Bikes and Bush in the Budawangs

Could it be over a year since we last walked into the Budawangs - land of cliffs and pagodas, hidden creeks and caves, and, of course, Budawang brush? Our last visit was in summer, it was hot and the bush was full of flies. This time, we went in via Nerriga in winter and with mountain bikes, it was a totally different experience.

Nothing really spurred this visit except a weekend of blue skies, sunshine and cool temperatures. We drove in via the Meangora Road out of Nerriga. The access to the National Park is reasonably well signed past private property and after crossing the Endrick River you should find yourself on the Red Ground Track. This is an old road pleasantly reverting to nature and perfect for a mountain bike.

In places you ride through open heath with the magnificent cliffs of the Budawangs around you, in other spots, the track passes through gorgeous eucalypt forest. About 10 km from the parking area, the road dips down and crosses Endrick Creek again before the track travels generally south under a canopy of eucalypts to some campsites and open grassy areas near Piercy Clearing. After riding up another small hill we came to the junction with the track that runs down to Styles Creek and Hidden Valley.

We stashed our bikes in the bush a short distance up this track and then continued on foot as the trail climbed a small hill. At the apex of this hill, a cairn marks the start of the track to Quiltys Mountain. The track up Quiltys Mountain is a typical Budawang pad pushing through scrubby bush but soon coming out near the top of the mountain on sandstone slabs. Some wandering around brought us to the Bora Stones near the summit. There are Bora Stones and views, and, of course, a great place for lunch. The ride back out was as enjoyable as the ride in, except we also got some nice downhill sections.

Next day, we rode back into the second Endrick River crossing except this time we headed west instead of south on another fire road. There are nice views along this section as the fire road dips into and out of small creeks on sandstone slabs. There is another bigger creek crossing at Sallee Creek where the Endrick River has big pools. About a kilometre further on, the fire road junctions with Round Mountain fire trail and we turned south and rode along this until we arrived at a small drainage which runs out of the north end of Round Mountain.

We could not find any track but the bush was not too bad on the spur ridge to the north of the drainage except when we arrived on the western cliff line of Round Mountain. We had lunch here before turning back, however, we should have kept going to the top of Round Mountain as there are better views from the top and also some more Bora Stones. Riding back out we had lovely views of the cliffs of Quiltys Mountain.