Musings

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Bunya Mountains

We’re exploring the spectacular Bunya Mountains at the moment. I’m busy taking heaps of photos and checking out new trails. I’ll share more on Monday. See you then!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

One of the good things about riding in the Glasshouse Mountains is that there are always more trails to discover. I never tire of exploring this huge scenic forest, only a stones throw from Brisbane’s northern suburbs.

We set out from Matthew Flinders Park under the brooding gaze of Tibrogargan.

I’m planning to bring a larger group of friends back here in a month or two. As we rode into the forest, I hoped we would be able to discover some new trails to use on our future rides.

The first part of our course followed familiar tracks through tall pine plantations towards the lookout.

We shared the trail with competitors in the “Glasshouse 100 Trail Run”. Some of these athletes were running up to 160km (100 miles) over two days. Their herculean efforts made our little jaunt in the forest seem miniscule by comparison. As we rode up some of the hills, runners overtook us.

“Gee it’s a bit of a worry when you ride a bike and can’t keep up with someone on foot” I commented.

But in our defence, the track up to the lookout is very steep. We had to push the bikes in places.

At the top of the hill we stopped at the lookout to enjoy the views.

At this point we made a change to the our previous courses through the forest and headed towards Mount Beerwah along Connection Road.

Crowds of people and cars lined the road to cheer on the runners. They kindly rang their cow bells and cheered for us as well. I’ve never seen so many excited people on Connection Road.

Mount Beerwah towered above us as we made our way northwards.

Eventually we left the main road and shot down a shady path between the pine trees.

A few years ago I stumbled upon this long snaking section of single track in the forest. It twists for about 6 kilometres along a creek, and is a lot of fun to ride.

This is one section of track I’d like to include in a future social ride. The smooth, shady track takes about an hour to complete as it meanders along the creek. It’s also popular with trail bike riders, so it’s important to keep an ear out for oncoming motor bikes.

We emerged from the forest near Trig Hill and took a few more minutes to enjoy the view and catch our breath.

At Millwood Road we met some riders from Bushranges MTB Club on their way back from Woodford. Whenever I meet other mountain bikers on the trail, they’re almost always smiling. I think we all secretly realize how lucky we are to be able to ride in such beautiful places.

As we headed south, some of the tracks got a bit muddier. In most of the places we were able to ride around the puddles, but in one or two spots we had to work a bit harder to avoid getting wet.

This little Quad Bike Rider passed us along the way. She showed amazing skill at getting those small wheels through the loose sand. I wouldn’t want to get in her way in few years time.

We met up with more trail runners as we rode back towards our starting point.

“Top effort, Superman” I yelled out in encouragement to a couple of runners.

“Wonder Woman” took a few seconds out from running to demonstrate her other super-powers

At Hennessey Hill we all enjoyed a few jumps at the downhill track.

From there we made our way back towards Beerburrum.

All up we rode about 43km in about four and a half hours.

I burned about 2,500 kcal and we climbed about 750m in vertical ascent.

This is a fun ride, close to home, which only requires half a day.

Although it has one or two steep bits, it can be enjoyed by people with a variety of skill levels.

It’s best done in the drier months, as this area can be punishing in wet weather.

I’ll rate it 6.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Jason, Kenny, Harvey and Os for a great day out on the bike!

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Crows Nest

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Our adventure today took us from Eskdale, in the Brisbane Valley west of Toogoolawah, up the Great Dividing Range to Crows Nest, and back down again.

We’ve ridden through Eskdale a couple of times before, and were glad to return to the wide-open spaces and big skies of this wonderful place.

There are a number of ways up the range to Crows Nest: I had one or two alternatives, but we decided to play it safe and stick to a simple plan. There were only three of us today, and we didn’t want to take any risks with ambitious routes through rough terrain.

We followed a quiet dirt road alongside picturesque Anduramba Creek as it slowly twisted up the range. Of all the roads in the area, I think this was probably the easiest way up.

At the top we enjoyed some pleasant views of Lake Cressbrook to the south.

The road towards Crows Nest was lined with numerous wattles, bright with blossoms, as it undulated westward.

On the way we took a short detour into Crows Nest National Park to have a look around. It has some well-maintained camping facilities and walking tracks to several points of interest.

Our lunch stop was in Crows Nest.

This place was called “Tookoogandanna” by the local Waka Waka aboriginal people. It means “Place where the crows live”.

There’s a permanent water hole on the outskirts of town by which numerous large native “Crows Apple” trees (Owenina venosa) grew. Crows built nests in these trees. The freshwater well with its many fruit bearing trees would have been an attractive place for the traditional owners of the area.

In the mid nineteenth century, teamsters would haul logs from this area to Toowoomba, 40km to the south. The shady trees and reliable water hole provided a popular rest-stop for bullock drays who would refer to it as “The Crows Nest”.

After a leisurely lunch in town, we hopped back on the bikes and coaxed our reluctant legs to start pedalling again.

In true mountain-biking style, we avoided paved roads and sought out the dirt tracks around town as we made our way back to the edge of the range.

The Anduramba Range is closed to vehicular traffic because of land slips. My friend, Andrew Demack, recently wrote about his cycling adventures on the same road, so we took advantage of his experience and followed the road. (Thanks Andrew!)

I soaked up the vastness of the distant horizon and huge sky as we coasted down the range. This is a stunning part of the world.

Thanks to Andrew’s instructions we were able to easily navigate around the road blocks and avoid the hazardous land slips.

As with most enjoyable descents, we reached the bottom much sooner than we anticipated, so we had a quick break at Anduramba Hall with its unusual galvanized iron walls.

As we chilled out we heard a strange sound from across the road and noticed two amorous hares frolciking around. They seemed oblivious to everything else as they danced across the road in a whirlwind of fur. Minutes later they were still going for it in the middle of the field behind the hall. Spring is definitely here

Although the elevation profile said the final leg of our ride was mostly downhill, we still had to work hard to pedal up the climbs before we could enjoy the descents.

We arrived back at our starting point much earlier than I had anticipated having covered 70 km with 1,450 metres of climbing. It took us about five and a half hours including breaks and I burned about 2,800 kcal.

I’d rate this ride 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

This is a picturesque part of the world, well worth the visit, especially in the cooler months.

Thanks Becca and Paul for another fun ride!