MTB Sassafras to Endrick River

21/10/06 06:29 Filed in: MTBing
This was a shorter ride than anticipated:


Sassafras to Endrick River
Saturday 21st October 2006

On Nowra to Braidwood Road about 40km from Nowra leave Morton National Park and enter Sassafras, an region with a few private farms in the middle of the National Park. The turn off is through a gate and is unmarked to the South (Left) just after a house on the Right named “Sassafras” and numbered 4008 (presumably 40.08 km from Nowra). There is a sign just beyond the gate (100m) asking visitors to close all gates. There is also a radio tower on the right. Gate 2 is 1.5km, gate 3 is 2.3km, gate 4 is 3.2km and gate 5 is 3.8km and you are in the National Park and there is a parking area and a locked gate.
There is a camping area with a water tank and toilets about 700m beyond the parking area over the first slight hill. That is it is not accessible by car.
The ride.
We took about 50minutes to ride the first 6.3km where we took photos and admired the scenery. At 7.33km there is another locked gate with a sigh advising the vines is 6km. With lots of side walks this had taken 2.5 hours.
Camp Rock was an obvious huge outcrop on the left at 11km a further half hour of riding.
By 12km we had entered forest and although a dual track road it was akin to single track.
The Hidden Valley track junction was at 12.2 km and the road then descended slowly through pleasant forest called “The Vines”. We stopped for a picnic at 13.5km after about 2.5 hours.
We rode on down the Vines Creek Valley over a few creeks to the Endrick River turn off to the right which was had another locked gate. The river was a shallow 2-3m wide and easily walked across over stepping stones. This was at 16.3km and just under 3 hours. The ride back was slightly uphill but without stops this was just under an hour. To complete the total 33km took about 4 hours with a ride time from computer of 2:07 hours.
A great ride and well worth continuing along this track a bit further.
The 4WD tracks marked on the map as turnoff before getting back to Nowra Braidwood Road towards Turpentine Range are locked or fenced off at the National Park boundary and you cannot use them. We spent an hour trying before returning to the main road.