Cape To Cape Track, Western Australia (Nikon FM3A & Kodak Ektar 100)
C2C_CD-5269008
Still smiling after close to 135km with a full pack :)
We are finally compiling photos of our Cape to Cape hike for a small coffee table book and I came across this shot, at the end of our south to north hike, signing off at the Cape Naturaliste Registration station.
I scanned the negatives on fully automatic with dust removal on the Epson V700. It may not be 'professional', but it is good enough for my purposes. Also, I kind of like the 'unsaturated' look and it reflects the conditions - as far as I remember - bright sunny (when it was not raining), sometimes a bit 'wishywashy' :)
Cape to Cape Track, Western Australia Claudia's photos:
www.flickr.com/photos/ccgraf/albums/72157659215548385
The low-down - my personal opinion ... :
The Cape to Cape Track is quite a challenging long-distance hike , especially when carrying camping gear, food for four days (see Food drop*** below), and ensuring that we always had up to four litres of drinking water per day per person.
At one place (see Conto Camping ground*** below), which is accessible by 4WD, where we expected to be able to fill up with water, I had only one litre left and a 19km hike ahead of us. The ranger was not there and we could not find any water tanks. This was not good. A camper overheard us discussing what to do and he kindly gave us two litres of bottled water and we made it to the next camp. Most people appear to realize that when hikers carry a full pack on this trek that water supply may become a bit of an issue and are very helpful. We met a young German woman who was given bottled water by some surfers.
***Food drop:
We walked for four days, had a break with food drop at Margaret River, then walked another 3 1/2 days to Cape Naturaliste, the end of our hike. Hikers doing this trek with full back pack are allowed to camp anywhere along the track, though, camping grounds are recommended. I assume that the main reason for this is to ensure that no rubbish is being left behind. Also, if some rescue would be required for any reason, camping grounds are easier to find. Groups must use camping grounds, or be driven to cabins.
***Conto Camping Ground:
parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/conto-campground
Campground map (Note: No potable water, i.e. need for waterpurifying tablets, supply not guaranteed):
parkstaybookings.dbca.wa.gov.au/media/parkstay/campground...
Conto is quite a large camping ground. As usual we had left camp a little later than planned and arrived at Conto at 8am, i.e. we really did not have time to search for water tanks or wait for the ranger who may or may not be there early, or at all. At Point Road Camping Ground, we left the camping fees in a secure concrete encased steel box. There is a toilet at Point Road, but no water tanks.
The Cape to Cape track involves some rock scrambling, steep log steps up limestone cliffs up to 365 log steps high (up when doing the hike south to north), some other ascents and descents, long sandy tracks and 8km and longer sandy beaches. With a heavy pack that does not appear to become lighter even after eating all of the food and drinking most of the water, the Cape to Cape Track proved to be a bit of a challenge for me.
The all important toilet facilities
Leave only foot prints
Everything carried in, must be carried out, and disposed of responsibly, and that includes especially wet wipes. We used the facilities at surfing beaches, coastal towns and camping grounds. For obvious reasons, burning anything is not permitted.
Along the track, at places accessible by car, we found good and very clean toilet facilities. As a former architectural draftswoman, I was most impressed by their construction. And what I welcome relief it was to spend considerable time sitting on the loo, without pack, resting my weary legs, and admiring the doors:
Crafted and finished in beautiful Jarrah!
Track rating:
The hike is graded '4', and the full hike of about 135km should take five to seven days. We did it in 7 1/2 days, camped 'wherever' and thus were able to reduce the length of each leg to between 16km and 19km. However, each extra day means carrying an additional ration of food and water. I am a bit slow and for me this trek was a challenge mainly due to the heavy pack. Also, I suppose, age (just past 65 and carrying a pack of about 34% of my body weight) has wearied me! :)
Recommended?
Definitely, yes!
At the time of writing there have been no 'track improvements' such as grates, etc. to make things easier for trekkers. This may reduce the numbers of trekkers and damage to fragile dune systems and I believe that this will remain so. There are times when we just have to accept that some places are inaccessible to many of us. One of 'those things' I suppose.
I had two falls, the first one on slippery seaweed and water covered rocks shortly after leaving Cape Leeuwin.
I went down slowly, lay on the wet and smelly seaweed for a while, the heavy pack pinning me down, wondering how on earth I would get up again. In the end I managed to clamber out of the mess by jamming the trekking poles from my horizontal position and more or less vertically, between the rocks somehow, carefully pulling myself up and then trying to rip the poles, rammed in by about 39kg on each of them, out of the rocks without falling over again.
Relaying my experience to a Friend of the Cape to Cape Track, whom I met on one of the camel treks, he cheerfully exclaimed:
Ah yes! That's the place where people break their legs! :)
The second fall was more benign and I managed to get up in a most undignified manner by getting onto my knees and then pulling myself up with the help of the walking poles hoping that they would not retract due to the weight. Taking the pack off was not an option as I was unable to swing it onto my back without falling over again. I had tried swinging on the pack at home and the momentum of the heavy pack rotated me 180 degrees with the pack landing on the floor and I struggling to keep my balance.
This was a truly great hike and I shall always treasure that I was able to do it with my daughter.
As for my knee after the first fall:
As days went on, my left knee became more and more painful, at times the pain was excruciating. I topped up with Panadol and Nurofen after Margaret River and was able to finish the walk, usually hobbling into camp at the end of the day. An MRI revealed that I have a partially torn ACL and, since this walk, my knee hasn't been the same. Though, no regrets at all that I completed this hike.
Update:
After this hike, I was still able to participate in a few more camel treks, the last one mid 2019. In 2019, we only walked 70 - 80km and my knee ended up quite painful, main problem being the Baker's cyst swelling up. I hope my hiking days won't be over! Just not yet! I'd love to do a few more camel treks ... Continuing with physio, gentle walking and strengthening exercises, avoiding any kind of medication.
Update 2020:
With the problem of the Baker’s cyst getting worse, I decided to consult two surgeons;
The first one, after looking at the MRI, which also revealed that the Baker's cyst had ruptured at some stage or another, reminding me of the sudden excruciating pain I encountered after scrambling up a gorge in the Northern Territory in 2018) recommended a knee replacement. To me, “knee replacement = prothesis” = panic.
Thankfully, the surgeon who did the arthroscopy on that knee almost 20 years ago was still practicing. He looked at the MRI, did all kind of ‘maneuvers’ on my knee and his verdict was: “No, not yet. maybe in the future, but at this stage, no …” He sent me to his off-sider, also a sports specialist, who recommended knee exercises and “keep walking.”
And that’s what I’ve been doing – just keep walking and put up with some discomfort.
Just keep walking: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMQmsO3L5g
Cape To Cape Track, Western Australia (Nikon FM3A & Kodak Ektar 100)
C2C_CD-5269008
Still smiling after close to 135km with a full pack :)
We are finally compiling photos of our Cape to Cape hike for a small coffee table book and I came across this shot, at the end of our south to north hike, signing off at the Cape Naturaliste Registration station.
I scanned the negatives on fully automatic with dust removal on the Epson V700. It may not be 'professional', but it is good enough for my purposes. Also, I kind of like the 'unsaturated' look and it reflects the conditions - as far as I remember - bright sunny (when it was not raining), sometimes a bit 'wishywashy' :)
Cape to Cape Track, Western Australia Claudia's photos:
www.flickr.com/photos/ccgraf/albums/72157659215548385
The low-down - my personal opinion ... :
The Cape to Cape Track is quite a challenging long-distance hike , especially when carrying camping gear, food for four days (see Food drop*** below), and ensuring that we always had up to four litres of drinking water per day per person.
At one place (see Conto Camping ground*** below), which is accessible by 4WD, where we expected to be able to fill up with water, I had only one litre left and a 19km hike ahead of us. The ranger was not there and we could not find any water tanks. This was not good. A camper overheard us discussing what to do and he kindly gave us two litres of bottled water and we made it to the next camp. Most people appear to realize that when hikers carry a full pack on this trek that water supply may become a bit of an issue and are very helpful. We met a young German woman who was given bottled water by some surfers.
***Food drop:
We walked for four days, had a break with food drop at Margaret River, then walked another 3 1/2 days to Cape Naturaliste, the end of our hike. Hikers doing this trek with full back pack are allowed to camp anywhere along the track, though, camping grounds are recommended. I assume that the main reason for this is to ensure that no rubbish is being left behind. Also, if some rescue would be required for any reason, camping grounds are easier to find. Groups must use camping grounds, or be driven to cabins.
***Conto Camping Ground:
parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/conto-campground
Campground map (Note: No potable water, i.e. need for waterpurifying tablets, supply not guaranteed):
parkstaybookings.dbca.wa.gov.au/media/parkstay/campground...
Conto is quite a large camping ground. As usual we had left camp a little later than planned and arrived at Conto at 8am, i.e. we really did not have time to search for water tanks or wait for the ranger who may or may not be there early, or at all. At Point Road Camping Ground, we left the camping fees in a secure concrete encased steel box. There is a toilet at Point Road, but no water tanks.
The Cape to Cape track involves some rock scrambling, steep log steps up limestone cliffs up to 365 log steps high (up when doing the hike south to north), some other ascents and descents, long sandy tracks and 8km and longer sandy beaches. With a heavy pack that does not appear to become lighter even after eating all of the food and drinking most of the water, the Cape to Cape Track proved to be a bit of a challenge for me.
The all important toilet facilities
Leave only foot prints
Everything carried in, must be carried out, and disposed of responsibly, and that includes especially wet wipes. We used the facilities at surfing beaches, coastal towns and camping grounds. For obvious reasons, burning anything is not permitted.
Along the track, at places accessible by car, we found good and very clean toilet facilities. As a former architectural draftswoman, I was most impressed by their construction. And what I welcome relief it was to spend considerable time sitting on the loo, without pack, resting my weary legs, and admiring the doors:
Crafted and finished in beautiful Jarrah!
Track rating:
The hike is graded '4', and the full hike of about 135km should take five to seven days. We did it in 7 1/2 days, camped 'wherever' and thus were able to reduce the length of each leg to between 16km and 19km. However, each extra day means carrying an additional ration of food and water. I am a bit slow and for me this trek was a challenge mainly due to the heavy pack. Also, I suppose, age (just past 65 and carrying a pack of about 34% of my body weight) has wearied me! :)
Recommended?
Definitely, yes!
At the time of writing there have been no 'track improvements' such as grates, etc. to make things easier for trekkers. This may reduce the numbers of trekkers and damage to fragile dune systems and I believe that this will remain so. There are times when we just have to accept that some places are inaccessible to many of us. One of 'those things' I suppose.
I had two falls, the first one on slippery seaweed and water covered rocks shortly after leaving Cape Leeuwin.
I went down slowly, lay on the wet and smelly seaweed for a while, the heavy pack pinning me down, wondering how on earth I would get up again. In the end I managed to clamber out of the mess by jamming the trekking poles from my horizontal position and more or less vertically, between the rocks somehow, carefully pulling myself up and then trying to rip the poles, rammed in by about 39kg on each of them, out of the rocks without falling over again.
Relaying my experience to a Friend of the Cape to Cape Track, whom I met on one of the camel treks, he cheerfully exclaimed:
Ah yes! That's the place where people break their legs! :)
The second fall was more benign and I managed to get up in a most undignified manner by getting onto my knees and then pulling myself up with the help of the walking poles hoping that they would not retract due to the weight. Taking the pack off was not an option as I was unable to swing it onto my back without falling over again. I had tried swinging on the pack at home and the momentum of the heavy pack rotated me 180 degrees with the pack landing on the floor and I struggling to keep my balance.
This was a truly great hike and I shall always treasure that I was able to do it with my daughter.
As for my knee after the first fall:
As days went on, my left knee became more and more painful, at times the pain was excruciating. I topped up with Panadol and Nurofen after Margaret River and was able to finish the walk, usually hobbling into camp at the end of the day. An MRI revealed that I have a partially torn ACL and, since this walk, my knee hasn't been the same. Though, no regrets at all that I completed this hike.
Update:
After this hike, I was still able to participate in a few more camel treks, the last one mid 2019. In 2019, we only walked 70 - 80km and my knee ended up quite painful, main problem being the Baker's cyst swelling up. I hope my hiking days won't be over! Just not yet! I'd love to do a few more camel treks ... Continuing with physio, gentle walking and strengthening exercises, avoiding any kind of medication.
Update 2020:
With the problem of the Baker’s cyst getting worse, I decided to consult two surgeons;
The first one, after looking at the MRI, which also revealed that the Baker's cyst had ruptured at some stage or another, reminding me of the sudden excruciating pain I encountered after scrambling up a gorge in the Northern Territory in 2018) recommended a knee replacement. To me, “knee replacement = prothesis” = panic.
Thankfully, the surgeon who did the arthroscopy on that knee almost 20 years ago was still practicing. He looked at the MRI, did all kind of ‘maneuvers’ on my knee and his verdict was: “No, not yet. maybe in the future, but at this stage, no …” He sent me to his off-sider, also a sports specialist, who recommended knee exercises and “keep walking.”
And that’s what I’ve been doing – just keep walking and put up with some discomfort.
Just keep walking: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMQmsO3L5g