King Karri Trail

Utilising a part of the famous Munda Biddi Trail, this 3.5km loop takes you through ancient Karri forest where the giants grow tall. The sunshine quickly disappears as you follow the trail markers uphill and are immediately transported into the sights, sounds and smells of an old growth forest. The best way to describe this trail is an “up or down” trail as you are either looking directly up at all the towering giants or on the floor for the 18 families of macro-fungi that call this forest home. The trail is well signposted if you travel in an anti-clockwise direction (turning right at the top of the first hill) soon you will spot the Munda Biddi sign. Being quite a wide trail you won’t be short of space if a group of riders passes by but be sure to keep to one side just in case. I only saw a few mountain bikers during my stay in Quinninup but during peak tourist periods I can imagine that this section will be visited frequently. On my walk to the trail start I did manage to find a discarded iPod mini that had clearly not survived a fall. If it was an end to ender then I feel for them not having music to listen to as they struggle through some tough terrain. After 1km you say farewell to the Munda Biddi Trail and head off in a north-east direction for what will be the last climb of the trail up to the 197m peak. While it was only early winter and as previously mentioned, a dry start to the year, there were still signs of the fungi that are described on the trail brochure.

Orange coloured mushrooms, green lichen/moss covered trees and some fungi that looked like it belonged on the face of a middle earth orc (see gallery at the bottom of the page) were all visible by constantly scanning the forest floor. Pretty soon you will reach the peak (no views unfortunately) and waiting there for you will be the first of two named trees. “The Shaggy Karri” is a 73m, 400 year old giant that has been here 200 years longer than European settlement in Western Australia. At 73m it is 1m taller that it’s more famous Pemberton neighbour, The Gloucester Tree, but it doesn’t have any foliage so you can appreciate its true height. From the Shaggy Karri you continue to descend into the forest and the undergrowth becomes even thicker than before. The damp, leaf covered ground snaking through rich, green forest is straight out of Lord of the Rings where the four hobbits first encounter each other and escape the first black wraith. If you do come across any hobbits then make sure you take a photo or two but if not the trail winds its way down to the second named tree, “Hollow Butt”. Hollow Butt is named that way because like so many forest giants you will see in this part of the world; it has a big chunk missing from its base that gives it a hollowed out look.

At 63m it is shorter than Shaggy Karri but it still has relatively thick foliage for its age (300-350 years old) and might not be done growing just yet. Below is a video I took of the Shaggy Karri to show how big they actually are because fitting 73m of Karri tree in one shot is impossible standing near the base. Hollow Butt is situated in a bit of forest with more giants for company so is harder to shoot looking up. Leaving the two giants behind, the rest of the trail meanders its way through the forest and down back towards the start point. Keep an ear out for the native birds chirping away and an eye on the undergrowth for more fungi as there are a lot of fallen trees in this section that provide suitable growing conditions. Eventually you spot the enormous tree that marks that first turn off point and the path back down to Wheatley Coast Rd. If you are lucky enough to get sunny blue skies then the scene greeting you at the roadside is a very pleasant contrast between the rolling green pastoral lands and a deep blue sky. The only thing left to do was walk uphill and into town where a good rest was awaiting me.