[argh. I had written a long and detailed review of this, and then tried to fix the formatting of one phrase, and dw ate the entry. bah. So, somewhat incoherent rambling about to happen, because I gave myself a set amount of time to write this, and it was mostly used up]
tikiwanderer [lj] challenged a group of her friends to a National Parks Challenge for 2016, by which she selected 20 reasonably-accessible-to-Perth National Parks and 6 Marine Parks for people to either randomly or systematically select one per month from. Our January choice roll was John Forrest National Park, which is a mix of Jarrah 'woodlands' and Wandoo 'heath' along the Darling Scarp according to the sign. The big hike trail is the Eagleview, ~15km long, recommended 4-5 h, Class 4 walk. But a) I'm not sure I'm up to 15km/4-5h/class 4 at the moment and b) it isn't recommended for summer.
Instead, we went for the section of the "[something] Heritage Trail" [hereafter just called 'Heritage Trail'] that runs downhill from the main picnic/carpark area. The trail runs along the line of an old train line, so is a gentle grade, on gravel, nice and wide. Despite this, it turns out to be a class 3 walk, possibly because the access at each end is steep and gravelly (however, for people who can do a little bit of steep, it's quite short, and is then quite a gentle walk - good for groups, because good visibility). It has the problem that it is mostly in the sun. Checking the closest weather station, apparently it hit about 30°C while we were there, but it felt a lot hotter.
The trail has a number of interpretation points - train crash site, construction worker site, tunnel [built 1895; until 2007, only one in Perth/WA], deviation [built 1945] around the tunnel. On the way down, we stayed on the Heritage Trail, and walked through the tunnel [poor visibility, uneven surface, surprisingly cool], and went all slightly past the suggested end to inspect whether there was parking at the bottom [yes, Pechey st, might try starting there in future so that the return is downhill]. On the way up, we took the deviation, and then at the Falls [dry, except one small puddle crowded with bees and wasps] crossed Jane Brook and continued upstream along the walkers only route [cooler, shaded; turns out to be the one that
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artisanat and I had walked with Italian visitors, where I had remembered the uphill vista, and he had remembered the brook]. Part of this is the wildflower walk [class 2, 4-5km, good in August/September, want to come back and do that one].
Had a bit of sticky beak at the general picnic site - the Class 0 walk (promenade around the weir) is currently closed as the bridge at the top is closed for safety reasons [as is the walk across the weir] - I'm guessing that the concrete is rotting, and while replacement sections have been put in, it is all flagged as dangerous.
Also had sticky beak at the tavern there. I hadn't previously registered a tavern there (it is possible I've only been to this part once as an adult - I have strong memories of sections of the visitors area, from when I was a kid, but can only actually think of one visit more recently). Is very traditional pub, no apparent available coffee, so we went up to Mundaring. Attempted to buy coffee at locallish, none chain cafe; failed. Two closed, one is bakery+cafe, busy, but nothing food like. Ended up at Dome, only got coffee. I'm starting to think that soy flat white is a bad idea - I've been consistently nauseous after one for some time. Home again home again, full on migraine hit during driving the Mundaring Weir Road (which I had requested, but wasn't well enough to appreciate), managed to have triggered both migraine and vascular headache, so migraine receded briefly, and headache stayed full bore. Treated with standard migraine approach on getting home. Am over this 'I go out and do Stuff, and I don't feel good afterward', but I should be used to it. Got distracted by Op Shop in Mundaring; ended up with two packs of train track pieces ($20.25) and two Gazman shirts [one linen, one linen cotton blend; ?$15 each).
[there was something at the end in the previous version; can't remember what. anyway - it was fun. Tomorrow, we are going to Serpentine Falls with tikiwander and kitsuniii, which they both rolled, because that means that in the middle of the year when everything is exhausting, we have the ability to say 'we did one already']
