Ben Skinner (Benski)

Track Towns and Supplies

• How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 8
• Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No
• Somewhat limited supply options in Dwelly and Balingup, very limited in DR, PB. Excellent in Collie and Denmark. Northcliffe IGA well stocked but limited opening hours. Parcels to 4 visitors centres worked well. Used for homemade dehydrated food.

Particular Track Towns that you would return to:

• Dwellingup
• Balingup
• Denmark
• Albany

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Your Story or Advice for Others

General Comments
Solo e2e over 38 days. What a great experience. Loved the routine of walking, hutting and meeting new people. Haven’t holidayed alone for decades but I loved it and was never bored or lonely. Good weather helped, but what a wonderfully maintained trail through great bushland. A credit to the foundation and WA. If you’re a reasonably experienced, fit and equipped hiker, say you’ve done a few 4+ day hikes successfully, then I say DO IT.

Your Best Equipment
1. Home made dehydrated food sent in parcels. 2. Durston x-mid pro tent. As much for the admiration of other hikers as for itself. 😀 3. Taking the mesh bag on my Sawyer to drip filter water by hanging from the hut tables, so I never had to squeeze. Also used for washing silk inner sheet. 4. Minimalist titanium cookware. Dump the jetboils people! 5. Travelling laundry detergent sheets that weigh about a gram. 6. Osprey 48l Exos pack. Plenty of space-even for 8 day food carry to Dwelly. 7. “Bears” cheap Croc knock offs that are actually lighter. Could walk multi ks on Pingerup plains and track towns no problems. 8. Fixumoll toe plaster. Noooo blisters at all! 9. Scaling back to a 250g down jacket and 700g Mamut sleeping bag. Never cold despite a few 1-2 degree mornings. 10. Fast charger with a Skoda multi lead. 11.Garmin Forerunner 235….downloaded the gpx file to it and it saved me multiple times when I foolishly went off track. So much easier than pulling out the phone. 12. CalTopo subscription. I seem to be the only one who uses this nav app in Australia but I don’t know why. It’s the best and cheapest. 13. Waterproof iPhone. How did we hike before smartphones? 14. Dozens of ziplock bags and spare rubber bands

Your Worst Equipment
Sent the following home from Dwellingup: 1. Solar panel. Ok it was only a small super light one, but for this reason it was pointless. A big one would have been worse. Don’t bother. 2. Second 10000 mAh power pack. On the longest stretch I didn’t even drain my first one. 3. Leggings. It’s not Alaska. 4. Physical books. Ok I only had light novellas, but I should have taken an ebook reader Following I wouldn’t takenext time: 1. Gaiters. Ok mine were ultralight but you Don’t need with waterproof pants and are false snake security. 6. Salomon gore tex hiking shoes. They’re too tight across toes, even at a half size big. Non waterproof trail runners look like the go.

Advice for Others
The guide books were sometimes interesting, but mostly not. Really they should be electronic. Until they are I’d leave them at home. Carried paper maps but never used…I think the risk of getting lost doesn’t justify theirr cost and weight if you have CalTopo and great signage.

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Trip Details

How you completed the Bibbulmun Track:

• All at once

• How many days did it take you to complete the Track? 38
• Who did you complete the Track with? Solo (primarily)
• Was undertaking your hike the PRIMARY/MAIN purpose of your TRAVEL from where you currently live? Yes
• What first prompted you to walk the Bibbulmun Track? Word of mouth/friends
  

What did you use to navigate the Track?

• BT Guidebooks
• App (please specify)
• - CalTopo and Garmin Forerunner watch

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Your Experience

• Availability of information: Excellent - You can never go the wrong way with help from Wrong Way Jim.
• Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Fair - Maybe 100 tiger snakes? But don’t let that put you off! I do however blame them for not seeing any whales and dolphins as my eyes were on the track and not on the sea.

Favourite Section
Denmark to Albany.

Highlight of your trip
Rails and Bails, Balingup.

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