Riding Echuca/Moama

November / December I would say. It gets too hot from January on, that was the mistake I made last year.

Suggest you also have the snake talk with your kids. You might not see any, but with all the frogs and other water edge critters and wetland bird nests there are lots of snakes in the park.

Where/how did you go Bigadz? Any pics?

Oh yeh, I meant to report back but got caught up with some other stuff.
Thanks heaps for your recommendation of Barmah.
I went on a few short rides, one around Bernarca Forest reserve and north of Perricoota Rd, one on the river tracks between Wharparilla and Echuca, and a few laps of Five Mike MTB track.
The highlight was definitely Barmah. I took Old Barmah Rd, which was pretty lovely, and in the national park I saw a few groups of brumbies, two bunches of emus and a red bellied black snake. I took bit of a detour after the Gulf area and got a bit muddy unsuccessfully trying to cross Tullah Creek but eventually found a bridge and popped out on Edmunds Lane and got to Barmah pub in time for lunch.
The house boat was boring as batshit so I’m glad I took my bike

I’ll post a few photos tomorrow

Great. I was working in Echuca 2 years ago for a few months so I had a good look around. It is mostly a track and roadie town, with some MTBs. I’m surprised there isn’t more interest in gravel riding there as there is a lot of potential. The local bike shops seemed stunned when I went in asking for CX type parts.

Fishing has been popular for a long time there so there are lots of 4wd tracks all the way along the river from people looking for new spots. Anywhere you pulled the boat in you would have been able to go for a decent ride along the river. I didn’t bother mentioning 5mile as it is pretty tame compared to what is in ACT.

Old Barmah Rd was a good choice to get to Barmah NP and the weather has been good last few weeks. Yes that bit around Tullah Creek at the bottom of the park is where it gets a bit tricky. But as long as you keep turning south whenever you get blocked you will find your way out of the park somewhere. Yes there are snakes, and this is mating season so they will be out and about. But at least the tracks are wide and open enough to see them, and RBBs are not as dangerous as some.

The Vic Govt wants to get rid of the brumbies, but I think they would be much better off to control the numbers but promote them as a way to get more visitors - particularly for family camping. That whole area and Barmah township is fairly dead economically now that they have stopped the logging, cattle grazing and even fallen firewood collection. They built an aboriginal heritage centre in the NP and I think they hoped to get school tours to come to that - but it never amounted to much and the building has been closed for a few years now.

Cough cough

Something in your throat?

Damn…

So, yeh, it’s flat around there. All up, over my big ride (160km) the biggest and only hill was a whopping 10m high.

I got the girls out on a gravel grind on the first day

This is one of the many riverside trails on the Victorian side, which also leads to plenty of camping and fishing spots.

This is Old Barmah Road (NSW), which goes through a huge reserve, where you camp just about anywhere because it’s so flat.

In Barmah National Park there were a few small mobs of horses, two pairs of emus and a red-bellied black snake.

That looks awesome. I’m just packing up for the 1st overnighter with all 3 kids by myself. I was just going to stick to Freeman’s Mill as a test run but I’m seriously considering getting everyone up early for a drive and a bit more of a ride.

Thanks bigadz. Old Barmah Rd was a good find. Didn’t know about that one as I am always coming from Vic side.

Nix, Adz,

I’m thinking of doing this route on Saturday with my eldest. It looks pretty flat and I reckon she can do the distance OK but we probaly won’t hit the road till after 2:00pm. From what Adz posted it looks like we should be able to bail out along the way if we’re running late and head to the river to camp. Is that a fair assumption?

Cheers

Saying it’s completely flat is an understatement.

This is the route I took in the park to the Gulf Camping Area. Google Maps

As you can see, there’s not much of a shortcut. Also, that Tullah Creek crossing is fine in some places, but a bit dodgy others. The first time it was calf-high and not very muddy. On the way back through the southern part of the park it was wide, deep and muddy. I had to find another track that luckily had a bridge over. Another also, the Sand Ridge Track and River Rd are in really condition (well graded, compacted gravel) but some of the other trails are a bit wilder, with overgrown sections, mud and ruts.

By the way, I’m not sure what the rules are about this, but if you did need to stop and camp at any time before the Gulf Camping Area, there’s countless flat, open grassy areas where you could pitch a tent, especially when you’re near the river for water.

Thanks Adz,

Parks Vic says “Camping ranges from isolated dispersed camping along the river bank to more populated camping along the sandy beaches”, so I think we’ll just head up Sand Ridge Track and see how far we get.

Jealous

Sorry I missed this earlier Dalli,

Yes camping anywhere is OK I think. There are often groups of vehicles / tents set up in various spots along the river front in summer. Gulf Camping spot does not have any facilities, just a big sign. So there is no reason to camp there rather than anywhere else - except it is useful as a known point to locate yourself or meet up with others.

Yes Sandridge and River Road are both in good condition and pancake flat - the biggest climb would be crossing the crest in the middle of the road. You should be able to get to Gulf in time to set up camp without rushing.

The other advantage of the Gulf Camp sign is that it allows you to identify Gulf Road Track which makes a T-intersection and heads south right there. This is also in good condition although a bit more rutted. The more sketchy tracks are when you turn west again to head back along the bottom of the park.

The easiest option, although not the shortest, is to go all the way down Gulf Track to the park south boundary gate and take the last track on the right which is Boundary Track. Gulf Track has a bridge over the Creek so that solves that problem, you won’t have to cross it elsewhere. Boundary Track is pretty good and will take you back to Sandridge. On the way back, if you ever get blocked or the going gets a bit tough turn south or towards the park boundary - there is always a track there as a bail out option.

Thanks Nix. Will see how we go on the way up and might just return back down sand ridge

Jeepers Dalli, I’m shocked you saw so much water on Sandridge. I’ve never seen it like that. There has been very little rain recently in Northern Vic - so this water has come from inside the park not flowed in from outside.

Reinforces the need to always call the Rangers to get info on what the current water situation is before riding.

The River is always full there - it is the narrowest point in the the whole Murray system. Water releases from upstream weirs are carefully managed to get the maximum downstream past this point so it is always full but not so much that water overflows the banks.

Within the park most of the creeks are anabranching - which means they come out of the river and flow back into the river further downstream. It was a braided river flowing through a swamp in the past. Once water was valued for irrigation, previous management schemes blocked the river connection points of these creeks to avoid water loss. Now, because environmental flows to the wetlands are seen as important as well, the river/creek connection points have been replaced with sluice gates. The gates are opened occasionally to fill a creek to take water into wetland swamps to stop them from drying out completely. This flooding is done on a rotating basis, so not all the park is watered/flooded at the same time. The land is so flat that the water spreads a lot when it gets released.

So yeah, mental note to always call the local Rangers, Park office is in Nathalia I think, before riding Barmah to get current water information and which roads are open/closed so you can avoid wet areas.

(Copied from Bike Camping With Kids thread)

I was planning to do the Barmah ride myself this month. So after Dalli’s experience I did a bit more research on the water situation.

Firstly these track closures are posted on the park website - dated 23/10 - so that is another source of info for pre-checks.
http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/barmah-national-park

I called the local NP ranger’s office at Nathalia. She knew about the water and track closures but was not making the decisions. She said the water management was under control of local catchment authority.

I called the GBCMA catchment authority in Shepparton. A guy there told me this spring they decided to try something different. To open all (13?) of the Barmah regulators (the creek gates) at the same time and leave them open for spring to better approximate the historic flooding pattern in Barmah that was due to snow melt and spring rains upstream. So as a trial they’ve stopped the rotational flooding and have all the gates open and now the water in Barmah is the same height as the River all the time. All the regulators are still open and likely to stay open for the rest of this month; they are monitoring week by week.

I asked how come it was much drier in Sept when Bigadz went for his ride. The guy said the Murray went down a bit, but then rose recently after there was a lot of rain in Ovens catchment which caused the track closures.

For me sounds like best to stay away until they close all the regulators again around end of Nov.