Kenilworth Ride Summary – 18/06/2017
That was a big tree
Today I learned that the ‘e’ in e-bike really means ‘elevation’. The four e-bikers along for the ride spent most of their time admiring the views while the rest of us couldn’t see with all the sweat dripping into our eyeballs.
Driving down into the valley from Obi Obi to Kenilworth, through the early morning winter fog, the sun beaming through the trees was inspiring. I would’ve stopped to take a photo but being foggy and the road popular with motorcyclist I didn’t want to risk it.
The sleepy town of Kenilworth is one of my favourite places to go for a drive/motorbike ride out to for a coffee. I highly suggest heading out that way and checking out the local attractions such as Borumba Dam (near Imbil) and Canondale National Park where we rode today.
We gathered at the Charlie Moreland day use area and set off just past 8AM. We went up Sunday Creek road where the majority of the 1300m total climbing was. We stopped at the lookout half way up to give ourselves a bit of a breather and the views amongst the foothills overlooking the plantations was great.
Next stop was at the top of Summer Falls Road where people wanting a shorter ride could head down to the falls to chill out before making their way back. Whereas the others can continue on to come back from a different direction.
We reached the end of the loop (650m above sea level ) and then started heading back via a forestry management track. There is amazing rainforest over this north western side of the park and this was well received by the group. It was along this section that we bumped into Quinton who was in the middle of his ride (all the way from Mooloolah). Afterwards we continued on to Summer Falls were we took our break and appreciated the waterfalls.
Heading back up to Sunday Creek Road we hopped across and headed up to the Mt Allan Fire Tower. A bit of scrambling was required in some places but we all made it and were grateful that the tower was once again open for climbing. There’s awesome views from the tower with almost complete 360 degree views of the surrounding area (as one would expect from a tower meant to observe potential bushfire activity).
View from Mt Allan Tower
By this time I think no one, not even the e-bikers, wanted to see another hill so the ride back down to the campground was a nice change.
We got back to the cars at 12:30PM which was about an hour longer than anticipated but everyone loved the ride. Lunch was at the Kenilworth Bakery.
Ben Johns
Club President