Bibbulman Track in 28 days itinerary

[annievdm]

I have set myself 28 days to complete the Bibbulman Track (the month of July) and I was wondering if anyone has completed the track in a similar amount of time, if you have your itinerary on hand as I would love to have a look. (If you have pointers about what worked and what totally failed regarding distances)
I can work an itinerary out myself but I just thought that there's no point re-creating the wheel!

I know it's fairly difficult to do it in that amount of time but I don't mind learning the hard way. I did the Camino de Santiago in Spain (800ks) in 28 days so it's not an altogether insane goal.

I'd appreciate any advice (apart from "use more days"

[dougjjj]

Hi,

Definitely possible but not a lot of fun. I started walking the trail last May planning to complete the trail fairly quickly (not as quick as you though) and I found after the first week I wasn't having a lot of fun, I was walking sunrise to sunset everyday. Anyway I decided to not complete the trail in the time I had and took it a slower and ended up enjoying myself a lot more. I'm planning to head back to finish up in April/May this year.

Are you planning to go N->S or S->N?

Tips

- You'll need to carry a tent to do it in that short of a time, some days will either be too short or too long as you'll be double or triple hutting everyday.

- You'll need to post food packs to yourself (to hostels/hotels preferably) - going that fast you won't be able to stop in towns, post offices aren't open outside of business hours so getting packages can be tricky.

- Make sure all your gear is perfect before you leave (shoes etc), once you're on the trail there isn't anywhere decent to replace anything apart from maybe Collie. I would have killed for a new set of insoles a couple of weeks into the walk, the previous 2 months stomping around Nepal has trashed my shoes and I didn't replace them before the Bib.

- Hang your food - If you're staying at shelters, hang your food overnight, there are lot of little critters that will try to get into your food (trying involves eating through tents, bags etc). If the shelter has plastic tubs then you that instead.

- Get a SPOT Tracker/EPRIB if you're going solo, I didn't but wish I did after the number of snakes I saw. I walked in May and went days without seeing anyone quite often, if I had gotten bitten ... it wouldn't have been good

- Mobile Coverage is surprisingly good (Optus and Telstra) in the southern sections of the trail, typically if you can see water/coast you'll get a signal, other places if you get up high enough you'll be good too. If you're in the forest chances are you'll get nothing though.

- Blackwood Camp is the highlight of the trail, it's officially closed as the bridge to get there burnt down but you can ford the river about 1km past where the bridge was (If you're heading south->north). Only go if your Nav is decent though, a lot of markers are missing.

I made an itinerary that shows the cumulative distances between shelters, towns etc. It should help with the planning and walk itself.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FzfRWFOmuiuOydPRh0INu4YpvInNQROnbiGcXS3KbUg

Download a copy and you can chance the 'Days' between towns to calculate average distances etc between stops.

Have a great time and let me know how it goes.

[Whits]

Well I guess the bush fires have quashed that plan. Bummer.

But yeah I did it July, Aug last year in 27 days. Its a fairly flat track and all the inlet crossings were closed over or low. I went N -> S and double hutted all the way up (tripled near Perth) I did not worry about a tent as there was hardly anyone on the trail. Double hutting means you don't have to carry much food as well. The only trouble with winter is there is not much day light so you have to start fairly early in the day but I usually made it before dark and the couple of times I walked in the dark were fine as the markers are reflective . I took lunch in the huts I skipped so I did not carry much water either. I resupplied in the track towns and did not worry about food drops or anything like that. I walked the first half of the track just using the track markers and I had the hut names and distances written on a bit of paper. Someone gave me the second half guide which was also nice to use but the trail is so well marked.

Yeah you will need new shoes (trail runners, its formed trail so no dramas) for the walk or you will probably need to replace them part way if you start with an older pair. I was travelling fairly light (about 5kg base weight) which helps a lot if you want to travel quickly, a good sleeping bag is a must in the shelters at that time of the year as its colder than sleeping in a tent and it chills down quite a bit.

I am averaging 38km a day on the Te Araroa at the moment but that is over summer with a lot more daylight hours and a much harder trail.

[jacko1956]

Yeti did it in 2011 in 28 days.
He has a journal at trailjournals.com
I have one there as well. He started about a week in front of me and took 9 days less.

[paulmp]

I think the hardest section would be around Dwellingup to Collie, you'll want new gear to start with and you can resupply food in quite a few of the small towns if you are there during business hours. Dwellingup has a few decent shops and you can get emergency replacement gear if something breaks.. but expect to pay through the nose there. Don't push it too hard if you get a hotter day, I ran out of water (rookie mistake) and ended up in a bit of trouble in the hills between Dwellingup and the Murray Hut.. definitely have a swim in the Murray if you overnight at the Murray Hut though.