Trail recovery update Feb 2022

As the latest round of wet weather this summer causes us to pause with trail recovery works, we wanted to provide you with an update of all that our incredible volunteers have helped us achieve over the past few months.

The ‘quarry loop’ comprising the trails from “Everglades” round to “Princess’s Revenge” are now very close to being ready to ride. We’ve cleared regrowth, planned and built a series of realignments to avoid areas of the original trails that had become eroded over the years, or to keep away from large dead ‘stag’ trees or hang-ups. We’ve reworked turns, and refinished significant areas of the trail bed, in order to improve the flow and ride of these trails, most of which were already more than 10 years old when the Morton Bushfire hit Wingello on 4 January 2020.

Preliminary feedback from initial checking rides suggest that you’re going to love the changes!

We’re also close to reaching agreement with Forestry Corporation for a ‘temporary’ trailhead adjacent to the exit from “Princess’s Revenge”. Whilst there will be no facilities there, it will mean that you will be on your bike and into the single-track much quicker than riding from Forest Camp.

We had made significant progress with clearing regrowth from “Send in the Clowns” and “Dailemma”, along with commencing works to repair erosion damage and resurface the big bermed turns. However, work on these two trails has been paused whilst we work with Forestry Corporation on a risk assessment associated with the extent of dead Eucalyptus trees adjacent to these trails.

With the latest forecast for reopening of Wingello State Forest being Easter 2022, our intent is to have the following trail options available at that time:

1) Single-track loop incorporating “Everglades”, “Flinging Scotsman”, “Cover Shot”, “Tangles”, “Genesis” and “Princess’s Revenge”, and totalling about 7km when riding from the temporary trailhead.

2) Signage to the single-track loop from Forest Camp, adding about 4km of riding distance along forest roads.

3) A new version of the Blue Loop, signposted from Forest Camp, and providing approximately 5-6km of riding along forest roads.

Further works are planned throughout 2022, and we hope that by the end of the year, we will have been able to increase the amount of single-track back up into double figures, and heading towards the 20km distance that was available prior to the 2020 Morton Bushfire. Of course, that is dependent on the amount of volunteer help we receive along the way.