Snail
- Start date: 31 August 2016
- Age When Completed: 26
- Direction Walked: North to South
- Others in Group:
Hermit Frog (Fred Harris)
General Comments
Amazing trail, such diversity! Well maintained by volunteers! Thanks for the shelters too! I have a new appreciation for shelters after finding a few were non-existent (burnt down or diverted around) and having to pitch a tent - in rain tenting sucks!
Food/Supplies Comments
We packed all our food into 9 boxes, loaded it into the Corolla (tight fit!) and off we went from South Australia to WA airport via all the track towns to drop our boxes off. Left the car there for a few months and commenced our walk. Worked well, didn’t have to resupply at all (except for a few treats we felt we deserved)!
Favourite Section
The tingle forest was amazing, although a short section, those red tingles are incredible!
Highlights
Seeing the ocean for the first time heading south! Such an amazing milestone!
Personal Reactions
I did not expect the forests to be so diverse! From sandy dunes, to swamps, to open gumtree forest, giant red tingles… this Track has it all!! And lots of fungi to keep my partner entertained!!
Wildlife
Plenty of kangaroos, black/red and black/white cockatoos, tiger snakes, dugites oh and lots of bugs. Plus a mardoo that put a hole in my pack!
Your Best Equipment
Hiking poles! Where would I be without them! Great for climbs, descent, rocketing along flat sections! Plus it took a load off my feet as they were in pain for the whole 52 days of hiking!
Your Worst Equipment
Solar panels. Didn’t need them, left them at Three Ways to collect on the bus home. The towns are close enough to have our phones last each section, with a few charges from a portable battery charger. And replacing all our batteries (torches, steripen, SPOT3 GPS) with lithium batteries meant they all lasted the full 52 days without replacement. Yep, SPOT3 GPS, continually running all day reporting our position every 10 minutes didn’t go flat!
Advice for Others
Get a GPS!! Carry less things! We offloaded a box of things we didn’t need at Three Ways!
Get an awesome sleeping bag. Mine was a quality ‘One Planet’ 800+ loft down -11c and was just warm enough (even with a 5 degree thermo liner in it) when it got to 1 degree on a few nights (with a breeze).
If you can, post or drop off your food and supplies at towns, include gas canister(don’t post these), toiletries, everything! A few people on the Track couldn’t get good supplies at some towns and were stuck eating very poor meals or were not able to get gas canisters!