Mountain Biking Echuca

[MatthewK]

Mountain biking in Echuca - The Murray Edge Trail

If you are looking for some great cross country mountain bike action give the Murray Edge trail at Echuca a try.

I couldn't find anything on the net about mountain biking in Echuca so I decided to head up there last weekend to see what trails I could find.  Once you get up there you realize what a great place it is for off road biking, with heaps of trails through the state forest and along the Murray river.

The best trail starts at the river right next to the historic port area. Go through the town until you reach the bridge to Moama and then turn right and pick up the trail heading upstream.  Riding on the Victoria side of the river.

The trail follows the river edge through open Eucalypt forest, with plenty of fast single track around river bends and through gullies.  The terrain is all very flat but there are plenty of dips, a few mildly technical bits.  There are a few trenches to jump over and plenty of narrow ledges to ride along, some above 20' drops down to the river.

There are some open areas with good jumps, bridge crossings, forest gullies, and a few swampy channel crossings.   The trail is all fairly hard but in few spots it was getting dry and powdery.  It would be great fun after a bit of rain as well.

The trail follows the river bends, zig zagging through the forest.  You can ride for 20-30 kms outbound then take a break by the river before returning to Echuca.  There is no water available on the trail so you have to carry it with you.  You can stop at the Yarraby Holiday Park for some water on the way back or stop in at their kiosk.

The country is very quiet the further out of town you get, but you come across a few camper trailers camped by the rivers edge every so often.  Theres also plenty of boat traffic going past, paddle steamers and house boats etc.  You could also drive to the Bama state forest and start from there.

Best time to go is in the colder months, summer would be too hot.  Suitable for anyone with average ability.  Didn't come across any other riders or walkers out on the trail but there were a few horse riders idling along.

Give it a try if you want some fast cross country trail riding over a 20-60km ride.  Echuca is an undiscovered MTB area with trails that have been carved out along the mighty Murray river since the since the pioneer days. An awesome ride!

[clackers]

Thanks for all the tips, Matthew ... I'm a Swan Hill boy originally so do get up that way now and again ...

[Mulger bill]

That sounds like great fun, wonder if I can wangle a 2 day pass from family responsibilities...
Thanks for posting MK

Shaun

[silentbutdeadly]

There many, many many excellent XC trails in the river country of NW Victoria. There's even the odd race track....

http://www.mountainlessbikeclub.net.au/

[danmol]

The upstream track that Matthemk described is a good track to head out on. To ride the full extent of the track on the upstream side of Echuca you head out on the track from under the Echuca-Moama bridge and keep following it until you get to the abbotoirs (slaughterhouse) and then ride between the ab's and the river - this will bring you out near the East boat ramp. Keep riding out of town on the bitumen for about 300m and then take River Rd, this will open up the rest of the trails. Just be careful of cars along River Rd (gravel) people are known to move along it pretty quickly as it leads to fairly popular camping sites.

You can also ride downstream of Echuca. Head over the bridge on Warren St (towards Swan Hill/Kerang/generally West) and then right onto Campaspe Esp (sandy road) this can take you out into another forest. I haven't fully explored these tracks, but I'm sure that there's at least 5k's out there.