The Cape-to-Cape Trek - Cape Naturaliste

---

[youtube=MEo-ZVcSB14][youtube=fqfdHea52Fo]

we realized our footprints would be the only ones all day ... perhaps, even for many days.

Hiking the Cape-to-Cape Trek - we started at Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse at the north end of the capes. (French explorers mapped this coast, so place names still carry their original French spelling... the "silent e" in names like Naturaliste and Geographe Bay)

We carry only water and snacks so we can run/ walk freely. The serious hikers carry tents, sleeping bags and food for 5 days. We are easy hikers and sleep in a bed at our host's home in the tiny coastal community of Prevelly. The hike is about 135km which can divided into 5 sections from end-to-end.

The idea is similar to the West Coast Trail of Vancouver Island, you need someone to pick you up at the end. Our hostess and newest friend, Dorothy dropped us off 21 km down the trail and we simply ran/walked along the coast back to her home in Prevelly. In spite of headwinds and deep sand we completed it in under 4 hours. The other sections we completed as a loop getting back to our campervan with huge appetites.

Hiking the Cape-to-Cape in the month of March, we are in the "off-season". We expected the trail to be quiet. We completed the trail of 21 kms between Gracetown and Prevelly without seeing a single person. Often we looked over our shoulder, half-expecting other hikers and finally we realized our footprints would be the only ones all day ... perhaps, even for many days.

Reverently we walked, silently and prayfully ...

At first we searched for descriptive words, breath-taking, magnificent, marvelous, etc. All words seemed inadequate so we walked in silence, wrapped in the warm wind, each lost in our own thoughts. Vast stretches of solitude invite contemplation.

---

Photos

Cape-to- Cape Trail Markers
New markers after the bush fires.

Bush Fire - November 24 -26, 2011
Bush fire raged through this section of the trail, and it was closed until January.

Bench for the Over 50's
Clever rest bench!