The 900km long Mawson Trail, from Adelaide to Blinman, showcases some of South Australia’s most spectacular and differing scenery, offering adventures and experiences to last a lifetime.
- The Mawson Trail is named after the advernturous explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.
- Much of the Mawson Trail is dirt roads and tracks, and therefore an off road bicycle is recommended.
Starting just north of Adelaide and travelling to the Outback town of Blinman in the Flinders Ranges, the Mawson Trail is the ideal option for mountain bikers wanting to travel through South Australia’s regional and remote rural areas.
Close to nine hundred kilometres long, the trail includes little-used country roads, State forest and national park fire trails, farm access tracks and unmade or unused road reserves. The trail avoids traffic and bitumen roads and leads cyclists into the remote areas of the Ranges.
The trail takes riders through the Adelaide Hills, traversing forests, farmland and historic towns such as Lobethal and Birdwood. It passes the world famous Barossa wine region to the mid-north towns of Kapunda and Burra and form here, winds pass the towns of Hallett and Spalding through the Bundaleer Forest and into the Flinders Ranges.
The Mawson Trail is designed for mountain bike or sturdy touring bike use (aka steel tourers) – it is not suitable for road bikes. There are several steep uphill sections, and prolonged or heavy rain on unmade tracks will make cycling very slow or impossible. However, spectacular views, abundant wildlife, unique flora and extensive vistas always reward the hard physical work. More and more folk are choosing to ride it light and travel in accommodation along the way and some are even singlespeeding it on 29ers – not a bad option..
The trail is open all year round, however the months of January to March can be a tad hot and need careful consideration. The World’s Longest Pub Crawl is an even we run along the Mawson so check with us on dates or just get a gang together and run it yourself – it can be quite an all-round unforgettable experience meeting locals and exploring the architectural diversity of watering holes en route!
SECTION ONE QUORN TO BLINMAN is possibly the most scenic of the three sections and takes riders past ruined homesteads and abandoned towns, Yourambulla caves containing aboriginal paintings and Flinders Ranges National Park with its jewel in the crown, Wilpena Pound.
SECTION TWO BURRA TO QUORN starts in the State Heriatge-listed town of Burra, leading on to Bundaleer and Wirrabara Forests, through Melrose (the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges), and on to Quorn, the home of the Pichi Richi Railway.
SECTION THREE ADELAIDE TO BURRA offers spectacular views from the Adelaide Hills, historic mining towns and the famous wine regions of the Barossa and Claire Valleys.
LOOP TRAILS
CUDLEE CREEEK (A)
Mountain bike trail network within Mount Crawford Forest in the Adelaide Hills.
RIVERTON (B)
Trails start and finish in Riverton township and provide cyclists and walkers the chance to visit local places of interest.
MELROSE (C)
280km north of Adelaide. Mountain bike trails situated at the foot of Mt Remarkable. For more information on these trails click here.
Detailed maps of the Mawson Trail are available and it is recommended that these be utilised for trip planning and navigation. There are nine maps in the series (three maps in three sections). The maps can be purchased from us at Over The Edge – call us on 088 666 2222 and we can post them out if you want to check out the route before you ride.