Lion's Lookout Walk

Soon enough I am treated to views west over the Swan Coastal Plain towards the Perth CBD skyscrapers (a very similar panorama to the view at the Lions Lookout car park).

The Lion's Lookout Walk is predominately a loop walk. The trail leading to the loop is rather flat, but when I head south-east on the loop the path starts to ascend along some rocky, slightly eroded paths. The climb isn't daunting, but I did need to catch my breath sometimes. Didn't bother me with views like this though.

At the top I reach an intersection with many options, but only one with a big sign.

I'm a fan of big signs and this one directs me towards "Lion's Lookout". Thanks sign, I will take your advice and not look at the map to see if I am going the right way. Along the way I am treated to some early morning light breaking through the canopy of the bush.

Wait a second. Why am I heading in a northerly direction for so long. Better check where I am on the map. Crap! I'm heading back to the Lion's Lookout carpark. But the random signs say this is the way to Lion's Lookout? Oh ... the Lion's Lookout carpark must be the official Lion's Lookout. For some stupid reason I thought the actual lookout was somewhere in the bush. Oh well, the views on the walk are better than those in the carpark anyway.

I back track and make my way back onto the official Lions Lookout Walk. The erroneous path I took is probably a much easier walk than the original route I took from the Lion's Lookout carpark, but much less scenic in terms of expansive views.

Back on the right course I head west along the southern section of the loop. Along this section the bush really opens up, there are less trees and much of the vegetation is only waist high. The views are much more expansive.

Despite the recent rain the path was relatively dry and not very muddy. Then, as I turned to take on the western section of the loop I meet this.

A Pacific Ocean sized puddle on the path. Luckily I have my walking poles for that extra stability as I walk the tight rope between the dense ground cover and the water. I came out unscathed with only a bit of mud on the shoes.

As I head north along the most western section of the Lion's Lookout Walk I find myself heading down hill. The paths are rather eroded so my inner mountain goat gets a workout.

After the descent I am back in the trees again and on the final leg of the loop east.

As I finish the loop I realise there is only 10 mins left until the next bus arrives. The bus after that arrives another 2 hours later! Better leg it. An early morning walk has turned into a run.

I arrive at the Lion's Lookout car park with a few minutes to spare. The walk (plus a little bit of a run) took me about one hour and forty-five minutes to complete (6 km, but less than that if you don't take my silly detour). The whole time on the trail I was alone. I did not see a single other person. A bit odd, but what's even more strange is that fact that the same weird guys lurking around the Lion's Lookout car park are still there. It's been almost 2 hours! What have they been doing? Even though I forgot to take a picture again from the Lion's Lookout carpark (I was in too much of rush for the bus stop this time) you can trust me in saying that the view is not worthy of 2 hours. Strange.

Anyway, I make it to the bus stop. You wouldn't think anything that exciting would happen while waiting for a bus would you? But as I wait for the bus I see a P Plater on a scooter crash at the entrance to the Lion's Lookout car park. The scooter is on the ground. The rider is on the ground as well but fortunately he gets up straight away. I race down to see if he is ok (while also keeping an eye on the road for my bus, I am a selfish jerk after all). He lifts up his helmet visor, "I hit a honky nut!". He is ok, a little shaken up. The honky nut will never be the same however. For those who don't know what a honky nut is please visit the Wikipedia page. Basically, it is the nut from a tree. The problem with honky nuts are that they are large, round and very hard. An absolute trip hazard. I have heard of people spraining ankles due to honkey nuts, but never dislodging motor vehicles.

As the scooter rider scoots off my 283 bus arrives to take me back to the city.

The Lion's Lookout Walk is nothing to write home about but definitely worth a look. Nice bush land, well-marked (just use some common sense unlike myself of course) and some good views. A very worthy Sunday morning stroll.