Why this ride
It goes by way of Gilbert State Forest, Burnett Creek State Forest, Border Ranges National Park and Limpinwood Nature Reserve. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mount Mistake National Park and Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 889 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 15 h 21
- 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. Mount Mistake National Park
Mount Mistake has a name that sounds like an apology. It stands in the Great Dividing Range in south-east Queensland, in rugged country west of Brisbane, and the national park around it protects steep slopes of dry eucalypt forest and a handful of rocky ridgelines. The mountain is not a famous summit, and the park is not set up for casual visitors: this is the kind of bush where the main facilities are the road, the sky and your own sense of direction.
Read the complete Mount Mistake National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Mistake National Park is where the day begins. Next is Gilbert State Forest.
2. Gilbert State Forest
West of Brisbane, the Great Dividing Range rises as a dark wall above the plains, and Gilbert State Forest sits on its western slopes, where the rainforest of the escarpment gives way to drier eucalypt woodland and the farmland of the Darling Downs. To the east lies Main Range National Park, with its high peaks and steep cliffs; to the west, the land opens out towards Warwick and the wide grain fields beyond.
Read the complete Gilbert State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gilbert State Forest comes up about 109 km into the recorded legs. Next is Burnett Creek State Forest.
3. 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
about 207 km into the recorded legs you reach Burnett Creek State Forest. Next is Border Ranges National Park.
4. Border Ranges National Park
Twenty three million years ago a huge shield volcano stood over what is now the border between New South Wales and Queensland, and the Border Ranges are the remains of its northern and western rim. The volcano has long since eroded, leaving a vast caldera with the steep central plug of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, rising in the middle, and a ring of cliffs and ridges around it covered in dense subtropical rainforest. The Border Ranges National Park protects a large part of that rim, and it is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a World Heritage Site that preserves forests whose ancestry goes back to the time when Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana.
Read the complete Border Ranges National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Border Ranges National Park, about halfway. Next is Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
5. Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Twenty-odd million years ago, a huge shield volcano stood where the Tweed valley is now, on what became the border between New South Wales and Queensland. Erosion has since carved out its centre, leaving one of the largest erosion calderas in the world, a vast bowl of green farmland ringed by cliffs and ridges, with the volcano's old central plug, Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, standing in the middle. Limpinwood Nature Reserve, on the northern rim of the caldera, protects a stretch of subtropical rainforest that is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving forests whose lineage goes back to the ancient supercontinent.
Read the complete Limpinwood Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Limpinwood Nature Reserve sits at 446 km, about halfway. Next is back through Border Ranges National Park.
6. back through Border Ranges National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Border Ranges National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Border Ranges National Park comes up about 555 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Burnett Creek State Forest.
7. back through Burnett Creek State Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 679 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Burnett Creek State Forest. Next is back through Gilbert State Forest.
8. back through Gilbert State Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gilbert 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 Gilbert State Forest, late in the day. Next is Mount Mistake National Park.
9. Mount Mistake National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mount Mistake National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 889 km.
Leg by leg
Mount Mistake National Park to Gilbert State Forest
Mount Mistake National Park → Gilbert State Forest is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gilbert State Forest to Burnett Creek State Forest
Gilbert State Forest → Burnett Creek State Forest is 98 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burnett Creek State Forest to Border Ranges National Park
Burnett Creek State Forest → Border Ranges National Park is 124 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Border Ranges National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Border Ranges National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to back through Border Ranges National Park
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → back through Border Ranges National Park is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Border Ranges National Park to back through Burnett Creek State Forest
back through Border Ranges National Park → back through Burnett Creek State Forest is 124 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burnett Creek State Forest to back through Gilbert State Forest
back through Burnett Creek State Forest → back through Gilbert State Forest is 98 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gilbert State Forest to Mount Mistake National Park
back through Gilbert State Forest → Mount Mistake National Park is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.