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Barrington Tops?
So... someone asked me about Barrington Tops today. They mentioned there was some 32Km downhill section!
Did a little bit of searching for cycling here but with no joy - does anyone know anything about this area?
Anyhow, I had a mess about with a few maps, and don't know about 32Km but there is a road marked (probably dirt) that runs right up to very near the top of the Barrington plateau (or whatever we're calling it). From the end of here at 1502m altitude there's one marked Kholwha Trail that runs East and in 13Km (as the crow flys, more of course with twists) it drops to 411m alt. Niiiiiiice!
Anyone game for visiting this and doing some exploration? The climb back up the road might be a little tough, thinking that should be done first. 
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how far away is barrington Tops? Are we talking a day trip?
Liz
Barrington Tops is about 3 to 4 hours away by car. It used to be one
of my favorate 4WD destinations and is covered with old logging tracks and has the northern most alpine forests in NSW. NSW national parks has taken most of it over from NSW State Forests and tipically locked up a lot of the trails.
You would want to allow at least 2 days to have a good look around.
Jeff
Sounds like a good place to go camping.. do you know if there are camping sites there?
liz
You are supposed to be studying
OK, so I've been studying maps and such a little more and here's what I see:
NPWS page on Barrington Tops says you can't ride on walking trails or a number of the more promising looking firetrail.
In particular, there's a walking path South off the plateau that meets up with Lagoon Pinch. There is a video of some guys riding this floating around the 'net and it looks a blast - but don't think we should consider annoying NPWS. And besides, there's no real path back to the top from here anyhow.
Kholwah and Mount Carson trails head off the plateau to the East and could be used to form a loop, but again, they are off limit.
This leaves options off to the West. The Barrington Trail joins Middle Ridge Trail and makes at least 20Km+ of downhill. From close to the bottom of Middle Ridge one could head North up Bungare Road (which is a firetrail climbing from 600m to 1330m in 5-6Km. Steep!) or carry on West until one met Barrington Tops Forest Road and take a ride back up to the plateau on this. That route is looks about 20Km longer than Bungare Road which it meets on the way.
From the top of Bungare Road one would complete the circuit in another 10Km or so.
So, who's game? 30Km loop with a huge climb, or 50Km loop with a longer but more sedate climb back up. We are talking distance kindof like The Oaks but with about double the vertical (plateau is above 1500m and bottom of these trails are around 400m).
Or we could always do something with parking cars and driving back up (shock!)
Rob,
Not quite so far away but very similar country is the Watagans. These are about 1hr 20 north of Sydney and is State Forest, not NP.
I have driven there alot but not ridden at all. Speaking to the LBS at Morriset the guy reckons there is a ton of trails west of Cooranbong on the escarpment. Don't know about distances that can be strung together but these may be worth a little closer look.
I do have a state forest map of the area if you are interested.
Stuart
True, but there's not over 1000m vertical drop in 20Km is there?
It's a good idea though, I had a look and loads of trails in that area, and because it's probably less than 2 hours drive (for us at least) probably a worthy day trip target. Let's discuss that in another thread, eh? Anyone want to arrange a trip?
Hello!
You can do over 100ks at Wattagan in their trails, they are endless it seems - the Tom Quilty horse ride was held there a few years ago - they did 100miles in 23 hours.
Enjoy!!