Blue Mountains mtb rides

From Springwood Station, head east towards Sydney along the highway or Macquarie Rd through the shopping centre.  From Macquarie Rd turn left at the roundabout into Hawkesbury Rd, following the signs to Winmalee and Richmond.  From the highway just follow the signs to Winmalee and Richmond, and when you go left through the roundabout, you'll be on Hawkesbury Rd.

Around half a kilometre past the golf course, turn into the school grounds and follow the tar road to the end - about 1 km.  Ride around the school buildings and across an oval to the start of  the track. You'll soon see a sign proclaiming Blue Mountains National Park.  Just follow this track to the end.  Some distance along is a track to the right, down the ^ver_y steep Bees' Nest Hill to Blue Gum Swamp, another popular trip.  National Parks and Wildlife often have night spotting trips down in the swamp during school holidays, because there's plenty of nocturnal wildlife.

Unfortunately, the whole track has been recently graded, making it a wide, smooth, boring superhighway.  Typically after grading, there is a soft packed sandy surface that is hard to ride on if there's been any rain.  The bottoms of some hills collect deep loose sand after rain, before passing the silt into the creek system.  ;^( Fortunately there are some table drains to jump, but on the whole I was very _disappointed compared to my last ride on this track. No doubt it will improve as the new surface washes its way down to the creeks.

At least there's a compensation.  At the end of the ride, stop and savour the beautiful views of the Grose Valley - the track ends right on the edge of a clifftop. You might even see soaring eagles if you're lucky!  Return the way you came - you can go down Bees' Nest Hill and through Blue Gum Swamp for an alternative, but be careful, it's very steep, and often loose - riders often come to grief there.  This track brings you out near Whitecross shops, at Winmalee. I didn't try this track on my recent ride, but it may well have been graded as well.