Trails

MTB TRAILS

Welcome to the Surf Coast! There are plenty of fantastic trail experiences for riders of all ages and abilities. Like many locations, the Surf Coast contains an extensive network of both formal (sanctioned) and informal (unsanctioned) trails. See below for maps of the formal areas. Surf Coast Shire have also produced a free hard copy Surf Coast Ride Guide that’s available from local bike shops, the Anglesea Newsagency & Surf Coast Visitor information Centres. More information can be found at https://exploresurfcoast.com.au.

At this stage, we’re not permitted by land managers to publish maps of informal trails nor undertake trail work on these. A number close to the Anglesea Bike Park are widely used and can be found on Trailforks, Strava & hard copy map at Bike Matters Torquay. We have advocated hard for an Anglesea Mountain Bike Trails Concept Plan. This was undertaken by World Trail and completed in 2021. Whilst that plan is not currently publicaly available, the summary can be found in the Anglesea Trails Opportunity Prospectus. We continue to work hard behind the scenes with land managers, Surf Coast Shire and local community groups towards formalising many of the currently informal trails.

Working bees are held on the last Sunday of the month. See the bottom of this page for more information. If you can’t assist with working bees but would like to chip in, you can donate to our Trail Kitty to assist with much needed funds.

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Eumeralla Track Network

This area bounded by the Great Ocean Rd, Hurst Rd and the Eumeralla Scout Camp contains a great mix of cross country trails (approx. 30km total) to suit all ages and abilities. Plenty of fun jumps and roll overs to be found. Park at the Hurst Rd trailhead or otherwise ride in from Anglesea or the Bike Park.

There are plenty of maps available for the formalised area and the trails are sign posted together with their difficulty rating. A pdf version can be found HERE. There are a number of additional unformalised trails used by locals outside of the formalised area, particularly around the Anglesea football and cricket ovals.

Map options:
  • Avenza Maps (free) for your smart phone – download “Eumeralla Visitor Area Otway National Park”. This is the formal map created by Parks Vic and includes a GPS layer so you can see where you are on the network. It includes all of the formalised trails but does not include commonly used trails to the south and west of Eumeralla Scout Camp.
  • Trailforks – currently missing some of the formalised trails and includes a small number of the unformalised trails.
  • Bike Matters Torquay – have produced a comprehensive hard copy map but you can’t tap on it to locate where you are!
  • Trail Head Bike Co Anglesea – also have their own hard copy map available in store.

Anglesea Bike Park

Located on Camp Rd opposite the primary school, approx. 1km from the Anglesea township, this fantastic location has a fun 4x downhill track, two jumps tracks, short cross country loop and trials section. It’s perfect for kids of all ages and a popular birthday party location. This is also a great central location to start your MTB adventure. Everything on the ground is organised by the Anglesea Bike Park Committee – a bunch of super enthusiastic & committed local riders. They are always looking for more helping hands so if you’re interested, check their Facebook Page or email us.

The land is owned by Alcoa who lease it to Surf Coast Shire. Alcoa are planning to sell the land with the most likely outcome in that situation being loss of the bike park to the community. In late 2017, a petition was commenced through change.org that can be found HERE. The petition was closed and presented to both Alcoa and the State Gov’t 3 months later with over 5000 signatures and hundreds of supporting comments. View signatures can be viewed and comments. Unfortunately Alcoa’s position remains unchanged. To avoid losing the bike park, the community needs to continue rallying Alcoa to support the retention of the bike park in its current location.

Area 9

Currently named as part of the Anglesea Futures process, this area contains a number of predominantly downhill, more technical trails. They remain unsanctioned at present and thus we are not permitted to perform trail maintenance. If riding in this area, please take care and be alert of potential hazards. As part of the Anglesea MTB Trail Strategy Plan that’s in progress, we are seeking formalisation of these trails and the addition of new trails in Area 9. Such changes will take many years if agreed upon by land managers due to the multiple assessments and public consultation that needs to occur (as occurred in Eumeralla).

Best access to area 9 is from the Anglesea Bike Park. Given the trails are unsanctioned, we are not allowed to produce trail maps. However, they can be found on Trailforks or a hard copy trail map can be picked up for a gold coin donation (that we receive) at Bike Matters, Torquay .

Currawong Falls

Located behind Airey’s Inlet approx. 10k west of Anglesea, this formalised shared use trail starts at the Distillery Creek Picnic Ground. The loop is intermediate in difficulty, 11k long with a 200m climb before your fun descent. Do be wary of some blind corners and look out for walkers & runners. Pic: Trail crew off their bikes and on the tools!
Map options:
  • Strava is probably your best option (full loop HERE) or check out the signs from the Distillery Creek Picnic Ground.

 

Anglesea Heath

The Anglesea Heath to the north of the coalmine contains a large number of fire tracks that can make for a different riding experience and depending upon the conditions, can be suitable for cyclocross bikes. Parks Vic are currently proposing to convert a number of these to shared use (walking, running, cycling) and excluding 4WD’s and motorbikes. Check out Park Vic’s map HERE.

Eumeralla Scout Camp

In general, please keep out of the Scout Camp. You will find signs or fences at most points of entry asking the public to keep out. Often there are large groups in the scout camp including children’s groups. There are tracks that are all rideable to get around the camp to the next area (check out Strava) and there really aren’t any tracks worth riding within the camp anyway!