Luke Pen Walk, Albany

The Luke Pen Walk trail, located 20 kilometres from Albany in Western Australia's Great Southern region, is a beautiful meandering walk trail, closely following the Kalgan River. It offers a lovely mix of vegetation from large marri trees and conifers to farming pastures. Gorgeous views are present all the way along the trail. This easy, well-formed nine-kilometre Top Trail takes approximately four hours to complete and commences at a well-marked trailhead. After a short distance, you arrive at a wonderful shelter shaped like a flying kookaburra. From here, the return walk provides constantly changing views of the river, along with a mixture of vineyards, green pastures with grazing cattle and eucalypt bushland. Ideally, the time to complete this trail is on a sunny day when the countryside is green from winter and spring rains. During summer, there are various places where the trail gently descends to river level so a cooling dip is possible. A great family walk, ideal for strolling (although some sections have a slight incline) and for a picnic lunch. Remember to keep an eye on children as the trail closely follows the river.