Why this ride
The stops in between: Burnett Creek State Forest, Border Ranges National Park, Limpinwood Nature Reserve and Nightcap National Park. Much of it runs through woodland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Spicers Gap State Forest and Nightcap National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 723 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 49
- 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: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Burnett Creek State Forest.
2. 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 comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Border Ranges National Park.
3. 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
about 155 km into the recorded legs you reach Border Ranges National Park. Next is Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Nightcap National Park.
5. Nightcap National Park
Nightcap National Park covers a high, wet plateau and escarpment north of Lismore in New South Wales, the remains of the rim of an ancient volcano centred on Wollumbin, Mount Warning, whose eroded caldera forms one of the largest in the world. The plateau receives some of the highest rainfall in the state, and it is covered in subtropical rainforest, tall eucalypt forest and dramatic waterfalls, including Minyon Falls, which drops about a hundred metres over a cliff of volcanic rock. Nightcap is one of the Gondwana Rainforests reserves, and in 2000 it made headlines when scientists found a previously unknown tree, the Nightcap oak, surviving in only a few small populations here.
Read the complete Nightcap National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nightcap National Park sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
6. back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve comes up about 443 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Border Ranges National Park.
7. 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
about 568 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Border Ranges National Park. Next is back through Burnett Creek State Forest.
8. 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
back through Burnett Creek State Forest, late in the day. Next is Spicers Gap State Forest.
9. 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
The route ends here after 723 km.
Leg by leg
Spicers Gap State Forest to Burnett Creek State Forest
Spicers Gap State Forest → Burnett Creek State Forest is 57 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 98 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 125 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nightcap National Park to back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Nightcap National Park → back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve to back through Border Ranges National Park
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve → back through Border Ranges National Park is 125 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 98 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burnett Creek State Forest to Spicers Gap State Forest
back through Burnett Creek State Forest → Spicers Gap State Forest is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.