Kalamunda/Beelu National Parks (Piesse Brook walk)

The stats

• Distance - 10-11km
• Grade - classed as 'medium' to 'hard'
• Estimated time to complete - 4 hrs
• Actual time - 3-4 hrs (with stop for lunch)
• Resources - Shire of Kalamunda walking trails website and maps

The verdict

This ended up being a hybrid walk.  I was looking for a challenging trail in the Hills and happened across some excellent maps and guides on the Shire of Kalamunda website so I decided to link the Rocky Pool and Helena Pipehead Walks.  

We were still a diminished Fellowship as my Dad's foot was still on the mend so on a bright sunny Sunday morning, Ross and I headed for Kalamunda and parked on Spring Road where the Rocky Pool walk commenced.  The landscape was quite stunning.  The vegetation was dense and some early wildflowers added splashes of colour to the trail. 

Sweeping landscape - Kalamunda National Park

Wildflowers in bloom in Kalamunda/Beelu National Parks

We quickly comprehended why parts of the Rocky Pool Walk were classed as 'hard'.  The steep gravel tracks were pretty challenging with loose rock and corrugations making the trail particularly slippery.  Fortunately by following the trail in a clockwise direction most of the toughest slopes were on descents.

Ross on the steep and corrugated track

At Point #7 on the Rocky Pool Walk we took a deviation to the left and up a steep hill (under power lines).  At the T-junction at the top of the hill we turned right and followed the track around until it joined the Helena Pipehead Walk at Point #6.  We completed the circuit and then returned to finish the rest of the Rocky Pool Walk.

Crossing a water course - good practice (as we were to discover)
for the Coast to Coast walk although as we also quickly
found out, no Cumbrian stream was quite this tame!

The Helena Pipehead Walk brought home just how dire the water situation is in Western Australia.  It's now mid-winter and supposedly our peak season for rain and yet the ever decreasing rainfall over the last few years is taking its toll.  The water level looked decidedly low...

View over Helena Pipehead Dam (Puddle?)

It was more encouraging to find water in Rocky Pool - the pool fringed by boulders that gives the walk its name.  Approaching the end of the trail there was one last uphill section for good measure - ah, steps how I love thee...

Looking back down at the steps that weary legs have trodden