As I’ve said before, adventures don’t need to be grand or expensive to be fun, rewarding or immersive. Of course, it helps if you have the Sunshine Coast hinterland or one of Australia’s countless other natural places right in your own backyard but my guess is that, wherever you live in the world, there’s a hidden natural gem or two nearby if you’re willing to look.
With that in mind, it was just a short while ago that I took my latest domestic bikepacking trip along one of my more commonly trodden routes through the Glass House Mountains area, along the Ewen Maddock Dam and through the Dularcha National Park. And although this is just suburbia for some, it’s still amazing and a holiday destination to many.
I knew there’d be several off-road sections so my Bombtrack Beyond+ was my weapon of choice with it’s ample tyres, comfortable riding position and great weight carrying capacity. This time I went for a pannier bag set-up which worked OK but I’ve been experimenting with other set-ups since this trip and I reckon I have something a bit better dialed in for future trips. When it comes to bikepacking, I’m still not great at minimalism as you can see so there’s definitely some improvements that can be made here. More on that to come.
This would be a completely car-free adventure which started and ended on my bike so I started by rolling my fulling packed, fully self contained Bombtrack down to the local train station and waited on the North-bound platform. About one hour and one train change later, I arrived at Beerburrum station and rolled my bike off the train into the largely deserted town of the same name.
I knew from the last time I rode in the area that a track duplication project was under way but didn’t realise how far it had progressed now or how many of the adjacent thoroughfares had been rendered impassable. A short distance out of town, I was met with a complete closure of the trail I usually travel down and a couple of guys doing some slashing and mowing work. They confirmed the closure but then offered me a lift past the roadworks to allow me to keep going. They helped get my bike onto the back of their maintenance truck, I jumped in the front and we were off. It was a short ride made longer by the dawdling traffic jam caused by the road works but I got to chatting with my hosts and appreciated acquainting myself with some new people – something I don’t get to do a lot of normally in my everyday work.
Once we parted ways and I set off again, it was only a short distance later that I discovered that more closures were imminent. A couple of u-turns and another truck ride later, I was finally off to properly start riding from Beerwah towards my destination at Landsborough. This situation unfortunately chopped out a large section of the day’s riding but came with an upside in that it was quite late when I started out and the day was getting late so the truck rides meant that I would probably be saved from having to set up camp in the dark.
There’s a few spots I could potentially have camped along the way but I chose the Landsborough Holiday Park. It was closer to the luxury end of the accommodation quality scale as far as my usual bikepacking trips go but it was nice to be catered for this time with hot showers, proper toilets and a well appointed camp kitchen. There’s also a swimming pool but it was way too cold for this Queensland boy to even entertain the thought of that in winter. The camp sites are roomy and shaded but more geared towards caravans so the surface on the pads is a course gravel which, for a lightweight hiking tent, makes it hard to hammer pegs into the ground and probably uncomfortable to sleep on but luckily there is grass behind the pad and nobody seemed to mind me setting up there for the night. After dinner at the camp kitchen and meeting some more new people there, it was time to shower, rug up and get some sleep so I could begin the proper part of my ride in the morning after having to cut out all the sections due tot he roadworks.
The next morning was a bit of a slow start. I had breakfast, packed up camp and was on my way around mid-morning pointing my bike toward the Southern end of the Ewen Maddock Dam trails. Although these trails have become a bit of a staple for me of late, I never tire of them. The changing environment, the views of the dam and the illusion of remoteness in relative closeness to civilization make this spot a favorite.
On this trip, I also tried something new in mounting a small bluetooth speaker to my top tube in the hope that music would make the whole experience a bit more immersive. Now, this is not necessarily something I would normally advocate for having experienced other people’s similar setups blaring really heavy music really loudly with lots of other people around but I figured that soft music at a background volume on a weekday with almost nobody else around could work. It seemed to and it did make the ride more enjoyable so I’ll see if there’s occasion to do it again.
With all my camping gear aboard, the few little pinch climbs on the trail were just that little bit more noticeable but eventually I made to the picnic spot at the Northern end of the dam where I had the place to myself. It was time for coffee and I would savour this time as the only one so far when I’ve had everything I needed to make it myself en route. Grabbing one of the empty picnic tables overlooking the dam, I took in the view while enjoying my brew.
Then it was off to my usual next stop on this route, Mooloolah Valley. Unlike the last time I passed through here, the Mooloolah Valley Bakehouse was open this time which allowed me to tuck into some of their finest fare and watch the world go by for a little longer.
Off through the back streets of Mooloolah Valley and into the Dularcha National Park, the microbats were asleep in the old railway tunnel this time so no helmet slapping encounters of the bat kind today.
Before long I had popped out of the National Park into Landsborough again where my adventure would end. I decided that because of the disruptions of the track works further on, there was little point in trying to ride on today so I decided to jump back on the train right here. Almost as though it was meant to be, the train was announced at the station for arrival in two minutes just as I pulled up which gave me just enough time to lug my porky bike over the pedestrian overpass at the station and roll into the last carriage.
I haven’t created a new GPS route for this ride because it’s pretty much the same as this one.
Ride safe and see you out there some time.