Loop walk
Kalbarri National Park
Directions - The Loop Walk is located in Kalbarri National Park, a 30-minute drive east of Kalbarri. From the centre of town, take Ajana-Kalbarri Road east until you reach the turn-off for the national park. Turn left and continue driving, stopping at the pay station if you don't have a national parks pass, and turn left when you reach the end of the road. Follow the signs for Nature's Window, where you'll find ample parking, although it does get busy during the July school holidays.
The Hike - The Loop Walk in Kalbarri National Park is often rated as one of the best day hikes in WA, and one that I was really looking forward to hiking when I finally visited the area in 2024. Kalbarri has always been a destination I've wanted to visit but my annual leave has been used on other trips in the last few years. With a family holiday planned to the area for July, I was more than happy with this decision, as it meant I didn't have to plan a separate trip, that was on the cards before the family holiday was announced.
Driving up to Kalbarri, the surrounding landscape was much greener than I was expecting, with lush farmland and roadside vegetation all the way to Kalbarri. The reason for this was the high amounts of rainfall this part of WA had received in June and July compared to normal, with 317mm falling in June, and about 100mm up to the time of this hike in July). While this meant some rare sights along this trail, that you'll see further into the post, it also meant that leading up to this trip, the Loop Walk and Z-Bend had been closed by DBCA for safety reasons. Thankfully the Loop Walk had been opened the day we arrived, and with heavy rain expected for the following night, I figured that I'd better hike this trail before it closed again. Plans were discussed with everyone, and I was alone in the desire to get up super early and go hiking. With everyone keen to visit the Kalbarri Skywalk, I said I'd meet everyone after I finished the Loop Walk, so was awake before dawn, driving out to catch the Skywalk at sunrise.
After that lovely experience, I drove the short distance across the gorge to the Nature's Window car park, ready to tackle the 11km circuit. As with the Skywalk, it was too early for the masses of tourists I would see later on, so there was only a handful of cars already in the car park. Checking out the information board at the top of the stairs leading down to Nature's Window, there is a handy little temperature gauge showing how warm it currently is in the gorge. Designed to deter unprepared hikers from tackling this trail during the warmer months, it was a chilly 13 degrees when I started, and I hadn't yet removed my jacket. It was going to get to 25C today, which is much hotter in the gorge, hence the warning gauge up here. Descending the stairs from the car park, you initially walk along a paved path that provides some lovely views across the Murchison River Valley, as it snakes and meanders quite a lot through the landscapes of Kalbarri National Park.
Descending down towards a narrow neck of the gorge, this part of the Murchison River does a long loop from the east of where you are, right around to the north, before flowing south and then west once again. This forms the basis of the aptly named Loop Walk, as you follow the path that the river has carved out over the millennia, back to where you started. Reaching a lookout with views over the western bend of the river, this is where the pavement ends and you continue along the bare rock of the upper gorge. Even if you're only doing the walk down to Nature's Window, this is a stunning section, as you reach the narrow point where you have the two sections of the river on both sides. Getting views looking down to your right that will be familiar for the first part of the journey, the real treat that I could take my eyes off were the views looking to the north, as the river winds back around, and then off towards the wedge-like cliffs to the west, where the Kalbarri Skywalk is located.
I had a lot of time here to soak in the views and photograph every little angle, as I had not timed my visit very well. I was slightly behind a group of three girls, and the tourist code meant that they were at Nature's Window first, so were entitled to take all their photos before me. This did take a while, so I gave them space while I wandered downhill a little bit and admired the stunning early morning views. Eventually they departed, and I got my time with this famous tourist location, which frames the river valley below via an eroded section of sandstone. It's a pretty cool spot when you have it on your own, and I had fun photographing it from various angles, although didn't get the shot of the sunrise shining through the frame. Deciding to move on, I ventured downhill again, following the while poles that guide the way along the rocky trail that will become familiar. The top of the gorge gets quite narrow here, and the way the markers are setup guide you to complete this walk in an anti-clockwise direction, which was more than fine with me.
Walking in this direction did present a challenge at first light, with your eyeline very much looking into, or being affected, by the sun for the first half of the loop. This is unavoidable no matter which way you go, so I made the most of it, and selected the best angles to shoot certain scenes based on the sun. The first third of the walks sees you traverse the edge of the gorge, with fantastic views looking down to the river on your right. An early delight nestled on a tree branch below was an Osprey, which must be its favourite spot to watch the world go by, as it was still there when I finished the hike some three hours later. Leaving the narrow gap between the two bends in the river, you continue along the edge of the river valley, coming across a mini version of Nature's Window not far into the official Loop Walk. This whole area was once a shallow sea when sea levels were much higher, and these little windows remind me of the cave on top of Frenchman Peak near Esperance, in that they are relatively high up but were created by wave/tidal action.
Continuing on, this is the start of a steady rise from the bottom of the narrow gap where the circuit part starts and finishes, up to the high point along the loop. Leaving the last of the views looking off to the western part of the river, a series of climbs and dips makes it feel like you've well and truly left the touristy part of Nature's Window behind. Sometimes hugging quite close to the edge of the cliffs leading down to the river, this provided some nice photos of the low morning sun illuminating the valley. heading away from the cliffs, you reach a section at most other times of the year would just appear as a normal section of rocky scree, for me it was a flowing creek. This would become a theme for the hike, as I got to see firsthand the transformation of the landscape when there is frequent rain, which I should point out is not every winter. Arriving at a metal shelter along the route, this beautiful structure is etched with intricate aboriginal artwork that really comes alive in the morning sun. I don't remember seeing any signage around it, and there is nothing online, so perhaps that information is still coming.
Either way it was a nice stop, and this was the spot where you see the first of many signs asking if you're feeling okay with the heat. With temperatures reaching 50C in the gorges during the warmer months, the onset of heat exhaustion can come suddenly, so these signs provide information on what to do if you don't feel right. For most of the sections in the gorge you won't get mobile coverage, so it's important to know what to do if things take a turn for the worst in the heat. I think by this point it was warm enough for me to take off my jacket, as the hill climbing had got the blood pumping. Continuing to rise up the hill, you eventually reach the edge of the cliffs again, rewarded with excellent views looking down to the river. Walking slightly downhill, this is where things started to get much more interesting in terms of the flora I was seeing on the trail.
Masses of Drosera vines were littered just off the path, and with the morning light catching the combination of their sticky pads and water droplets clinging to them, it looked magical. I even found an unlucky insect that had been trapped, ready to be consumed by these carnivorous plants. At the bottom of the hill you reach one of my favourite points of the hike, where you round the contours of the gorge as a creek has carved out the hill over many, many years. Here is where the excellent early season orchids were located, with my first Blue Fairy sighting for the season. Kalbarri is technically part of the South West Land Mass, so you get some of the same species of orchids up here that you do all over the South West of the state. Further examples I found were the Pink Fairy Orchid and the Snail Orchid, all found along the two little sections carved into the sandstone.
The amount of water on the trail through here made me start to understand why the trail had been closed, as this isn't even close to where the river sections are and I was already encountering long puddles. After a bounty of orchids, it was fun to see a little fungi, as I'm sure they only have a limited window before the heat starts to kill them off. Rising up a small hill, this sees you venture towards the final part of the cliff-top walking, as you start to get some incredible views overlooking the bend in the river ahead, and the various gorges the feed into the main river valley. I could hear the sound of rushing water as I reached the edge of the cliff, and sure enough, there was a relatively large waterfall cascading on the other side of the river. I'm pretty sure it takes a lot of rain and the right conditions for it to be flowing this much, and I was lucky enough to be here when all the stars had aligned. Reaching the edge of the cliff, where the trail starts to descend down to the river, this view is pretty special.
The wide vistas suggest the majority of Kalbarri National Park is endless scrub but the areas surrounding the Murchison River Valley are full of these fascinating gorges. Standing there and staring at the double gorge, with a massive block of sandstone standing defiantly between them. It looked like a pretty cool place to explore, and potentially something for when I finally get around to doing the multi-day Murchison River Gorge Walk. Starting to descend, I saw my first Pink Pokers of the hike, a species up until today I had only seen in nurseries back in Perth. The descent wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be in terms of gradient, with only a couple of spots where you had to step down via rocky ledges. At the bottom, you reach a sandy beach section, where you can stare up at the gorge walls, complete with areas of exposed rock face that show all the sedimentary layers that were built up over millions of years. The white trunks of the eucalyptus trees looked a treat, and the contrast of colours through here was fantastic.
Now 4km into the hike, this would start the next phase of the trail where I would be walking along the edge of the Murchison River, and really immersing myself into the geology and wonder of this special place. Spending some time on the beach admiring the cliffs on the other side of the river, I did think to myself that the river wasn't as high as I thought it would be. I knew there was a pinch point coming up where there was a narrow ledge but surely DBCA wouldn't have opened the trail back up if it wasn't passable. Walking along the beach to continue my walk, there is a large tree that did not survive a storm or flood event, and has taken to lying on its side with roots sticking up skyward. This leads you to the end of the beach section, where the white poles point you in the direction of the rocky ledges that will become home for the next couple of kilometres. Having witnessed the waterfall from high above earlier, I was about to get a taste of more as the sound of rushing water filled my ears.
Taking the path of least resistance, as it likes to do, the water was cascading down the side of the cliffs to my left, gathering in key areas to congregate into more cohesive streams. While not a waterfall through here, the haphazard way it was falling off the ledges high above created some cool effects as the northern sun illuminated the droplets. One small boulder was copping a pounding from the water droplets, so I took some time to photograph the effect with a faster shutter speed. The wide ledge started to get quite narrow and this reminded me of hiking through some of the gorges in Karijini National Park, just without the long drops if you fell. Looking straight ahead, the sun made photography a bit hard on the wide shots, so I focused on capturing the overhanging ledges and looking across the river to the steeper cliffs. Arriving at the only real pinch point on the trail, I didn't remember it being this much of a squeeze when I had seen photos from the post on The Long Ways Better.
There was only one way through, and that was via a narrow ledge right under a tight overhang that didn't seem the easiest of places to fit through with a backpack. Getting on my hands and knees, I crawled on the ledge, eventually getting semi-stuck on the overhang, with my pack being the issue. Not wanting to fall in the river with my phone and camera on me, I reached around and placed them as far ahead as I could reach, before tilting my whole body towards the river to fit around. This was successful and I didn't do a slow motion roll into the golden coloured waters of the Murchison. Looking back at the photos from Donovan's post, there is a lower ledge that you can usually take but it was underwater when I was there. I guess the trail closures happen when the upper ledge is also underwater. With that little bit of fun behind me, I was out on the wider platforms that would see me head north and follow the bend in the river. This was really pleasant walking, as I love a bit of rock hopping, and there were a plethora of waterfalls along this section to photograph.
I had assumed when I was out there that wasn't wasn't the typical experience you'd have for this walk, something the ladies at the Visitor Centre confirmed when I stopped in later in the week. Around every little bend and crevice seemed to be another creek crossing, which usually meant there was some kind of waterfall just up the hill. Taking my time to explore and photograph each one, they all had their own unique identity based on the number of layers they fell down or the shape of the rocks they had eroded away over the years. Reminding myself to look at what was going on with the river as I walked along, I spotted a Black Swan going about its day and I think the photo I got was about as close as you're going to get to the WA State Flag in real life, with a Black Swan on a yellow background. As you approach the northern ends of this section of the trail, the rocky platform starts to get wider, and there are a few trees and plants dotted in there, including a Crimson Turkey Bush and an Acacia species I haven't been able to identify.
Starting to round the bend in the river, the gorge wall on the other side starts to become more visible, and the high cliffs look very dramatic. I lost count at the number of waterfalls I had passed by now, but there were a few more as the trail now heads west, and starts to narrow up once again. This was more to my liking, as you pick your way through large boulders and have a bit more to do in terms of thinking about your next step. Another nod to the water levels being higher than they usually would be, I passed several groupings of trees where the trunks were underwater. The narrow section doesn't last too long before you are deposited back out onto wider lands next to the river, with a sandy track replacing the rocky ledges. The area was looking much greener than what I had expected, and I suspect that a lot of the weeds through here may have been carried downstream over the decades, from farming land running along the Murchison to the east. The park was never grazing land, as far as I can tell, having being declared a national park not long after Kalbarri township was formed.
The flatter and wider area through here has allowed the growth of some taller eucalyptus trees, that thanks to their light coloured trunks and yellow-green foliage, really stand out as features. While not having the feeling of being "hugged" by the gorge through here, it's still really pleasant walking, more relaxed if you will. Acutely aware that I was well behind the pace needed to meet everyone at the Skywalk for the time I said I would, I used this section to speed up a little. That was hard given the quality of the scenery, especially as I was stopping frequently to photograph the stunning views of both sides of the gorge. The wildflowers through here were almost non-existent thanks to the weeds, otherwise I would have been much later. Crossing over a couple of creeks that were probably shin deep if I didn't have the use of stepping stones to get over them, I could hear the sound of rushing water that was coming from the river. Spotting a waterfall on the other side running at a 45 degree angle across the rocks, this fed into an area of the river that had a section of rapids. Wandering down to the edge, I got a better look at them, along with seeing the waterfall in better detail.
It turned out I didn't need to take a side trail down to the edge of the water, as the official trail takes you uphill, and to a lookout over the rapids. I found a group of three hikers here enjoying the view, so took a couple of photos and left them to it. The next section that sees you eventually arrive at the edge of the river again takes you on a sandy route through some head high vegetation that was partially flooded on my visit. Normally I would expect this to be dry but the lack of drainage through here meant my trail runners were a bit soggy by the time I reached the final walk along the Murchison. Hearing the annoying buzz of a drone ahead, I found the owner as I passed the last sign asking if you're okay with the heat. Ignoring the drone, I moved along, and really enjoyed this stretch thanks to the bird life found here, and the almost pinkish hue of the exposed rock on the other side of the river. The series of lovely eucalyptus trees along here was the cherry on top, as I followed the trail markers leading me to the climb up to finish the loop section.
From down here I could see Nature's Window, and it looked a lot busier than when I started. Snaking my way through the dense clumps of vegetation, I was soon at the edge of the climb that sees you leave the Murchison River Valley, and join the narrow sandstone passage between the two bends in the river. It's a short climb, and I was soon among the masses of tourists that were out to get their photo at Nature's Window. A couple sitting on some rocks before that spot noticed my hiking attire and backpack, and queried what the walk was like, so I gave my glowing review of the experience. Being way past the time I had said I would meet the family, and having already photographed this section, I made my way up the hill to the car park, which given the temperature now, raised a bit of a sweat. Back at the car, I had a long drink while I reflected on what a stunning hike that was, and a great introduction to Kalbarri National Park. After joining the family and regaling them with details of my hike, Caris and I returned to Nature's Window to get our own touristy photos, hence the clear shots in the gallery below.
Final Thoughts - With all the rains Kalbarri had received, and the forecast for more over the week we were visiting, I wasn't sure if I'd get to hike any of the interior trails of Kalbarri National Park.
It would have been a shame to miss out on the Loop Walk, as it's one of the best day hikes in the state, combining stunning scenery, unique flora, and a decent length.
I'm very thankful to have been given a short window to hike this one, as it was closed the following afternoon, and I got to see it with a myriad of cascading waterfalls, not something that happens every year.
If you're visiting Kalbarri then this hike should definitely be on your list of activities to do, just be aware of the heat and your own abilities before setting out.
Get out there and experience it!
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