Day 183 Porongurup (Granite Skywalk), WA

Today we hiked one of the most challenging trails so far this trip if not ever.  Porongurup (Purr-un-gorup) National Park boasts some impressive Granite Rock formations and the one we went to today was Castle Rock.  The Western Australian government spent almost two million dollars building a skywalk that hugs the side of Castle Rock.  To get to the skywalk you have to scramble across giant boulders and duck your head under a couple more boulders before you reach a 7 metre ladder that takes you to the skywalk.  It is not for the faint hearted and I renegged at the last minute and was happy to look at the view from the lookout just below the skywalk.

But I am getting in front of myself.  In order to get to Castle Rock you have to hike 2kms up a very steep mountain with a gazillion steps to a height of 570 metres!  It is extraordinarily difficult and there is no reprieve from the never ending climb.  Thank goodness we started the walk before 9am as it took an hour to hike to the summit.  It is a slow and steady slog. There are some pretty impressive granite boulders near the top that have been carved out by wind and rain. Balancing Rock looks like it could tumble at anytime.

Ordinarily I would say that the hike was worth every painful step to get to see the magnificent views that stretched all the way to Albany and the Southern Ocean, but I would be telling a lie.  Yes the views are spectacular but I found the Class 5 walk very difficult.  However, Philip did it with a relative amount of ease and he did scramble to the top to get to the skywalk so good on him! We stayed at the lookout and soaked up the views for a good amount of time as I knew that we would never get to experience this again.  It was a most glorious day with the sun shining brightly but the temperature at the summit was just 18 degrees.

The best part by far was the walk back down the mountain even though it is punishing for the knees.  By the time we started our descent there was a steady stream of people heading up to the summit.  Almost everybody asked how far they had to go and I felt their pain!  It is strange though that I never considered turning around as painful as it was.  I was determined to conquer that hike and get to the top of Castle Rock.  I regret slightly that I couldn't scramble over the rocks and climb the ladder to get to the skywalk but sometimes you have to just accept your capabilities or lack thereof.