Perth Man Completes Gruelling 24-Hour Hike Through Bold Park to Support Addiction Recovery

Samuel McDonald walked through the longest night of the year — and into the morning — covering the Zamia Trail at Bold Park for 24 straight hours to raise funds for men battling addiction.

A Stirling local has pushed his body to its limit for a cause close to his heart, completing a full 24-hour hike around Bold Park's Zamia Trail in a bid to shine a light on addiction recovery and raise funds for a Perth-based rehabilitation service.

Samuel McDonald began his hike on the evening of June 21 — the winter solstice and longest night of the year — and kept walking, lap after lap of the trail, until the sun rose over the city this morning. His goal: to cover 135 kilometres in 24 hours, using the punishing physical challenge as a way to support men working through addiction and co-occurring mental health issues at Tenacious House - Northern Compassion, a residential rehabilitation service.

The symbolism wasn't lost on McDonald, who chose the longest night of the year deliberately. For him, walking through hours of cold, darkness and fatigue was meant to echo the struggle faced by the men he was raising money for — people fighting to rebuild their lives and find their way out of addiction, often in the dark, often alone.

"This journey isn't about distance; it's about solidarity," McDonald said ahead of the challenge. "Every step represents the courage of those fighting to rebuild their lives at Tenacious House, where men confront addiction and begin the brave work of recovery."

The Man Behind the Mission

Away from the trail, McDonald works as a WA police officer, a role he's previously described as a calling rather than just a job. But hiking for a cause has become his other passion, one he's pursued through a platform he calls Hike for Change, sharing his training and challenges across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

This wasn't McDonald's first major fundraising hike, either. In March 2025 he took on the Cape to Cape Track in WA's South West, covering 135 kilometres over five days and raising around $1,000 for Tenacious House. The experience left such a mark on him that he committed to taking on a major hiking challenge every year in support of the organisation, each one bigger than the last. This year's effort condensed that same 135km distance into a single, unbroken 24-hour push.

McDonald has spoken openly about his Christian faith as the driving force behind the challenges, having been a Christian since he was 13 and now attending Global Heart Church in Joondalup. For him, the punishing physical toll of an overnight hike is inseparable from a deeper sense of purpose: using his own discomfort to draw attention, and donations, towards people fighting to turn their lives around.

In the lead-up to the hike, McDonald also called on the Perth community to join him for a stretch of the trail, with friends, family and members of his church turning out across the night to walk laps alongside him in support.

A Trail Built for the Challenge

The Zamia Trail is one of Perth's most loved bushwalking routes, a roughly 5-kilometre loop that winds through the bushland of Bold Park in Floreat, one of the largest remaining stretches of native vegetation in the Perth metropolitan area. Walkers on the trail are treated to sweeping views of both the Indian Ocean and the city skyline, along with limestone outcrops, banksia woodland and more than 300 species of plants and wildlife.

While the trail is usually a relaxed one to two-hour outing for casual walkers, McDonald's challenge meant tackling it again and again through the night — lap after lap in darkness, cold winds and the kind of physical and mental fatigue that most people will never have to push through. To hit his 135km target, McDonald needed to complete more than two dozen laps of the trail without a break, battling sore legs, blistered feet, dropping temperatures and exhaustion as the hours wore on.

Western Australia's winter solstice on June 21 brought close to 14 hours of darkness, meaning a significant portion of the hike was completed without daylight, navigating the bush trail by headlamp through the small hours of the morning.

Walking for Tenacious House

The challenge was undertaken in support of Tenacious House - Northern Compassion, a residential rehabilitation service based in Perth's northern suburbs that helps men overcome addiction and co-occurring mental health concerns. The organisation provides a structured, supportive environment for men working to break cycles of substance abuse and rebuild their lives, helping them into accommodation, employment and reconnection with their families. McDonald has previously credited the organisation with helping more than 400 people achieve genuine, lasting recovery.

McDonald's fundraising page, hosted on mycause, frames the hike as more than a personal physical feat. "My mission is simple," he wrote. "To walk through the darkness so others don't have to walk through theirs alone. To raise awareness, support, and funding for life-changing recovery programs. To inspire people to believe that no matter how deep the darkness feels, there is always a way forward."

The response from the Perth community and beyond has been strong. With an initial fundraising target of $5,000, McDonald's campaign has already surged past that goal, with donations flowing in from dozens of supporters cheering him on through messages of encouragement as he ticked off the kilometres overnight. Well-wishers left comments ranging from simple thanks to outright admiration for the scale of the challenge, with many specifically acknowledging the impact the funds will have for the men at Tenacious House.

Why It Matters

Addiction and mental health challenges remain significant issues across Western Australia, with residential rehabilitation services like Tenacious House playing a critical role in supporting men who might otherwise have nowhere structured to turn. Services like these rely heavily on community fundraising and donations to keep their programs running and accessible to those who need them most.

Challenges like McDonald's — physically demanding, time-bound and highly visible — have become an increasingly popular way for everyday Western Australians to draw attention to causes that don't always get the spotlight they deserve. By choosing to suffer through cold, fatigue and the discomfort of an entire night on the trail, McDonald has turned his own endurance into a fundraising and awareness tool, inviting the broader community to engage with a topic that can often carry stigma.

How You Can Help

Samuel McDonald's hike may be over, but the fundraising effort continues. Those wanting to support the cause and contribute to Tenacious House - Northern Compassion's recovery programs can donate directly through his mycause page:

👉 Donate here to support men in recovery at Tenacious House

Every dollar raised goes towards helping men access residential rehabilitation support as they work to overcome addiction and rebuild their lives — proof that one person's 24 hours on a Perth bush trail can help light the way for someone else's recovery.

McDonald is also sharing updates and behind-the-scenes moments from his hike on Instagram at @hike.for.change, for those wanting to see just how the overnight challenge unfolded, step by step, lap by lap, through one of Perth's most scenic — and at 3am, most challenging — trails.