Royal National Park

Destination overview

Mountain Bikers have been pedalling in Royal National Park for going on three decades, and there is a substantial network of formal and informal trails traversing the area.

Royal has been a place where trail builders, local MTB clubs and advocates, and National Parks staff have had conflict over the years, and while there are many more community-built trails here than fully sanctioned singletrack, the network is anything but a secret — as is evidenced by Trailforks.

While the official trail total sits around 10km, the locals estimate there are well over 100km of singletrack through the park, and a plan is working its way through the NSW government to formalise 53.8km of trail, across Temptation Creek (Loftus), Heathcoat and Helensburgh — all connected by linking trail and fire roads.

As it stands, the current crop of legal trails takes in the Loftus loop and East Heathcoat. There’s also Lady Carrington Drive which is a 9km (one way) 3m wide track that contours alongside the Hacking River. It’s a lovely pedal, ideal for little ones and those less confident leaving the tarmac.

The authorised network is definitely incomplete, and you can tell it’s had plenty of use in the last few years. Unfortunately, trail care is limited here, with Parks telling local advocates the current Plan of Management doesn’t allow for dig days, but we’re led to believe this is changing. However, for what it currently lacks, the authorised trails at Royal more than make up for in scenery, native wildflowers and local critters of the furry, feathered and spiked variety.

To reiterate, the unauthorised network in RNP is sprawling, and we guarantee you have seen iconic images of these trails immortalised in print and streamed live and in HD on YouTube. They are about as underground as Taylor Swift’s new album, but anything in the park that is not marked with a post is considered by the land manager to be unauthorised. Until they have the tick of approval, we can’t promote those trails here.