Parks 2025: Southern Flinders Ranges- Melrose SA $10M

[SummitFever]

Had business in Adelaide after which a colleague and I decided we should drive home to Karntburra via Melrose and the new epic trail. Camped overnight at the caravan park and did the loop the following morning.

Day was unusually cool, so perfect for riding. Trail was a lot of fun but would not recommend to anyone that didn't like tight switchbacks, rocks or was afraid of a little exposure.

Pretty slow average (3:03 riding time for 39.5km, almost 4 hours in total) but we stopped plenty of times to look at the view, take photos and also did some side detours to check out stuff (like Gray's Hut and the Mount Remarkable summit).

Fantastic trail though and worthy of its "epic" status. Top work @Ackland and many thanks to all those involved. Will no doubt get better with time as the track beds in.

 

[ozzybmx]

Had business in Adelaide after which a colleague and I decided we should drive home to Karntburra via Melrose and the new epic trail. Camped overnight at the caravan park and did the loop the following morning.

Day was unusually cool, so perfect for riding. Trail was a lot of fun but would not recommend to anyone that didn't like tight switchbacks, rocks or was afraid of a little exposure.

Pretty slow average (3:03 riding time for 39.5km, almost 4 hours in total) but we stopped plenty of times to look at the view, take photos and also did some side detours to check out stuff (like Gray's Hut and the Mount Remarkable summit).

Fantastic trail though and worthy of its "epic" status. Top work @Ackland and many thanks to all those involved. Will no doubt get better with time as the track beds in.

Its definitely an exposed trail, once you drop down from the top at the back its a long walk home.

4 hours total is pretty good on regular bikes, most taking longer than that. Ebike non stop is just over 2 hours with the trail that finished currently.

 

[Ackland]

Had business in Adelaide after which a colleague and I decided we should drive home to Karntburra via Melrose and the new epic trail. Camped overnight at the caravan park and did the loop the following morning.

Day was unusually cool, so perfect for riding. Trail was a lot of fun but would not recommend to anyone that didn't like tight switchbacks, rocks or was afraid of a little exposure.

Pretty slow average (3:03 riding time for 39.5km, almost 4 hours in total) but we stopped plenty of times to look at the view, take photos and also did some side detours to check out stuff (like Gray's Hut and the Mount Remarkable summit).

Fantastic trail though and worthy of its "epic" status. Top work @Ackland and many thanks to all those involved. Will no doubt get better with time as the track beds in.

Glad you enjoyed it.
For sure it's a challenging epic but that's what we wanted, to put the EPIC back into trails and showcase the uniqueness of the Southern Flinders with a trail unlike any other in Australia (particularly in recent times).
The design had to be sympathetic to and at times dictated to by Warkalitya (Mount Remarkable).
The builders did an incredible job of designing and redesigning those alignments whenever the mount threw in a challenge.
"Tysons Tight Pants" are the tightest of the switchbacks, with the trail being constrained to that narrow ridge spur by scree slopes and solid rock outcrop.
There are a few sections that I'd prefer were done different but overall it's a great trail.
I just hope it gets enough love from riders who prefer old style technical challenge rather than warp speed, groomed trail and air time.