April 19, 2023
unicorn falls bike tour.
While in Byron Bay, Jackie & I did a guided e-bike tour that took us into Mount Jerusalem National Park. The first part of the ride took us to the edge of the park, where we stopped for coffee. Even though we were on the road for this first bit, the greenery all around us was gorgeous!
After coffee, we headed into the park where the pavement turned into fire trails. These trails are vehicle-sized gravel roads, made to stop bushfires from jumping across the trail, and also to provide roads for emergency services to enter national parks. They’re pretty easy mountain bike trails and I felt very confident on them after my bikepacking trip just a few weeks before! It was all uphill into the park, so we stopped a few times along the way.
Inside the park, we stopped for lunch at Unicorn Falls. It hadn’t rained recently, so the waterfall was minimal, but Jackie & I took a very cold dip in the water, and we all hung out for a while and ate the wraps that were included as part of the tour & had been picked up by our guide when we stopped for coffee.
We spent maybe 45 minutes at the falls before heading back. The way back was all downhill, and the guide said we could all go at our own pace if we met at a spot we had stopped on the way in, at the bottom of the first big hill into the park. Out of our group, I think I was the only one with any kind of mountain biking experience, so I sent it full speed down the trail. About halfway down, my chain got knocked off somehow, probably a rock that had kicked up into it. I didn’t notice until I came to a flat area, needed to pedal, and found that I could not do so. I had to get off and put the chain back on myself, which gave the rest of the group a chance to catch up. They all stopped and I assured them I was okay and explained what happened (Jackie thought I had taken a tumble). I told them all to go ahead while I wiped the grease off my hands, and then hopped on and rode the rest of the way down (passing them once again, hehe). The ride back was a breeze, we didn’t stop as much and made excellent time. In total, the whole tour was about four hours, three of which were spent on a bike. We went a total of 50km/33mi – which is the same distance that took us 7-8 hours to ride (with stops, although not long ones at all) during my bikepacking trip! Hooray for e-bikes!
