Banks Creek

This morning I rode from Lawnton to Walloon (west of Ipswich) via Samford, Mt Nebo and Fernvale. This was one of a series of exploratory rides to check out some tracks in the western part of D’Aguilar National Park to make sure they were ok to bring a group of riders through in a few weeks.

"The Wall of Dirt"
One of the guys on the MTBDirt forum christened this hill “The Wall of Dirt”. It’s on the “Carbould Loop” trail at Banks Creek. You can’t ride up it. It’s pretty scarey riding down it. And there’s no (legal) way around it 🙂 So any trip west from this part of the forest includes this hill. Dont’ worry, though. Even though it’s steep, it only goes for about 200 metres.
Fire Trail - Banks Creek
It’s not all steep trails. Some of the tracks have amazing views on both sides. It’s a beautiful place to ride.

Banks Creek Road
The trail eventually comes out on Banks Creek Road – a quiet gravel road out the back of Fernvale. It has lots of creek crossings, so it could be impassable in wet weather.

Savages Crossing, Fernvale
Savages Crossing, Fernvale
The upper reaches of the Brisbane River flow quite rapidly through Savages Crossing. I’m told the banks of the river had a lot more vegetation than this, but most of it was ripped away during the January floods.

Fernvale Bakery
After a tough ride through D’Aguilar National Park, Dean thinks a sausage roll and something sweet really hits the spot.

Total distance: 82km, with just over 1,600m of vertical ascent and 4,400kcal of energy in about 5 hours. 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter because of the Wall of Dirt and the distance.

Incidentally, we caught the train back from Walloon – a 2 hour trip. I got to use my Go-Card for the first time and was pleasantly surprised that it only cost me $4.85 to travel 80km on the train.

Total distance: 81.93 km
Total climbing: 1698 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 06:31:39
Download file: activity_104329927.gpx
More data

5 Replies to “Banks Creek”

  1. Hi Neil, is the road down from Nebo to banks creek rd strictly mountain bike only? I have a touring (Surly LHT) and was wondering about this route. Thanks for any info regarding the road!

    Nice Blog 🙂

  2. G’day Richard
    Thanks for stopping by.
    The road down to Banks Creek is “Whoa Boy Break”. It’s not rocky, but it’s really steep and loose in sections. If your tyres were thin (< 2 inch) you might lose traction which would be dangerous on a heavy bike. When you get to the bottom, there's a gate on the right which says "No Entry, Private Proprty". If you're riding the tourer, you MUST take this road, because otherwise you'd have to go up over the Wall of Dirt, and that would be really hard work for you to haul your bike up, and dangerous going down. The private property track leads to a small pleasant community of people living in caravans. They're friendly. They just don't like motor bikes. If you pass through, please stop and say G'day to them. They have a couple of steep driveways, either of which will spit you out onto Banks Creek Road, which is your run-of-the mill gravel road. Hope this helps. Neil

  3. G’day, I see this is an out of date post. Moving on up to December 2021. “We” are now 1260 Banks Creek Road. New Gates on the Track often marked Corbould Loop are at the northern boundary of our place, which is also the start of Banks Creek Road.. Our property has cut the southern part of Corbould Loop off. We welcome bikes at Twisted Tin Studios and cottage. Cottage is 95% finished and quite livable,just landscaping and a bit of paint to go.. Cottage stay available. Repairs to bikes and people available.

    1. Hi Mike and Kerry, this is a useful update! I live over the hill in Highvale and was put off going through to Fernvale. I don’t want to risk crossing someone’s property. But it would be great to roll through this hidden pocket soon.

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