Page 60 - AMB Freelist

some of the best the reserve has to offer. We call past Treetops Adventure, a mix of ropes courses and ziplines catering for children from 3 years old to adults. We see the new canoe launch at the Chuditch Picnic Area and stop at the Chuditch Campground. The Chuditch Campground is one of the access points to the Murray Valley Mountain Bike Trails. And here begins our deep dive into the nomenclature of trail names on DBCA estate. A Chuditch or Western Quoll is
the largest carnivorous marsupial in Western Australia and 200m from the camp on the south- eastern most extremity of the trails is a flowing green trail Quollity Street. A little bit of a pun, but a lot of fun.
MORE MURRAY VALLEY GOODNESS
We continue the tour to the Murray Valley Trailhead and park up. Here Rod talks more about the naming of the Murray Valley trails
as we get kitted up to ride. Being later in the afternoon, we decide to do a quick loop of Captain Hook and Quokkamoly.
Charles Edward Lane Poole, namesake of the Lane Poole Reserve, was the second university trained forester in Australia. As a 19-year-old he lost his hand in a shooting accident, and having
the hand amputated he replaced it with a steel hook. In 1921, working as Conservator of Forests, he developed Western Australia’s first forestry legislation. A tough advocate for responsible
use of the forests, he often fought with both
the government he was employed by and the timber industry. Captain Hook is a fitting trail to be named after him: a tough blue-rated climb with scattered rock gardens and steep climbing switchbacks, it’ll make you fight.
At the top of Captain Hook, a little bit cross-eyed from the exertion of keeping pace with Rod and Brett and their e-bikes, we drop into Quokkamoly, a trail in three parts. The top half of the trail consists of ripping berms and tabletops. Once we cross the fire road, we hook into what feels like one of the original Murray Valley trails. The trail narrows and turns dark as we enter the thick pines, but the speed doesn’t drop off. Punching gaps between the trees before we know it, we hit the flat turns and are climbing to the final section of the trail. The final section of the trail can only be described as dual slalom. Two lanes wide with parallel jumps and berms, it’s a perfect place
to get a late trail pass on a mate and bragging rights as to who got down the trail fastest.
Back at the cars, Brett and I load our bikes onto the Thule Velospace XT 3 rack on the back of the Isuzu MUX and drive the 15 minutes back
to Dwellingup Holiday House. A quick shower and some photo and video downloads and we wander across the road to the Dwellingup Hotel for dinner.
DAWN OF DAY THREE
The morning of day three begins with an early start at The Roost, the top trail head of the Murray Valley trails. From here, you can access the four shuttle-able trails in the regrowth section of the network, or you can head out into the native forest for some longer loops. We decide to knock off the loops before finishing on the shuttle trails. With Murray Valley being only about an hour and a half from the Perth Hills, it wasn’t that hard to convince my good friends Tim and Jo Bennett, and their son Ollie to make a day trip to join us and ride. Ollie stumbles out of their car looking ready for a big nap. Along with Nic, Jake, Alan from Loz Trails and Ash from Loose Riders, we head out.
Later-rite lives up to its name: small rocks and pea gravel everywhere. We chat, looking forward to the target trail, Inzamia. If you hadn’t guessed, this trail is insanely good. The team of rock stars from Magic Dirt Trailworx absolutely nailed this one. Flowing and rolling along the top of the
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