Thursday 28 December 2006 - Redhill via Bahai Temple (The Missing Link)

Updated: Report from Whisperer on "The Missing Link"

Doug, T-Bone, Brian and Whisperer met at sport and rec for the regular loop of Red Hill, Aerodrome and Deep Creek.

It started out with a quick scoot across the sport and rec driveways and up the hill (along the way, it appears that we missed our chance to chat to one of the local management as we climbed to the top of the hill and through the gate, given our intense focus on the task at hand!).

We continued onward, had the regular attempts at the ledges on the way down, with some brave attempts at launching off the rocks rather than rolling through.

T-Bone is starting to grow wings, and without wanting to encourage him further, did get some impressive air.

The ride continued uneventfully down to deep creek, where while tooling around watching Brian in one of his do-or-die attempts to get up and over a sizable rock, we noticed a track veering off and heading north. This was a fresh single track and excellent fun. We wound through the single track in a blissful state savoring every twist and turn, just hoping it would never end. But alas, all good things do end and we were faced with a long steep climb. Too steep to ride, but it seemed at first that it couldn’t be that far. Whisperer forged ahead, and the crew vainly followed, just hoping the next crest would be the top.

After an interminable climb it leveled out, and onto a rock platform. We continued along a fire trail curious to find where it all began. Doug consulted the GPS and soon we found ourselves on Mona Vale rd just below the Bahai Temple. At long last after many previous expeditions we had found the way through!

At this point Brian was in dire need to get home and meet a critical deadline (we had strayed far from the original plan).

Fortunately the return journey was predominantly downhill, and an absolute blast. The uphill walking section was over in a flash, grins all round, as we rolled over boulders, north shore ladders, planks over creeks and back through the magic single track. We made it to the car with 10 minutes for Brian to get home, (and apparently with Doug driving, he made it in time!).

All in all an excellent adventure, but we’ll need to come in from the top next time to miss the long slog up the hill. That’ll probably require some tricky car logistics but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Pictures here, including GPS and a bunch of short video extracts, mainly of the technical redhill ledge section... Some samples below.

Also, for those that want it, here's the GPS details of the trail (should be called 20061228-RedHill.gpx, if it comes down as an .xml file, save it and rename it!).