This was the first time I had led an official trip to Julimar, and the last two times I went there we had not managed to find the most challenging tracks. I also had a total beginner visitor coming with us so I planned the trip to explore the state forest, start off on easy tracks and then finally find the most challenging tracks.
We left the servo and headed south for a few kilometres before heading east towards Toodyay. When we arrived at the forest, we let down our tyres and headed north. There was some water around but the puddles were not too deep. Takeli put her Hilux into 4wd for the very first time and we went at a steady pace so she could learn about wheel placement, rut running and wheel travel. By lunch time she was feeling confident so I found more challenging tracks. By afternoon tea time we had arrived in the general area where I knew the difficult tracks were located. I suggested to Takeli that she retire gracefully from the trip at that point as she didn’t want to damage her car o r tray mounted camper. So we helped her use her tyre pump for the very first time and said good bye.
We then started to progressively take every track across the difficult track area. After about an hour of crisscrossing the area and a couple of U turns, on the third track we found the difficult terrain. Driving the track was a 7 out of 10 for difficulty. There were steep declines and accents through the typically open and attractive forest. A few needed some spotting especially at Dummy Spit (there is a sign) Hill where there is a steep and loose climb and a large tree root across the track at the top.
The last section of track involved an unavoidable deeply scoured section of track full of brown muddy water. I went first on what looked like the best track. It was ok but I was concerned the ruts under the water may be too deep for a couple of the vehicles. So I then tried reversing back through the other track. I felt my Nissan start to head down into a deep hole, so thanks to a quick shout on the radio I knew to stop and drive out again. The rest of the convoy decided to try the first track and we made it through okay.
It was getting late so we headed back to the road, pumped our tyres and left the forest at about 5pm. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I now know where the best tracks are. So we will have to return another time.