Why this ride
On the way it passes Spicers Gap State Forest, Teviot State Forest and back through Spicers Gap State Forest. Long stretches are under trees.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Main Range National Park and Teviot State Forest
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 364 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 18
- 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 102 km into the recorded legs. Next is Teviot State Forest.
3. Teviot State Forest
The Scenic Rim is the name given to the arc of rugged mountains that curves around the south-east corner of Queensland, along the New South Wales border, and Teviot State Forest sits on its western side. It is dry eucalypt country of ironbark and spotted gum, quite different from the rainforest on the wetter slopes nearby, with open woodland, grassy slopes and rocky creek beds. The area is part of the wider Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a World Heritage area that preserves the largest subtropical rainforest in the world and the remnants of the ancient forests that once covered the supercontinent Gondwana.
Read the complete Teviot State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 182 km into the recorded legs you reach Teviot State Forest. Next is back through Spicers Gap State Forest.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Main Range National Park.
5. 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
Back at Main Range National Park. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Main Range National Park to Spicers Gap State Forest
Main Range National Park → Spicers Gap State Forest is 102 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Spicers Gap State Forest to Teviot State Forest
Spicers Gap State Forest → Teviot State Forest is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Teviot State Forest to back through Spicers Gap State Forest
Teviot State Forest → back through Spicers Gap State Forest is 81 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 102 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.