WA Has Announced the Top 150 Trails in the State

15 years ago Jane and her partner were employed as WA trail assessors and had the responsibility of choosing which of the state’s trails would make the top 50. In 2023, all the trails have been reassessed and the list of top trails in WA has more than tripled!

On November 23rd 2023, the 154 Top Trails in Western Australia were officially announced. This time around, a group of people came together to look at the Top Trails criteria and see which ones deserved to make the list.

‘Trails WA has narrowed down over 1,000 registered trails across the state to highlight the trails that are worthy of a coveted spot on the Top Trails list,’ Suzanne Hillier, Chairperson for Trails WA, said.

This time around, the trails have also been launched in different categories, including hiking, mountain biking, Aboriginal cultural trails, and accessible trails.

 

 

‘Each category is meticulously curated and researched, ensuring that the list represents the best trail experiences available across Western Australia,’ Hillier said.

Keen to learn about local First Nations culture? You’ll find 18 of the top Aboriginal cultural trails under experiences.

‘Trails that showcase Aboriginal culture provide a distinctive tourism experience,’ says Robert Taylor, CEO of Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council.

‘These trails offer a chance for both locals and visitors to learn and experience the rich history of Western Australia while providing Aboriginal tour operators an opportunity to share their stories,’ he said.

If you need accessible trails, there’s also a filter for wheelchair accessibility. After the assessments, there were 31 Top Accessible Trails.

The mountain bike section has grown a lot since 2008, with MTB trails like Grizzly Trail at Mt Lennard and Busted Nuts in Murray River Valley. There are now 50 MTB/cycle trails, including the 1000km Munda Biddi.

 

 

The next step is to get the public opinion on the Top Trails, with voting for Top Trails People’s Choice now open! Voting puts you in the draw to win prizes from Paddy Pallin.

This isn’t the first list of Top Trails

Back in 2008, my partner Michael and I were involved in an epic project to assess the Top Trails in Western Australia. With a state government grant and multi-agency committee, we were chosen to be the trail assessors.

The trail community nominated their favourite trails and our job was to walk, ride, and paddle them. We took photos, mapped, and wrote about them. We checked whether the trails met the criteria established by the committee and ensured there was a trailhead, easy-to-follow trail markers, and categorised the trail surface.

All the qualifying trails were loaded onto the original website, complete with words, images, and GPX and KML files.

Once we had a collection of trails, it was then our job to choose 50 of the best to be WA’s Top 50 Trails. These trails had to have something special about them – spectacular vistas, unique flora and fauna or landscapes.

If one area had multiple trails and more than one was outstanding, we’d choose one trail and it became a hub. Kalbarri is an example of this. The inland and coastal gorges are all spectacular, but we chose the Loop Trail as the lead trail for the area.

Over the years, the Trails WA website has been upgraded and trails added, so now there are 1000 trails on the site. Government pennies have been spent on many trails, especially mountain bike tracks, as they bring in tourist dollars to country towns.

Big trail systems have been built in Margaret River, Pemberton, Collie, and Dwellingup.

So as the original Top Trails assessor and committee member, what are my favourite hiking trails in Western Australia?

Here are my top five from the East Kimberley to South Coast:

1. Echidna Chasm, Purnululu National Park is a stunning walk through the red rock where the water has eroded a deep, narrow chasm. At times you can touch both sides of the chasm.

 

 

2. Dales Gorge, Karijini National Park is a loop that follows the spinifex edge of the gorge and then plunges down into another world of ferns and palms, with the Fortescue River gently running through Dales Gorge.

3. Bald Head, Torndirrup National Park is a spectacular and challenging hike to the end of an isthmus into the Southern Ocean passing changes in ecosystems.

 

 

4. Nancy Peak, Porongurup National Park climbs through karri forest, past mossy logs to reach a series of granite outcrops with amazing views.

5. Coastal Trail, Cape Le Grand National Park wanders from one inspiring white beach bay to the next. This includes the whitest beaches in Australia: Lucky and Hellfire Bay.