canberra.bike
The Pinnacle Nature Reserve is part of Canberra Nature Park and ever-popular with locals. The lower section of The Pinnacle is an offset area and something new. Offset areas spring up where there are urban developments.
In 1988 the National Horse Trail was rejuvenated and relaunched as the Bicentennial National Trail. The Bicentennial National Trail extends from Queensland to Victoria. A section of it passes through the ACT. It is not to be confused with the Canberra Centenary Trail which came later and is only in the ACT. The Bicentennial National Trail and the Canberra Centenary Trail alignments are at times in close proximity and cross. Both pass through The Pinnacle Nature Reserve in Hawker, Belconnen, but one on the north side and the other on the south side. This ride was predominately on the Bicentennial National Trail but a section was on the Canberra Centenary Trail.
We explored the Bicentennial National Trail in Belconnen by bike. We had a mountain bike and one touring bike with fat tyres. In the muddy conditions, the mountain bike is the better option. It was soggy and pays off the trail were slippery. Canberra does not get much rain though, so we must be grateful. We joined the Bicentennial National Trail at Hawker and rode through to the new suburb of Strathnairn in Belconnen’s far west. Many have never heard of Strathnairn. Strathnairn is part of the Ginninderry development that will one day extend into NSW.
A short ride from Lake Ginninderra to Mount Rogers, around the summit track and back to the starting point on the lake in Belconnen. Most of the route is a bike path but the summit circuit track, that provides great views from every side of the mountain, is gravel.
The track is popular with locals walking their dogs and is mostly flat. Mount Rogers is a prominent, cone shape hill on the Belconnen plain. Looking south you will see from Belconnen town centre to the ridge line of Mount Painter, behind Cook, and The Pinnacle, Hawker. The view north is towards Gungahlin. The sides of Mount Rogers are steep even for walkers. There is an excellent path to the summit from Charnwood. The path on the east side from Belconnen is particularly steep and you may find you need to push unless you are on a mountain or ebike.
I wrote this to highlight the need for north-south bike path between Belconnen and Coombs. Go bike routes are direct and riding to Coombs from Belconnen is anything but direct. This post shows one way such a path could be built. There is space for it and the road crossing points could optimised but unfortunately it is not planned. Further more, the Molonglo Valley active travel routes exclude the Butters Bridge for cycling. I think this is a mistake but there is currently little evidence that this is changing.
