The best place to park is at the Deep River trailhead off Tinglewood road, from there an approximate seven kilometere hike to the beautiful Thompson Cove camp site. There is fresh water available here in the natural spring/creek year round and it tastes fantastic! From the main camp site cross the creek pass another smaller camp site and the trail to Mt Hopkins heads up out of the valley on a 45degree and then pretty much follows the ridge lines to Mt Hopkins. There's a heap of kangaroo tracks so it can be a bit confusing but there is a reasonable trail and it gets clearer as you get closer and as the brush becomes thicker there is only one real trail to follow - look for snapped twigs/branches on the undergrowth as these are trail markers.
You'll come to a second shoe cleaning station in a grove of trees.
Locating the boot cleaning station at the base of Mount Hopkins (Mt Hopkins boot cleaning station GPS Coords – 50 H 0469393 6122434 ) is essential before visiting this cache as Mount Hopkins is home to a critically endangered plant species which is highly susceptible to the Phytophthora Dieback pathogen.Phytophthora Dieback is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in Western Australia, affecting more than 40% of native plant species, which it kills by rotting their roots. There is no cure, and once infested a site will stay this way forever. Dieback is carried via infested soil on vehicles, boots and equipment and it takes less than 1 teaspoon of this soil to infest a new site. Currently Mount Hopkins is not known to be infested by Dieback but its impact if transported here via soil material would be devastating. To learn more about this pathogen, go to www.dieback.net.au or www.dwg.org.au .
You can prevent the spread of Phytophthora Dieback at Mount Hopkins by:
o Locating and always using the boot cleaning hygiene station at the base BEFORE climbing to find the cache
o After cleaning any mud or soil from your boots at the hygiene station, spray them thoroughly with a 70% methylated spirits : 30% water solution which should be carried with you in a small bottle
o Accessing the cache in dry conditions only and avoiding wetter months of the year
o Sticking to existing tracks and trails
o Do NOT bushbash to find the cache – this is unnecessary and damages fragile vegetation.
If you would like further information on the special values of Mount Hopkins or Phytophthora Dieback, please contact Janine Liddelow, Flora Officer DPaW Frankland District on 08 9840 0400. After cleaning your shoes take the final climb up to the massive boulders of Mt Hopkins.
The trail leads under a rock and then round the back of Mt Hopkins. We only found one real way up on to the rocks which is over this back side. You need to climb up onto the main boulders - The cache is a cannister on a rope and is hung in a crevice. Should be pretty easy to find and Muggles may find it too - but frankly they will deserve it!
Note some intrepid climbers have gone right to the top of the big rocks but it looked WAY dangerous to us so you don't need to worry about an unreasonable climb for the cache. NOTE: there are sheer drops and kids should be accompanied at all times (we have taken a 13 yo in here and he did fine but it is probably not suited for under 10 unless they are very adventurous and like long walks). You should also pack a 1st aid kit and be snake aware. The ocean here is the Southern Ocean and can be very unpredictable and rough so whilst on some occasions a dip in Thompsons Cove is enticing and very nice please also be smart about the conditions. We had Telstra mobile phone coverage from the top of Mt Hopkins but it is unreliable or non existent everywhere else on the route.
You could do this cache in a day but it would be more pleasant with an overnight camp in the Thompsons Cove campsite to be able to explore the Cove which is about 500m along a winding trail from the campsite, (not the same trail that leads from the campsite to Mt Hopkins.)
I believe from hardcore hikers that there are other ways to approach Mt Hopkins but that they are very overgrown and difficult to find and not for the inexperienced.
On a final note we had hoped to add some waypoints for this cache but we have been unable to find the GPS log from when we placed it and so we won't be able to add any waypoints at this stage. John will go back and visit the cache in the next couple of weeks and add some points at that time. UPDATE - have just found a trail log from Aushiker who has walked this area not too long ago and his website includes some waypoints. The website is: http://aushiker.com/nuyts-wilderness-walk-track-walpole-western-australia/ The key ones for this geocache are: Thompson Cove campsite – 50 H 0468357 6121932 Mt Hopkins trailhead – 50 H 0468371 612 1929, Mt Hopkins boot cleaning station – 50 H 0469393 6122434 Mt Hopkins summit – 50 H 0469554 6122570. ENJOY!!