed reading on dear reader) would we find out.
There’s so much happiness exuding.
Following a paved path into a small stand of eucalyptus trees and back out the other side, we briefly skirted one of the many sporting ovals within the park before entering a thicket of bamboo that had us all thinking we were in steamy Asia, though with a lot more cockatoos and kangaroo dung. Crossing briefly over the Boomerang Walk trail (aptly name for its return circuit) we were presented with the delightful view offered by, what came to be known almost instantaneously, as “WTF point”. Suffice to say, the chair, while very practical and well maintained, seemed a little wasted given the view.
Scott and Ben discussing the function of WTF Point.
The walk trail also passes by Cabaret Cave, one of the many limestone caves within the park, though this one in particular is special having been converted to be used as a function room in the 1930s and has subsequently hosted all manner of balls, weddings and other events.
Unfotunately it was closed as we came by, but smelt distincly ‘cavey’.
Continuing on, we finally left the comforts of paved trails and sandstone steps for the satisfying crunch of pebble underfoot, though with the ever increasing sound of traffic near by. The path crosses Wanneroo road; the major artery to the north of Perth which also leads to the park. Before hitting the road, though, we were stopped in our tracks by the close proximity of one of the locals who posed for a wonderful photo opportunity.
Crossing Wanneroo road without getting hit by a truck, we started up a sandy incline that had us all wondering if we were in for x*km (*the mystery of the length of the path) of sand hiking. Common remarks included ‘I could have stayed at home and done this on the beach’ and ‘Where’s my surfboard?’. Thankfully the path firmed up some as we approached the crest of the first hill which revealled two concrete bunkers dating back to WW2, originally used as radar tracking stations to monitor the Western Australian coast. Now empty, one had been sealed while a second was open, with the unfortunate obligatory graffiti and broken glass. Solidily built, the bunkers look as though they will be around for many years to come, but, it would be nice to see a more concetrated effort made in their preservation.
One of the bunker structures along the Yanchep Rose trail.
After exploring the bunkers, the team headed out into the undulating dunes of the trial heading east towards the main loop. The landscape was fascinating, with all low vegetation completely stripped by the fires earlier in the year and the only plants of any substance, shrubs, low trees, grass trees etc still standing. Aside from that was a well defined trail of hardened sand snaking its way through untouch areas of sand. Blackened remnants of the fires were still broadly evident. With snaking trails in mind, the team noticed too the fairly frequent markings of snake trails across the hike trail, though would not spy any snakes on this coolish autumn morning.
A small diversion was had towards the opening of a limestone cave extending out from the ridge line. Ben made a good go at trying to fall into the cave, but managed for the most part to keep his footing. About two kilometres further on the trail split and the loop section was started in a clockwise fashion. It was also here that Ben’s GPS magically turned itself off from tracking the trail which is why the below trail maps and charts have a couple of odd looking features, mainly a big dip and a straight line on the map.
While not a massive elevation trail, the loose terrain proved challenging, though the team maintained good pace throughout.
This was thankfully noticed at the intersection to a side trail that went to the top of a ridgeline of limestone whose summit provided spectacular views across the alien landscape and out to the ocean to the west as well as over many ridge lines to the east. The landscape was quite unforgiving, a mixture of seared expose limestone rock and bare earth, yet still beautiful in its on unique way.
Retracing steps from the top of the limestone ridge and rejoining the main trail, the team carried on east, crossing one of the many fire trails in the area before coming to what can only be described as a very dodgy intersection. It is not without exageration to say that had one of the team members not been carrying a GPS with the trail already preloaded that the team may still be out clammering the bush waiting to be rescued by the rangers who’d lost their information card. Thankfully though, this was not to be the case. While the fires have burnt out most of the trail markers and some effort has gone into at least putting some temporary markers up (using red electrical tape sporadically draped from trees) this point of the trail in particular required something a little more obvious; especially as there was red tape dangling from trees in both directions.
Confusion aside, the next portion of the trail involved a never ending steady climb and something that the Psychic Friends network would be proud of. One of the overlapping trail markers we spied was that of an emu on a blue background. Annie remarked as we stopped to admire the quality warning sign on this closed trail (which included a warning about hot embers – four months after the fires), that she’d love to see an emu. Trekking on, not more than five minutes later, something caught her eye scampering away in the distance and lo and behold it was a very large and agile emu. The fleeting glimpse was definitely a highlight of the hike, though we would go on to read later that one of the main hazards around Yanchep National park is male emus protecting their young. Thankfully mating season is only just about to begin.
The trail eventually found the top of the ridge and looped along the ridgeline for some time before heading back to rejoin where the loop had split. From here it was a rather genial walk of about 4.5km back to the trail head. Stopping in at the Ranger’s office to report back in, we droped our gear into the car and headed to the Yanchep Inn for a lunch of apple cider and pasta amongst a sea of ducks and waterfowl looking for a free meal having proven that the pamphlet was indeed correct and the trail, as it currently stands is a delightful 14kms.
A fantastic way to end a morning’s hike!
More photos of the hike are in the gallery; a link to which is at the right.
Tags: hike report, photos, trails, Yanchep Rose
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