Regrouping before Cooroy
I borrowed most of this route from one of Richard Poyner’s group rides. It was a ride good for cruising a decent distance but kept interesting with the occasional bit of single track and the odd tunnel and swamp.
We were mostly all ready to go at 7am and after some quick announcements and a failed attempt to get our Social Coordinator Greg to take his credit card to pay for the mid-ride coffee, we set off. 25 riders (bushies, distinguished guests and new riders Kate and Eric) headed along McKinnon Drive.
We entered the northern reaches of Tewantin National Park. There’s a sneaky single track that runs along the northern parts of the park parallel to McKinnon Drive called the ‘sunken gardens’. Its tight twisty and lumpy surface makes for an interesting challenge and it’s a far more interesting route than the road. Nice work to whatever trail fairy does that work in there, we appreciate it!
Exiting the sunken gardens takes us onto Old Tewantin Road which is a bit of a boring climb however there’s a kinda of a neat creek bed crossing and pinchy climb in the middle that is fun to try and do without ‘dabbing’ (touching the ground with your foot). This took us up to what is known as the ‘worm farm’ which is a trail that goes through Six Mile Creek so there’s usually a water crossing to contend with if it has been raining recently.
A bit further along Ring Tail Creek Rd we hang a left onto Porters Rd, through the Yurol Forest, hopping over Yurol Forest Rd and heading south towards Cooroy via ‘Trail 8’. At this point there were some mechanical issues that were quickly sorted with help from John. The trail has been changed since the Bruce Highway upgrades in the area so it was a bit of exploring for me. We came across a tunnel under the highway with a skinny bridge going through it – I suspect this is used by the various critters around so they don’t drown. We rode through the tunnel and nearby swamp without issue and hopped onto Mary River Rd which took us the rest of the way into the township of Cooroy.
Our large group ended up setting up camp in the middle of town and we all went off and foraged for coffee and food, it was good to distribute our patronage across the many establishments. After coffee we relived our youth and did a couple of quick laps of the local BMX track and then crossed the railway tracks atowards Cooroy Mountain Rd. We climbs over a nice bunch of hills and were presented a great view of Cooroy Mountain. This is where Will developed a puncture so the main group waited in the shade while the tail-end guys assisted him (…by watching).
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the familiar territory of Wooroi so we split up into three groups and went various ways through the trail network before meeting at the day use area and heading back to the cars.
Great day, nice ride, rad people, sun was a little bitey.
Ben Johns
Club President
PS: Here’s an excellent video of the ride, thanks Lumir!
Tewantin to Cooroy Loop
