Why this ride
It goes by way of Spicers Gap State Forest, Gambubal State Forest, Burnett Creek State Forest and back through Gambubal State Forest.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Main Range National Park and Burnett Creek State Forest
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 652 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 11 h 16
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Main Range National Park
The Main Range is the wall behind the Scenic Rim, a long line of old volcanic cliffs and ridges that runs along the border between south-east Queensland and New South Wales. It is what remains of a huge volcano that erupted more than twenty million years ago, and the rocks have been eroded into steep escarpments, gorges and waterfalls, with the high points, such as Mount Superbus, reaching nearly fourteen hundred metres. The national park protects dry eucalypt forest on the lower slopes and cool, damp rainforest higher up, with ancient Antarctic beech trees and giant tree ferns that belong to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, listed by UNESCO in 1986.
Read the complete Main Range National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Main Range National Park is where the day begins. Next is Spicers Gap State Forest.
2. Spicers Gap State Forest
Allan Cunningham, the botanist and explorer, found a way through the Main Range in 1827, and the gap that bears his name now carries the busy highway from Brisbane to the Darling Downs. A few kilometres to the south, Spicers Gap was the route that early drays and coaches used instead, because it offered an easier climb up the escarpment. The old road, built in the mid nineteenth century with stone retaining walls and drains that can still be seen, is now part of the Main Range National Park and the neighbouring state forest, and it is a fascinating relic of the pioneer days, with a historic cemetery and the remains of an old camping ground for teamsters.
Read the complete Spicers Gap State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Spicers Gap State Forest comes up about 115 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gambubal State Forest.
3. Gambubal State Forest
Gambubal State Forest clings to the western side of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, close to the New South Wales border, in country that drops from rainforest-clad ridges down to the grazing land around Killarney and Warwick. The forest adjoins Main Range National Park and belongs to the wider belt of subtropical and temperate rainforest protected as part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. Hoop pine, ancient Antarctic beech on the highest ridges, tree ferns and strangler figs give it a feel of deep time, and it is one of the cooler corners of Queensland in summer.
Read the complete Gambubal State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 209 km into the recorded legs you reach Gambubal State Forest. Next is Burnett Creek State Forest.
4. Burnett Creek State Forest
In the Scenic Rim, southwest of Brisbane, Burnett Creek runs down from the slopes of the Main Range toward the farmland around Boonah, and the state forest that bears its name covers a stretch of steep, wooded hills where eucalypt forest gives way, in the moister gullies, to subtropical rainforest. This is the edge of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a UNESCO-listed collection of rainforest reserves along the Great Dividing Range in Queensland and New South Wales, including the Border Ranges and the Main Range national parks. The rainforests here are remnants of the forests that covered the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and they shelter plants and animals with lineages going back tens of millions of years.
Read the complete Burnett Creek State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Burnett Creek State Forest, about halfway. Next is back through Gambubal State Forest.
5. back through Gambubal State Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gambubal State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gambubal State Forest sits at 435 km, about halfway. Next is back through Spicers Gap State Forest.
6. back through Spicers Gap State Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Spicers Gap State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Spicers Gap State Forest comes up about 533 km into the recorded legs. Next is Main Range National Park.
7. Main Range National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Main Range National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Main Range National Park closes the day.
Leg by leg
Main Range National Park to Spicers Gap State Forest
Main Range National Park → Spicers Gap State Forest is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Spicers Gap State Forest to Gambubal State Forest
Spicers Gap State Forest → Gambubal State Forest is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gambubal State Forest to Burnett Creek State Forest
Gambubal State Forest → Burnett Creek State Forest is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burnett Creek State Forest to back through Gambubal State Forest
Burnett Creek State Forest → back through Gambubal State Forest is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gambubal State Forest to back through Spicers Gap State Forest
back through Gambubal State Forest → back through Spicers Gap State Forest is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Spicers Gap State Forest to Main Range National Park
back through Spicers Gap State Forest → Main Range National Park is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.