Boranup Forest Trail

Boranup Forest is famous for its Karri trees, a species found only in the South West of Western Australia. The Boranup Trail run will give runners (or walkers) a good sense of the beauty and majesty of these wonderful trees.

In December 2022, a fire burnt through this area. The Karri themselves seem remarkably untouched, but the understory was burnt. As a result, many of the trails are closed, and some are also overgrown. This run is on the remaining open track, and the images in the slider were taken in January 2023.

This is a reasonably hard run, with plenty of moderate hills. It is mildly technical, with limestone rocks to avoid and forest litter. Karri tends to shed bark.

Getting There

Park near the entrance to Boranup Drive, off Caves Road, at the north end. Boranup Drive is a few kilometres south of Lake Cave.

The Run

Head right off Boranup Drive (west) just 500m from Caves Road, along Point Rd (not signed). You will follow this for almost 4km. At 3.8 km, turn left onto the Cape to Cape. You are heading south and up.

Follow the Cape to Cape to 8.7 km, where you will turn left onto a well-worn 4WD track, then right at 8.9 km, and then left again onto Boranup Drive at 9.6km. You follow Boranup Drive back to the car. This last section is gravel.

In The Future

Hopefully some of the closed trails will open. If so, I will remap the run to make it a little more exciting. In particular, I hope the Lord of the Rings trail opens so the last few kilometres can be run on trail rather than gravel road. It is overgrown now (Jan 2023) – despite a post on a bike forum saying it was clear.

Even with the degraded scenery, the Boranup Trail is a great run. The images should show that, I hope.

Map

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