Dharawal and Darkes Forest

[WolfCreekPsycho]

Hey Guys,

I went and rode some of the fire trails in Dharawal State Rec today (10B to the river then back via a detour on 10D)
Am i right that all the single trail here is for walkers only ?

Does the riding differ on the trails that head towards Darkes forest or is it all reasonably the same sort of stuff .?

Anyone have a fav pick of trails in this area that is worthwhile ?
The 10D track would be a hoot if I had of ridden it south to North giving close to 5kms of nonstop downhill, instead of the otherway round, but you get that ; )

Thanks in advance

[Comic Book Guy]

The whole Dharawal area is under the control of National Parks. As such the standard NP rules apply. Read about it here:

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/parkContent/N0627?OpenDocument&ParkKey=N0627&Type=xo

There aren't that many walking tracks in Dharawal. There are lots of disused firetrails that have overgrown and appear to be walking tracks and it can be easy to confuse them as walking tracks. There are a couple of known tracks. The Five Creeks track at the southern end that runs from 10b to Lysaghts Rd near the colliery and some tracks on both sides of Stokes Ck. Technically, no riding is permitted but I have seen both mtb and motorbike tracks on the ones around Stokes Ck (have never done Five cks so don't know about it).

And of course read the ride description from Dave Noble's website (down the bottom):

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dnoble/Sydneyrides.html

As to the south east corner. I think you are talking about the 10h and 10c trails. As far as I know they are OK to ride. Looking at the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) map the SCA boundary appears to be Darkes Forest Rd. And I have read and spoken to people who have ridden them and say they are good. A group recently did the ride from Darkes Forest to Appin and back. Read about it here:
http://www.26inches.com/TheLounge/viewtopic.php?t=3056&highlight=dharawal

Highly recommend 10d from south to north. The run down is long :)and fun. If coming from the south there is a good spot down at the river guage for a rest break or even a swim before you start the climb back up to 10b.

All up this is a nice area and I enjoy both off-trail exploratory bushwalking and mtb riding in the area. You should consider getting the Appin topo map, if you don't have it already, as most of the trails are on it.

Cheers,
CBG

[mtb1611]

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dnoble/Sydneyrides.html

Cheers,
CBG

Link appears busted, you sure it's the right one?

[Comic Book Guy]

Works fine for me, even from within the quote.:confused: Maybe try cut and paste.

CBG.

[WolfCreekPsycho]

Cheers guys thanks for the info

I had read the Dave Noble and 26" articles prior to riding there, its actually what put me on to the area.

I rode 10B from Southern entrance to the river crossing at the northern end and back with my girly as her first ride, very cruisy from south.
The detour onto 10D is well worth it if you have never done it, but I can strongly recommend taking the southern entrance (it loops off 10B back around to it) and is essentially about 5kms of good fast downhill single track to another river junction, then a short sharp climb back up to 10B.
We made the mistake of riding 10D starting from north end, so was a long long sustained climb back to 10B.


regs,