The fourth and final stop in the Chuck Ibis Down Under road trip was Tasmania’s North-South Track an 11km descent (500m vert) running from The Springs on Mt Wellington down to the Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park.
The North-South Track. Even just the name makes you want to ride it, and we soon would be! After the morning’s MTB adventure on Blue Tier Descent we headed down to Hobart via Tassie’s East coast. Great seafood to be had along this route BTW!
Early the following morning we met up with Tom from Cyclingo , who’d arranged a maxi taxi shuttle and also offered to show us the trail – thanks mate! With cloud shrouding The Springs there was no shortage of atmosphere and anticipation as we wheeled off, and the North-South didn’t disappoint. As we dropped down out of the cloud great views out over Hobart flickered through thick, moss-laden forest. The vibe was very much one of riding a mountain walking trail – good fun!
From a trail builder’s point of view one aspect of the North-South that really stands out is the beautiful stone work. Nowhere is that more evident than in the massive rock garden the trail winds through.
The lower half of the North-South Track is much more along the lines of a modern flow trail, making it a blast all the way down through drier bush to the Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park where the trail becomes more XC.
All too soon we were back in the maxi taxi on our way back into Hobart, to spend a few hours at the mind-bending MONA before dropping Chuck off at the Launceston airport and continuing on to Devonport and boarding the night ferry back to Victoria.
Tassie I’ll be back! 🙂