2023.12 - Melsrose SA Mountain Biking
Xander and Leanne explore an up-and-coming Mountain Biking destination
Melrose SA
Three hours drive from Adelaide or one from Port Augusta, Melrose, the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges, is now an up and coming mountain biking tourism destination worth having on your radar.
Over the last 20 years the local network has grown from a few hand-cut trails to almost 100km catering to a variety of riders.
As is so often the case the secret ingredient is a passionate group of locals maintaining stakeholder relationships and campaigning for new developments.
Here, these people are represented by the Bike Melrose club and the Over The Edge Bike Shop/Cafe. All the locals we spoke to were extremely passionate about their trails and eager to set us up with the best itinerary possible.
In this post I'll start with my experience in Melrose and finish with my recommendations for other visitors.
About Us
Leanne and I are intermediate mountain bikers who visited Melrose on our epic summer 2023/2024 road trip adventure, spanning Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. To start at the beginning of the whole adventure click here.
At the time of our visit we were out of practice riders; with the exception of one week in October, we hadn’t ridden since early March the same year.
We are both comfortable on blue/’more difficult’ trails and happy to dabble in some black/’very difficult’. I outpace Leanne on technical trails and she overtakes me on air/flow.
Wilowie Forest Trails
Constructed by Trailscapes in 2021 the Wilowie Forest Trails are where the friendly staff at Over The Edge sent us first. These trails offer beginner-friendly loops, a rail trail link to Melrose and the end point for the Bale Out exit from the Remarkable Epic Trail. The trailhead features covered picnic facilities, a bike repair station and toilets.
This is a well designed trail network with the easy, family friendly trails surrounding the trailhead on the gentler terrain and more difficult trails further afield on the steeper slopes.
We rode most of the network and it served us well; testing out our riding muscles, getting us used to the heat, and introducing us to riding scree slopes on Awky Squawky. Everything was achievable, but the heat was starting to get to us by the end of our ride.
Over The Edge Bike Shop/Cafe
We were too hot and tired to consider making our own lunch by the time we finished at Wilowee, so we met Erica, Alan and Echo at Over The Edge.
Over The Edge - Melrose is a quintessential bike shop/cafe. It has great smoothies and toasted sandwiches, friendly and knowledgeable staff, delightful baked goods and quality merchandise. We enjoyed lunch together looking up at Mount Remarkable, then organised E-bike hire, stocked up on muesli bars and bought Leanne a riding jersey off the clearance rack.
E-MTB Practice
We waited until the shadow of Mt Remarkable was shading the mountain bike park before picking up our E-bikes and beginning our test ride. We began with Monument Trail and between the incline, heat and our tiredness we were immediately glad to have the electronic assist.
Dodging Bullets, the feature of our ride, is a microcosm of the Melrose mountain bike park. It's grading, very difficult (black), seems to be a relic of it’s age or consequence of the exposure/elevation of the trail rather than the technical difficulty of any of the trail features.
The trail is comprised of original hand cut sections next to steep slopes and new machine built refurbishments, both of which meander between farmland and native forest. Like everything in Melrose it’s best enjoyed by fit, cross country riders, or on an E-Mountain Bike.
At the end of the Dodging Bullets the trail merges into Dualling Banjo’s a fantastic little dual slalom track that takes you right back to the caravan park. I overtook Leanne on the final leg, but she was pretty happy with her consolation prize of doggo cuddles.
Remarkable Epic Trail
The Remarkable Epic Trail is the jewel in the crown of Melrose’s Mountain Bike network and the source of their recent bump in popularity.
As an Epic Trail it is long (40km), demanding, technical, and majority singletrack. The Remarkable Epic Trail starts with a climb straight up 1000m of elevation over 14km. This filter feature and the overall length made it clear we would need E-bikes to achieve this ride.
This was our first time riding E-bikes and we both absolutely loved it. Although we played it safe with our battery life sticking to ‘eco’ and ‘trail’ and avoiding ‘boost’ so as not to run out later on when we would be more tired.
We were especially glad of the free momentum when we started crossing scree slopes about half way up.
At the completion of North Face we were already tiring and out of food this is where you pass Bale Out, the only option to cut the epic trail short without a pick-up, but we were too passionate to give up and continued on to Giddy Up and the summit.
After Giddy Up is Yeah Gnar this long awaited reward for all the climbing features almost 4km of continuous descent. It was also the 1st of the many places in Melrose described as “blue with black features” that actually lived up to it’s description, everything else having felt one grade lower than it’s official rating.
That being said we were already riding conservatively at this point due to growing fatigue.
Yeah Gnar’s steep elevation and natural forest gives way to undulating terrain and grassy fields. A short distance from the trail is a hikers hut which provides a welcome opportunity to top up water.
From the hikers hut you begin Granny Gray’s a primarily descent trail through private property with little to no shade. Between the hot sun (it was now close to 1pm), the hunger, fatigue, and needing to stop to open and close gates we had the distinct impression that this section of trail could’ve been a lot of fun under different circumstances.
Granny Gray’s finishes at a road access then the trail enters Home Run. The steep descent sections of this segment were some of my favourite parts of the whole Epic, they combine rocky tech with extreme exposure.
Leanne, with her reflexes heavily impaired from fatigue began walking over more and more features here, despite them being well within her usual capabilities. We began to worry that this would cause our ride time to blow out to a point where we had new problems, but with a bit of a rest and a pep talk we were able to continue, and thankfully the trail mellowed out again.
As the trail nears it’s end you get distant views of Melrose to spur you on. We also re-entered reception and were able to check the upcoming terrain regularly on Strava.
On this final section we finally stopped conserving battery and used boost liberally. This was an absolute game-changer making the uphills feel like gentle downhills and powering us across the scree slopes.
We didn’t get to ride the very last descent of the trail as Trailscapes were installing the final features. Instead we were redirected onto Throwing Copper one of the other crowd favourite trails we had hoped to get time to ride.
We finally arrived back at our campsite close to 3pm and immediately began shovelling as much food into our mouths as we could.
Leanne was rewarded for her troubles by becoming the inaugural Remarkable Epic Trail E-Bike Queen of the Mountain.
Jacka Brothers Brewery
Jacka Brothers Brewery is located at the heritage listed premises of Melrose’s original 1877 Brewery. The building pictured above, with the bar on the bottom floor, was once where beer was brewed, starting at the top and going through different processes on each level before being piped across to the basement in the opposite building which is now used as a function room.
The bar is trendy and modern with many local beer, wine and gin offerings, and the owner has partnered with two other businesses to provide dining options on site.
It was a perfect fit for us after a long day's ride in the sun. Everyone enjoyed sampling different drinks as we worked our way through a bowl of nachos and three pizzas over the course of a few board games and chats with other travellers and the owner.
Sightseeing In Melrose
The above video was taken across the road from Jacka Brothers, these cockatoos became louder and louder as the afternoon on and treated us to an amazing show when we went for a closer look
The Brewery Tree seemed to be the number one non-mountain biking attraction in Melrose according to Erica’s research. Upon a closer look we discovered it made the lofty claim of being the 25th largest river red gum in South Australia and Victoria. We didn’t think this was that impressive, especially since there was another that seemed just as big around the corner.
That being said it is impressive for its age, more than 300 years, which is particularly notable since nesting hollows don’t start to form until these trees are well over 100 years old. It also seems to have been something of a cultural icon for generations as a meeting place for community groups and more recently wedding parties.
My Recommendations
If you're passing through the area, or local to SA, Melrose is well worth a visit!
Important Considerations
There are two challenges to making the most of a Melrose visit; the steep terrain and the climate.
A lot of the Melrose trails have an old school cross country feel. Even the most exciting descents are interrupted by climbs, and if you're going to include the epic, the elevation is leagues beyond anything in WA.
So if you are a bike-fit cross country rider you will love this network, but if just shredding down hills is more your speed, you should budget for an E-bike.
When it comes to the climate Melrose experiences a variety of extremes. We met a few of the builders from Trailscapes while riding the epic and they told us that in the last week they had had stop work orders because of both heat and rain!
For our visit the heat was an ever present challenge, but our subsequent adventures on the South Australian coast were much cooler with some light rain, we would have loved to have had it the other way around.
The best case scenario would be to visit Melrose in Autumn or Spring, but whenever you go you'll get the most out of your experience if you have the flexibility to shuffle around your itinerary based on the weather, plan enough time for everything you want to do but don't lock anything in until you get there.
Mountain Biking Routes
If you have lots of time you can compliment a flexible itinerary by building up to the epic trail by following the suggestions below, otherwise just pick a few that appeal to you the most.
Wilowie Forest Trails
This small network described above is an excellent warm up or family friendly location, we rode almost the whole network in about 2 hours. It can be added on to a loop of the Bale Out trail or accessed via the Southern Flinders Rail Trail.
Bartagunyah MTB Trails
Melrose's second satellite network, we didn't make it here, but I would plan half a day here if I visited again. These trails are situated on Bartagunyah Estate, and feature views of the Spencer Gulf, the network is about the same size as Wilowie so you could spend half a day at each and finish with a wine tasting at the cellar door.
For the more adventurous incorporate these trails into the Home Run Loop described below.
Melrose Town Trails
The feature network of the town has numerous trails starting and finishing within the Melrose Caravan and Tourist Park. Enjoy the mix of old and new in this well loved network featuring Dodging Bullets and Throwing Copper, but be prepared to pedal!
If you're staying at the caravan park there is also a handy pump track by the campsites and the dual slalom track Dualling Banjo's on the lowest slopes of the mountain, both great for burning extra energy.
Home Run Loop
One of my favourite sections of the Remarkable Epic Trail was the steep, technical, exposed descents of the Home Run segment. Thanks to Horse Gully Road it is possible to shuttle just this part of the trail, or better yet take the Mawson Trail from Melrose to create a loop that passes by Bartagunyah!
For those with time to spare, or on the fence this is a perfect way to sample the Remarkable Epic Trail without committing to the big climb.
North Face and Bale Out
Another taster option for the Remarkable Epic Trail, this route is a classic enduro. Climb 600 vertical metres to the trail junction then turn right and ride the purpose built descent for over 6km before it feeds into the Wilowie network. Return to Melrose via the Southern Flinders Rail Trail.
This is the trail I was most disappointed to miss, it appears to be one of the longest continuous descents in the town with multiple line choice and amazing views.
The Remarkable Epic Trail
Refer to my breakdown above for more details, but the important thing to know is that this is a gruelling ride. With a massive 1000m climb to begin with and huge portions of the trail exposed to the sun you need to be capable and committed.
Try to pick a cooler day for this and bring both more food and more water than you think you will need. Our ride blew out by several hours and we spent that whole time wishing we had brought lunch.
Places to Eat
Over The Edge - Melrose and Jacka Brothers Brewery are both trendy venues discussed above. The town also features two pubs, if a hearty meal and commercial beer is more your speed.
Alligator Gorge
One other place I would have loved to visit if weather permitted is Alligator Gorge, a 9km bushwalking loop through a canyon, with spectacular displays of wildflowers and cascades in springtime.
Coming Soon
From Melrose we drove to the Barossa Valley for Christmas, and then Leanne and I broke off for our first time alone in two weeks, exploring the South Australian Coast.
Lookout for a write-up on Deep Creek and Second Valley coming soon, and subscribe to never miss an update.
