July 12th, 2021

Days km: 41.2km
Total km: 752.5km

The forecast was for heavy rain and it seemed to be on point because when I woke up it was raining…heavily. I took my time getting ready, hoping it would ease off a bit but by 7:40 I decided it was time to get going. The rain looked like it was going to last for a long while so I may as well get the misery over and done with. It stopped after 10 minutes and the sun came out. Sonofa…

The track continued on the sand super highway for a good long, stretch and then it was back into the Pingerup plains. The plains were quite beautiful with heathland, reedy open swamps, karri and jarrah hummocks, lots swamp banksia, scrub and the occasional granite outcrop here and there. There was not as much water on the trail as I was expecting, the plains are notorious for being waterlogged in winter and with the rain we had had I was expecting some swimming might be required, but it wasn’t too bad at all.

I stumbled into Mt.Chance shelter just before 1pm. I had some lunch and started prepping my for the night. Once I was all setup I looked up at the blue skies and thought, ah what the hell. I packed up and got back on the trail. I knew it would be a little after dark by the time I arrived at Woolbales, but I could not handle the thought of hanging around camp for hours on end, waiting for the sun to go down. I’m a slow hiker, but I am also an impatient one. I’d much rather be walking.

The walk to Woolbales was more of the same, wide open plains, hummocks of trees, granite outcrops and a mostly flat, wet track. It was close to 7pm by the time I got into Woolbales, which was thankfully, empty.