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Desecration, vandalism – Manly Dam trail is GONE!!!
I bring very bad news...
Just rode Manly Dam this morning and the trail had GONE - bulldozed out of existence!!!
Every water sculpted ledge and boulder has been flattened, every pothole and crevice filled. Instead we have a wide, soft sand freeway that’s good for nothing.
The premier trail of the Northern Beaches is no more…
What were they thinking???
Nic
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Really???!!
They can't have trashed the whole thing, surely? Can you elaborate? If you can use these shots and explain what's happened between where and where:
http://nobmob.com/rides/manlydam/circuit
Couple of weeks back the downhill section between 'Halfway Corner' and 'Creek Crossing' had been widened to a highway but the rest of the circuit was still intact. I can't imagine they could have been so brutal.
Might go take a look later, or tomorrow.
The singletrack down from the road to the Hydraulics lab is still intact and so is the single track from above the golf course. But the section down from Wakehurst parkway all the way to Alamibie is gone, as is a smaller section above the Hydraulics lab.
A couple of weeks ago there were sections that have been widened and had vegatation all over it - that was just the beginning. Since then the bulldozers have moved in.
Rob
From http://nobmob.com/rides/manlydam/circuit, the following parts are gone...
"Downhill Fun"
"Creek Crossing"
"Heartbreak Hill"
"Evas Junction"
"Straight"
"All Downhill From Here"
then later on...
"Left Avoiding Walking"
"Right"
are also gone (not totally sure about those two).
All up about 30% to 40% of the trail (excluding the road sections), including some of the best bits. The death of "Downhill Fun" especially makes me weep, "Heartbrek Hill" has gone from being a challenging technical climb to a sand dune. And the flattish section after the Hill will be missed.
This is pretty bad news - esp. if Heatbreak Hill has been turned from the challenge it was to a flat grind.
Will try and get out tomorrow arvo with the other guys to check this out.
Yep it's changed dramatically!
Sand everywhere! Some of it quite loose too turning it into a big sand bog in places.
OK guys - I spoke to one of the rangers for quiet a while this morning about this, and here's the deal...
First up, it's pure coincidence that Energy Australia have been in there at the same time the fire trail was being maintained. The disturbances leading down the single trail from 'All Downhill From here' are their doing and will be repaired once their job is done and time allows.
Secondly, you have to remember that from 'Halfway Corner' to that point is actually a fire trail, and the RFS/SES or whoever need to be able to get fire trucks down there. Apparently this trail hasn't had any maintenance for a long time (like, 10 years plus) and it's been known for some time that this needed doing. It's actually nothing to do with the expected tough fire season ahead or the recent fires we've seen - although you'd have to agree that given fire trails are there to ultimately save bush and property they should be usable for this.
FWIW, the ranger I spoke to is also a keen biker and none too impressed with the way things look or how it will ride right now, so they sympathise, but this just had to be done. Also, some encouraging news is that Warringah Council know how important Manly Dam is to the MTB community, but also know that more and more riders will place it's sustainability under a cloud. Given this they have some thoughts about a dedicated MTB track in their area. These are still in the very, very early stages so don't get overly excited - but be aware people are thinking about it.
IMHO, although the section we're talking about was nice, it's not that much of a challenge, although I'm a bit sad about Heartbreak Hill. Once the trail is cleared of the vegetation it will be smoother to ride and probably make the overall lap faster - who knows.
If anyone has any more question feel free to contact the rangers direct on 9949 3235 - they are friendly folk. Please don't give them a hard time though, don't forget the trail is meant to be there for walkers, riders and access, etc. and they are just doing their job.
I have to echo Rob's comments here, I rode it yesterday and there's not much that's been taken away that was actually a technical challenge to start with. The descents to the creeks I'll miss and a bit of a shame about the hill but I'll get over it (Insert drumroll/crash/groan here).
I suspect given a few weeks/months the trail will look very different once there's been a bit more rain and rubber on the trail, it looks worse than it is now since it's very "fresh". Trust mother nature kids and be positive and we might gain more than we lose from the sound of the above.
Ta,
Matt.
Yep quite true Matt. There was quite a difference already between Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday all the sand was very fresh and boggy. On Sunday it was a bit wet due to the rains and had been compacted a little already so I still had an enjoyable ride yesterday. This is from a beginner's perspective though so some more advanced riders may beg to differ.
Greg took these the other day for those interested:
As I keep saying... you'll really be able to motor down there now.
eh frankly i always thought manly dam was pretty crap, too much "road", well any road hehe, too short and u hardly feel like your getting away from anything at all..and those little man made metal helper thingo's..no personally i think its one of sydney's worse rides..how i long for the old lane cove national park single tracks to open up again ..some day
I rode the Dam yesterday and Monday arvo as well just to have a look what's been done. Monday was on the xc bike and after the rain the ground was pretty packed down, but was pretty sad to see what they'd done. Easiest ride up Heartbreak Hill ever!
Rode it just out of curiousity on the DH bike yesterday, and could not believe how much it had dried out in one day. Deep, loose sand. Come summer this is gonna be very sandy me thinks.
Probaly going to be a fair while before it gets descent.
And Alex, get off your high horse mate. Yes the Dam has a bit of road in it, and it's probably not up there as the best in the world either, but it's great to have a ride so local that gives you a great work out in under an hour. I admit if I drove halfway across town to get to it I'd be pretty over it, but this a Nothern Beaches website so obviously The Dam is going to be a focus point.
Personally I would ride this part of the Dam maybe once a year as it is 30 mins of climbing for 10 mins of DH.
The irony here is that this is the only 'legal' track in the northern Sydney region and we can't even get a little bit of single track to replace what has been destroyed.
Surely Mtn biking is getting big enough to warrant some dedicated areas that offer riding for a range of riders. Until this happens we will continue to ride areas like Red Hill and Oxford Falls (and Belrose).
hmm., no high horse there jedi, just my opinion, i happen to prefer many of the trails in that area above and beyond the dam, mainly because it just feels very synthetic as a ride, and there is a pretty poor ratio of up to down, and your basically riding around the highways the whole time..like i say just my opinion..cascades is just around the corner and oxford and red-hill..admittedly red hills not much fun unless your a bit of a daredevil, but having recently experienced cascades, (cheers again nobmob!) I think its a far more enjoyable ride imho...nothing to do with best in the world, just dont see the hoo hah about the dam!
No biggy Alex, everyone knows there's more challenging stuff elsewhere, but as I said this is a Northern Beaches based website so the Dam can't be ignored.
As Goatman ( who is this Goatman? Does he even ride?) said, it's the only legal trail around here, it's the bread and butter of Northern Beaches Mountain Biking.
all good jedi, im kinda jealous u guys have anything at all so nearby to ride on! there's no inner west mountain bike club!!
but does that mean cascades and red-hill etc. are not legal trails? I always thought they were ..particularly red-hill, i thought, was scheduled for development at some point and approved for pretty much everything in the mean time?
OK, so someone had to ask, eh?
Legalities? AFAIK, if it's in National Park or Crown land, and it's marked as a fire trail on the topo map then you can ride it. I think some other tracks are officially sanctioned by NPWS to ride on, but you have to check with them. As a rule of thumb, if you could drive a 4WD down something then I'd reckon it's fair game. Of course the exception to any of that is where there's a clear sign stating you can't ride (like on Devines Hill on GNR for example).
I don't really know for sure what the situation with Red Hill and Oxford Falls is. Parts (Northern parts) of Oxford Falls are National Park, you are right in saying that other parts of it and Red Hill are earmarked for development and split into lots (see the lines on Google Maps which I presume are sourced from Department of Lands or some other 'official' source). It's going to be tragic when development happens on these trails.
The word is that council are going to build netball courts at the Ralston Ave (see Save Belrose) entry to Cascades and trash the single track loop there, but who ever knows what the planners (yeah, right!) are up to.
Few other guys live Inner West also - it's true, Northern Beaches has better trails
Check out Western Sydney MTB Club though. Did you have a look at Yellowmundee? It's a pretty cool circuit.
looks quite nice , did a couple of races with them when i was younger at yarramundi, is that the same place?
From what I can gather the surrounding area is called Yarramundi but the section where the trail is seems to be called Yellowmundie. It's on the Springwood road just before you start to climb the hill.
Nice place, well worth a look, but would probably be getting hot out there this time of year.
very disappointing ride at manly dam on saturday...I agree with the comments on trail vandalism. The best bits are now gone (unless you like riding around a shopping mall car park).
I really hope that this does not happen anywhere else, as sand is bad for the bearings
Yeah, I rode Manly dam at the weekend also... they've done much more work since last time i rode there (about 3-4 weeks ago) and yes, most of the branches etc have been cleared off the track. Especially look out for the creek crossing after the long downhill section- there's a huge sandpit right before the creek- almost looks like an intentional booby-trap!
On the positive side of things, they haven't demolished the fast section (after the playground)... if anything, that bit has got faster. Oh yeah, and they've added a truck load of water bars that could potentially become fun as time goes on.
Its not all bad, but its definitely lost a fair bit of the technical parts.