Musings

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Harrys Hut Adventure

This weeks adventure was a group ride to Harrys Hut with about twenty friends.

Eric and I scoped out the route last week, making it easier for us to relax today, and enjoy this amazing ride

I’m always surprised when so many riders turn up. The Kin Kin carpark was packed with eager riders…

Derek brought a brand-new 29er, complete with a pink hooter. Nic brought “Dora the Explorer”. Howard brought his two sons

I tried to catch up as some of the riders enthusiastically raced up the first hill. Eric sagaciously commented to me, “Take it easy. There’s no rush.”

Around Kin Kin the Noosa Trail Network meanders through lush dairy farms. This pleasant section features many gates that require opening and closing. Each of us took turns to hold the gate open while the others rode through.

As we headed east along Bates Road past numerous impressive homes, the signs suggested that we couldn’t get to Harrys Hut this way.

This is true if you’re in a motor vehicle. The track is too rough.

But it’s a perfect track to enjoy on a Mountain Bike.

Our smiles grew as we rolled eastwards, over fallen logs, around a collapsed bridge and through thick grass.

Galloways Lane is a rough road reserve running North / South for about 8km. We followed it northwards towards the plantations near Harrys Hut Road.

The pine plantations gave way to rainforest thick with Paperbarks and spiky Cabbage Tree Palms.

This was paradise.

The trails were rough and bumpy: I crashed over my handlebars at one point. But this was turning into a perfect day for riding a bike with a group of friends.

The lack of rainfall ovet the last year has caused many of the smaller creeks to dry up. This enabled us to cross dry creek beds as we traversed the forest to the North of Harrys Hut Road, heading towards the River.

Eventually we emerged from the forest onto the main road, amidst towering Eucalypts It was a quiet day and we hardly encountered any cars on the road.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at our desination for a rest and a bite to eat…

…and a swim in the river, while the wildlife watched curiously.

Some of the wildlife was very curious.

We all enjoyed the chance to rest our legs.

After our relaxing break we rode west along Harrys Hut Road towards Kin Kin Creek.

This inviting secluded creek flows east into Lake Cootharaba.

The creek is framed by giant old Eucalyts. One large tree dwarfed the goanna that was clinging to it.

As we started our return journey, we made our way back to the northen end of Galloways Lane.

At its northen end, Galloways Lane starts passes along the edge of the Great Sandy National Park. Although we had to work a bit harder as we rode through the grass, the trees provided welcome shade from the sun.

At its southern end, the road reserve passes through Yalanga Station – a vast cattle property.

It’s not safe for motor vehicles to get through this way to Harrys Hut, which might explain why the gaste is usually shut.

We continued south, joining back up with the Noosa Trail Network. Simpsons Road is a large climb which is almost impossible to ride up. Most of us pushed our bikes up, although Darb, Tony and Paul managed to ride all the way to the top. Awesome effort, guys!

Eventually all of our exhausted group made it to the top of the hill.

The steep rocky descent from here to Shepperson’s Park is exhillarating.

We all made it safely down the other side at our own pace. Some took it easy, some almost flew down it.

Everyone enjoyed a quick rest at the bottom. A few of us were running low on water and topped up here.

The final stretch back into Kin Kin involved a few rolling hills as we passed along Shppersons Lane through another dairy farm. It was a challenge for tired legs.

This fiddler beetle (Eupoecila australasiae) hitched a ride on Nic’s pink riding glove. They’re called “fiddler beetles” because the green markings resemble those on a violin.

You must be magic, Nic. Beetles don’t just choose anyone to ride with

Happy and tired, we all piled in to the Kin Kin pub for a bite to eat. We didn’t eat from the “Gourmet” menu this time, opting for simpler fare.

All up we rode about 56km in just over 5 hours including breaks. We climbed about 520 metres, and I burned about 2,700 kcal.

I’ll rate this one 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. It would not be pleasant after a lot of rain, but it would be easier in the cooler months. Make sure you bring plenty of water… and your swimming gear

Thanks everyone for a fun day out!

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Harrys Hut

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The purpose of todays ride was to explore some trails around the upper reaches Noosa River in the hope of finding an enjoyable route for a group ride next week.

A bunch of us are planning to ride from Kin Kin in the Noosa hinterland to Harrys Hut – a camping area on the banks of the beautiful Noosa River.

So Eric and I decided we should look around to find the best tracks… and have some fun at the same time!

We started at Kin Kin on the northen edge of the Noosa Trail Network – a vast network of recreational tracks that meander through the forests, hills, creeks and dairy farms of the Noosa hinterland.

But we were heading futher north than was possible on the trail network.

As often happens on leisurely cross-country rides, Eric mused “I wonder what’s at the end of this road?”, and soon we were pushing through some overgrown tracks at the end of Bates Road. This was just what we were looking for.

We had a general idea of where we wanted to go – north-east towards the river. As we followed the trails in that direction we eventually found ourselves riding along some smooth forestry roads in a pine plantation.

“Follow the Yellow Brick Road”, Eric said. The track was slightly yellow in parts, and very smooth, so I didn’t argue.

We eventually found ourselves on Harry’s Hut Road – a dirt road which led east towards the Noosa River.

The road is framed with giant ghost gums twisted into unusual shapes.

Harry’s Hut is named after Harry Spring, a pharmacist from Cooroy who purchased the hut in the 1960′s.

The hut was originally built by Alan Buchanan and Norm Thrush for timber cutters who logged the area until the 1950′s. Logs were lifted across the river, then driven by truck to the sawmill in Tewantin.

Thankfully the logging days are over, and this spectacular wilderness area can be explored and enjoyed in many different ways.

Rather than return the way we came, Eric and I decided to explore some more forestry trails on our way back.

As we made our way back south, we eventually met up with the Noosa Trail Network again.

This track on Bunney’s road looked ominously familiar. I remembered toiling up a steep climb very similar to this when I rode here with Paul a couple of years ago.

Sadly, my memories were accurate, and we pushed our bikes up the tough incline for a while.

As with most climbs, we were rewarded with a fun descent on the other side down to Shepperson’s Park. As I was running a bit low on water I took this opportunity to top-up from the rainwater tank. The water was clean and perfect for drinking.

From there we toiled for a few kilometres over some grassy hills that undulated through a dairy farm. The hills weren’t too steep, but after riding almost 60km we were glad to eventually roll back into Kin Kin.

All up we rode almost 60km in about 6 hours including breaks. We climbed about 600m in vertical ascent, and I burned about 2,800 kcal.

I’ll rate this one about 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. The large hill at the end before Shepperson’s Park is hard work – but if you can’t ride it’s easy to push a bike up it.

If you need to refill there’s ample rainwater at Harrys Hut as well as one or two other parks along the way.

I’m looking forward to coming back here with friends next week!