Of all days to explore the Yengo National Park we had to pick one with temperatures of up to 35º.
We each carried 3 litres of water, but by the time the merciful cloud cover had lifted it was clear that would be far from enough. Paul carried no less than ten purifying tablets (just in case) but thankfully the tank water at the Yengo homestead was cold, clear, pure, refreshing, plentiful and delicious! In the seven hours or so we were on the trail, we drank at least 7 litres each!
The National Parks website provided very little information about riding at Yengo. As far we could tell from it and google maps the circuit around Mt Yengo was only 22kms so to make a full day of it we began our ride at Boree Track, then followed the Yengo Track to the locked gate some 6 kms from the homestead. These tracks were all fire trails and while they provided no technical challenges, the terrain was undulating with many steep pinches.
Once at the homestead we found what was lacking on the web – a very good map displaying cycling tracks within the park, on a big noticeboard. (I’ve included a photo of it in this blog – fellow riders, I’d recommend you park at the gate to Yengo NP and start your ride there – there are a good number of trails within to explore).
We lunched on the top of Yengo Mountain with two fellow riders then completed the circuit. This trail has only recently been graded which made it ride very smoothly which sadly removed the rough rocky more technical surface we had been expecting (and hoping) for.We met a friendly couple at Finchley’s Trig, chatted with a four wheel driver, and even had an adventurous van driver share his water and ice (yes, ice out of his esky) with us! Ah, that was good!
Nature wise, we shared the trail with a young black cockatoo, a pair of rosellas, a pair of king parrots, a healthy sized perente lizard (whom I did not quite run over), a bunch of finches, cicadas, wasps and several large, dark kangaroos.
The ride back to the car was a slogfest as we powered down the slight downhills to try and get some steam up for the sharp uphills! All up we covered 95 kilometres, and on the very steep very long downhill just near the end of the ride we hit a top speed of 76.8 kilometres per hour (true story!). It was an exhausting, dehydrating ride but it was great to ride in a different area of the Aussie bush.
Yengo Homestead – refreshing tank water behind the shed!
lifesmorefunona29er 