Burringbar Hill - in the old Mooball State Forest

Yesterday Mark Roberts and myself went for a bit of an exploration ride into the old Mooball State Forest. In all it was only a 15km ride. Short in distance but long in hours and endurance. To start Mark came around in his work van to collect me and my bike for a drive to the top of Burringbar Range on the old Pacific Highway or, as it's now called, the Tweed Valley Way. Why? Because we didn't really know how long or difficult the ride was going to be.

As it turned out we still did ride up the range at the end of the trek.



We turned onto the gravel Cooradilla Road for about 2.5km until we got to the gated entrance on Barambali Road to the Forest, and continued the upward climb along the gravel for another 1.5km (approx.). Here we saw a small fork in the road to the right/south just as Barambali Rd starts to wind back down the hill. Taking the lesser used path we rode for a couple of hundred metres and discussed the likely destination of the path. As it looked to be continuing upwards we said go for it!

As it turned out it wasn't long before we were forced to push the bikes up the steep rut and root filled track. At different times we could remount and ride for a few hundred meters until we were forced to get off again and push. We couldn't get enough traction on the rear wheel or steer where we needed to with all the loose leaves, sticks and rocks. As we had decided to find out where it went we needed to keep the bikes with us so just walking was not an option. After about 45mins of this we came to a really steep and rutted section where even pushing the bike was too hard, (your feet were slipping out from under you), Not wanting to risk a twisted ankle I decided it best to carry the bike on my shoulder and as it turned out it was the easiest and safest option to finally get to the Top of the Burringbar Hill, or that's what it said on the Geographical Marker on the crown of the hill.

It is obvious that surveyors no longer need to use these permanent marks of latitude, longitude and elevation. At the top where it should have been cleared it was completely overgrown with about 4-5 +years of forest re-growth. The views through the canopy were still spectacular for a full 360 degrees. We scrambled around the top of the hill looking for any tracks that might of led away besides the one we had arrived on, there were none, so the only thing to do was return the way we had come!

We were a little concerned at riding down but decided to give it a go anyway, Mark on his wife's Malvern Star Hybrid and me on my Giant Elwood, also a Hybrid, i.e. no mountain bikes here.... Well we needed to stop a few times to navigate fallen logs etc but managed to ride the whole 2.5kms "wow!" back down to the fork and even got off the brakes a few times as well to get a bit of thrill happening.

No accidents on the descent only some stick scratches around the shins!

At the fork we talked about which way to go either back towards Cooradilla Road and the further along the main track and deeper into the forest or follow the so far, to us, unknown Barambali Rd fire trail towards Cudgera Creek and Palm Vale. Well the more likely quiet route along the gated Barambali fire trail was the way to go.

Downhill through some really cool rainforest along a car track covered with short grass, interspersed with peeps through the trees over the valleys to the West, possibly Wardrop Valley and Fernvale, after about 2kms of cruising we came to an uphill which seemed to curve back around the Burringbar Hill we had just been up. The ride went on for a couple of kilometres more the same with just the direction of the outlook changing until we could start to see Cabarita through to Pottsville again. Here the trail forked again, the trail to the left had a large log dragged across it, and no signs. This time we decided to stick to the main path. Eventually we came to another Y-intersection and the name of the right fork was "Wabba Road". I remembered seeing this on Goggle Maps and that it led to the Top of Cudgera Creek Road. Mark and I decided to take it. Just to see exactly where it came out, as there is no Sign on Cudgera Creek Road to indicate exactly which track it is!

After doing a further 3kms we came to a gate at the end of Wabba Road, but no signs to say no trespassing or keep out so we continued on. We eventually came out on Cudgera Creek Road and checked the time 3hours to do 8.8kms. This decided for us which way we to head next. Marks handlebars had started to come loose and my allan keys didn't fit the Malvern Star. So decided to get to Burringbar Service Station and see if they had an allan key. They didn't but as we were leaving we say another bike rider who had one and Mark was able to again pull and push on his bars. We road the last 3.3kms up to the top of Burringbar Range along the Tweed Valley way and the only incident we had was my chain came off the centre cogs as the de-railer may have gotten some dust in it.

All up it was a very pleasant way to spend a WINTERS SUNDAY. Though there was always the treat of rain it never eventuated. And there were no major calamities.