Is December and January a no no for the AAWT

[Stroller]

Hi I'm new here. Yesterday I posted but I can't find the post so i'm trying again. This time in the right forum. So let's hope it works.

I'm planning a bike tour starting in October from Queensland. By December I hope to be able to arrive in the Canberra region where i would start either the AAWT hike or ride along a similar route. I haven't yet decided which i am going to do. If hiking i'll go with my sister and her hubby. Or rather they will join me. If i bike, i will be alone.

The question is should I delay starting the walk/ride til February after the bush fire season is out of the way? Is it too hot in the mountains in December and January?

Also you may be able me decide whether i should hike or bike by answering these questions?
Is the scenery from the walking track so unique as to make it worthwhile to do the walk instead of riding?
Do you think it would be possible to ride a loaded bike along the tracks between Thredbo and Kiandra? - are the tracks firm and smooth enough or are they boggy, and or lumpy.Firm and smooth is good. Boggy and really stony is bad. The land looks flat on the satellite image. Is that a correct interpretation? Would i be able to ride down the AAWT from Kosziosko to Thredbo or is it impossible. If not is there some other road to get down in the area short of going all the way down to Jindabyne. I've just seen another route out that might work if needs be which is the shlink road up to olsens road but i would only do that if no other option. This is the only part of my cycling route that would overlap almost exactly the hiking route and that's because there aren't connecting roads.

So I need a deciding factor to give me clarity. Another issue is doing food drops. We won't be able to ride or drive in to make food drops so i would have to collect them from post offices. Whereever they are, i'd have to go there to collect rather than spots in the bushes and such.

The most important factor that would lead me to do the hike over the ride is dramatic scenery on places far from any road which i could ride on. After that difficulty of the roads and other logistical things.

[Bill P]

Hi Stroller, yes it is feasible to ride this section of the AAWT. I've ridden some of that section on a hardtail mtb as a short tours, and have prev toured from Albury via Cabramurra to Canberra on blacktop.

I met a group Near Jagungal doing a through trip bike tour to Canberra there a few years ago and their progress was a fair bit behind their schedule due to the lumpiness of the tracks which they hadn't expected. The tracks are often just parallel trenches.

I reckon you'd want 40mm + tyres and a light load. it might be a welcome change from all the roads you would have been on since QLD though .

the Victorian section - walking track only- of the AAWT such as crosscut saw , cobberas, etc are the ones you would want to hike.


In terms of the bushfire risk, you should assess the specific local conditions relevant to you, closer to the time. Summer is the peak bushwalking period throughout Australia, for many delighful reasons, even in bushfire prone areas. you need to be aware but you need not delay or defer such a epic adventure on that concern.

Good luck!

Regards Bill P

[Stroller]

Thanks Bill. I can't really just drop my bike mid tour. Either i do it all by bike or all by hike.

If that section is ok by bike, then i could most likely bike through the mountains although my question still is, am i missing out on something significant by not hiking the track and opting for the bike. Hiking is a bit of an extra pain really for me becuase i have to courier my bike around to the other end but i would certainly do it my sister and hub wanted to join me. Alas they can't confirm for many months.

So you seem to be suggesting that i go for it and only abandon ship at the last minute if the situation looks ominous. That could work i think, all the more so since other people are saying that February is even hotter. I think one gets hotter when riding a bike than when hiking with a pack, particularly if we're talking pushing a loaded bike uphill.

[north-north-west]

You can't take a bike on the best bits of the AAWT. The Main Range, for instance, only allows bikes between Rawson and Charlotte Passes. While the official AAWT goes down the road from Charlotte and through Smiggins via the Link Rd to Munyang, that misses the best part of the Main Range which is the Western loop and the unofficial section over Twynam and Anton and through the Granite Peaks and Rolling Grounds (which is the way 99.9% of walkers go). Plus you can't take the bike from Thredbo to Rawson (the Dead Horse Gap track & Rawson Walkway are pedestrians only). Plus most of the Victorian section is not bikable. You're talking narrow walking tracks through sometimes overgrown scrubby bush or over and along mountain ridges. Not only are bikes not permitted for most of it, but they aren't practical.
Also, there are more unofficial routes through much of the NSW section which are cross country and cover some of the best walking there (Gungartan/Kerries/Jagungal). The bike wouldn't do them.

There are bike touring routes through the Australian Alps. You could cobble together something that would get you from Canberra to Walhalla. But it won't be the AAWT.

[Eljimberino]

What about the Bicentennial Trail?

[Stroller]

The BNT is exactly where i started out with my thinking. After reading several blogs by cyclists and one by horse riders, i have concluded that the BNT isn't particularly suitable for bikes, esepcially not the Alpine section which is why i considered doing the hike instead. But as mentioend what i've been looking at lately is an alternative riding route through the Alps, one that hopefully is not as terrible as the BNT. It has to be remembered that the BNT is a historical trail and i have no particular interest in history.

With regards to the timing, i would think that the issue of timing remains pertinent to either mode of transport. I need to figure out when is the right time for me to go through the alps.

[Stroller]

You can't take a bike on the best bits of the AAWT. The Main Range, for instance, only allows bikes between Rawson and Charlotte Passes. While the official AAWT goes down the road from Charlotte and through Smiggins via the Link Rd to Munyang, that misses the best part of the Main Range which is the Western loop and the unofficial section over Twynam and Anton and through the Granite Peaks and Rolling Grounds (which is the way 99.9% of walkers go). Plus you can't take the bike from Thredbo to Rawson (the Dead Horse Gap track & Rawson Walkway are pedestrians only). Plus most of the Victorian section is not bikable. You're talking narrow walking tracks through sometimes overgrown scrubby bush or over and along mountain ridges. Not only are bikes not permitted for most of it, but they aren't practical.
Also, there are more unofficial routes through much of the NSW section which are cross country and cover some of the best walking there (Gungartan/Kerries/Jagungal). The bike wouldn't do them.

There are bike touring routes through the Australian Alps. You could cobble together something that would get you from Canberra to Walhalla. But it won't be the AAWT.

Thanks for the informative reply. I shall look into it. The idea if i was riding was not to try to ride the AAWT but to ride in the same area and hopefully to catch most of the same experience/views. The only section of the route that i can't get close to seems to be the part i mentioned above. But i understand that doesn't mean i wouldn't be missing out on what makes the walk worthwhile.

I have had another idea though. I might be able to drop the bike of somewhere for a few days and do a hike in the most scenic area that can't be witnessed from the bike. This idea might be more acceptable to my sister as well who might not want to come for a 60 day hike.

But essentially what you are saying is that by riding the area, i would be missing out on something really special that can only be seen from the AAWT. What are the bike touring routes you mention? Can you help me figure out where to find them? That said, i don't need to ride on a tarred surface. I love riding on dirt. The main thing i want though is great scenery that i can manage on my bike and bush camping, if i am biking.

[north-north-west]

I'm sure there are MTB fora that would give you the information. Anywhere there are open firetrails, you can take a MTB. It wouldn't be easy riding, but it's doable. Quite a lot of people will go from Dead Horse Gap to Limestone Rd on a MTB, for instance. Much of the NSW AAWT is on firetrails of varying standards, and an MTB will cope - but you still miss the best part of the Alps doing it that way because the best bits are those that are foot access only. Even some of the ACT section is MTBable, although these parts are interspersed with tracks where even pushing a bike would be *&%$#! difficult and riding just not possible.

There might be someone in one of the local NSW Parks offices that could give you more detail. It's not something I'm into so I don't have any first hand knowledge of exactly where to go.

Actually - second thoughts, there's a bloke on this forum called WarrenH. He does a lot of bike touring in the ACT & NSW parts of the Aust Alps. If you PM him he'd probably be able to give you a lot of good info. He'd certainly be able to tell you the best places to find out more, if nothing else. Just hope you get him in a good mood . . .

[GBW]

There's also a bloke Chris Rushworth who does a lot of bike touring around the Alps. You'll find him on Youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/user/co2friendly