Lush & Loose | Forrest is back with some new tricks

Gone are the days of Forrest being but a speck on the Victorian Mountain Biking map of classic riding destinations. It’s one of the oldest mountain bike parks in Australia the network has had a facelift. Newly refurbished trails, a pump track the kids (adult kids included) can’t step away from and a backdrop of lush rainforest and rolling hills that are like a scene out of Fern Gully — it’s a spot. A spot that seems to have riding to suit everyone, whilst also offering up big awe-inspiring views out on the trail.

Throw in some local eats that are just as zesty as the singletrack and a drive home along the Great Ocean Road, and this little town has weekender written all over it.

Stage one of the Forrest Mountain Bike Park Revitalisation Project cost a cool $2.32 million to make it all happen. A joint effort of the State Government and the local Colac Otway Shire pooled together to revamp the mountain bike scene. The refurb has made improvements to the existing trails on the southern end of town to improve drainage and sustainability, so they’re ready for tyres year-round. Several new trails have been cut into the southern network too, and a fresh pump track and riding hub take the cake, with an ideal post-ride location for a cold tailgate beverage.

Come along as we explore the new and improved Forrest Mountain Bike Park

Being a historic riding spot, Forrest is a destination of contrasts — old-school XC, modern machine built and the best pump track this side of Melbourne.

The spot living up to its name. There are some seriously prehistoric-feeling areas sprinkled around this network.

Old-school roller coasters are plenty on the Yaugher side of the network.

Greetings, trail queens and kings, and welcome to your next riding pit stop. On this particular trip, Flow’s resident numbers guy and Colac local Jono, was our intrepid tour guide to his old stomping ground. Em, Colin, and Murray are all just holding on for the ride.

The Loose Part | Barwon Flow

The Barwon Flow trails are the newest part of the network in Forrest. Constructed by Dirt Art as part of the facelift, this quintuple of trails adds some gravity and modern trail building into the mix.

With a climbing trail (Sandman’s Slog), two greens (Korac and PBJ) and a matching pair of blue descents (Steam Donkey and Bombora), each offers nicely formed berms and jumps that are well-curated for those looking for more pop-and-drop shapes from the trail network. This section is also incredibly scenic, with beautiful gums and giant ferns lining both sides of the trail, but it also comes with a bit of spice in the mix — cue loosey-goosey.

“Offffttt, this is too good, those corners are pretty loose though,” said a local rider who pulled up at the top of the trail for a chat. He drives in from the coast every week to sample the trails, and still can’t get enough. Oh, and he manages to sneak in a surf on the way home — we’re jealous!

Pop and drop shapes on the new Bombora trail. Bombara is a term used by Traditional Owners to describe an area of large sea waves breaking over a submerged rock shelf, reef, or sand bank that is located some distance from the shoreline and beach surf break.

The evidence of recent burns was everywhere, but the understory was flourishing.

Like the rest of Forrest, there isn’t a tonne of elevation here, but Dirt Art has used it wisely to create some rip-roaring flowy descents.

Some of the locals were a bit more bristly than others. We’ll give this one a wide berth.

“It’s amazing having something so close to home, and the beach. I love being able to pop up here to get out on the bike, and it’s amazing to bring the kids up here too,” he said.

The trail upgrade has offered a few more lines and some well-formed jumps through this brand-new slice of the trail network. The climbing trail, Sandman’s Slog, is also gradual for those keen to keep their powder dry for a whole day of lapping up what the entire network offers.

While the upgrade aimed to elevate the riding experience and create an all-season surface, there is still some bedding in that needs to take place, and currently, these new trails still run a bit loose. Given Forrest being the lush and wet location it is — doubling the national average rainfall — in time, the drainage and choice of surface should take, to create some awesome all-year opportunities to shred.

The new trails in this area of the network are a totally different style to anything else in Forrest. They are quick and seasonable descents — you’ll definitely be taking more than one run through here.

Forrest gets a LOT of rain. So one of the key goals with the new trails was to make sure they were damn near hydrophobic. With that, the material used on the trails does have an extended bed in period so that it can break up and work its way into the clay-heavy soil. This takes some time, and initially, they rode pretty loose, but as time passes we’ve been assured they will grip up.

Pteridomania is a term coined in 1855 to describe the craze for all things ferns in Victorian England. A compound of the Latin word for fern and ‘mania’, it literally means Fern Crazy, and for those suffering from this affliction, this part of the network will be heaven.

Southern Trails Forrest MTB Park

There are a few precarious trail names out there but “Follow the Dog” in the Southern Trail Network of Forrest felt a little too akin to “Get the Dog.” I can confirm — we did get after it!

Just behind the pump track (more on this later), this area has a slightly more XC style gradient to the Barwon Flow trails but provides a great extension to the network for a longer day out riding. There are a few smaller whoops sections amongst the meandering network which follow a mix of blue, black and green trails for a little taste of everything.

Given the gradient on most of the trails, you can either set out for a gradual day of 10 kilometres on flowy blue and green options to an incredibly scenic backdrop. You won’t be tackling the world’s hardest downhill course here, but with the jumps, berms and whoop sections, it is a perfect venue to get comfortable with style on the bike, cornering and finding free speed between hits. Layer in some bulk snacks, and you have a fabulous day out.

As part of the revamp, many of the trails on the southern end of town have been rebuilt — these are essentially brand new trails on the old alignments. There are also a handful of new trails here too.

Fast a grippy, the soil on this end of the trail network is different again and holding your speed here is easy as pie.

Alternatively, if you have been on the trainer in recent times, for the hard-core cross-country clan this is the ideal spot for laying down watts and getting in some bulk singletrack training — there’s a reason the Otway Odyssey has been running here for nearly two decades. Bulk snacks, are still recommended.

The gravel ’round these parts is pretty epic too, with that very same long-running XC event adding a drop bar race. The Dirt Warry, the more fun version of the Melbourne to Warrnambool also passes through Forrest.

And there are plenty of opportunities to put some air underneath your tyres.

Kids at a Candy Store ahem pump track

I don’t know the last time I saw such a big group of keen young riders absolutely shredding up a pump track with a combination of reckless abandon and stoke.

Whilst you could really give it the beans on this pump track, the mountain bike hub is well equipped for riders at every level. The different scale of jumps, skills circuits and two pump tracks to choose from allows for developing skills gradually, whether you are 5 or 45.

The pump track and skills area in Forrest is frankly one of the best we’ve seen in Australia and puts some of the larger destinations to shame.

The locals were out SHREDDING the pump track and were quick to invite us into party trains. After only a few laps we were already working on our secret handshakes.

For a tiny town, it was wild to see two dozen kids of all ages ripping around the pump track. This little town lives and breaths mountain biking.

By the end of an hour or so of really pumping it out on the legs, we already had secret handshakes with a few of the locals who could not be happier with the new addition to their bike ride home.

“I love riding here after school, I want to start doing Enduros one day too,” one of the young guns said, whilst trying to school Jono on a few skinnies.

The Pump track is phenomenal, especially for a town of this scale and will undoubtedly contribute to the next generation of shredders to come out of Forrest.

This little shredder was showing Jono how it’s done on the log rides.

Race plate on, tongue out — this little dude means business.

The pump track has created such a great gathering place for riders in Forrest. We’d bet it looks like this every day at about 3:30pm.

Magic Carpets (the red kind)

One of the main out-and-back loop attractions in Forrest is Red Carpet. The track will find you climbing through beautiful rainforest with whip birds out in spades.

“What the hell is that,” Jono asks of a branch dropping from the sky, mid-water break.

“Ahh, it’s that pesky guy,” pointing far up in the canopy, where a little floof ball is perched precariously in a eucalyptus tree just above the trail.

Red Carpet is the signature trail in Forrest, and the 5km descent was the first trail to receive work as part of the major revamp.

The climb up takes you on a guided tour of the green room. It’s pretty gradual and a nice way to get the legs warmed up and ready for party time on the way down.

The climb is great for wildlife spotting, gradual, scenic and (even if you are carrying 20kgs of camera gear) a good length to get the legs started but still maintain a chat. If you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the storied Otway Panther.

The descent includes a mix of fast and straight sections through tight little trees, with some A and B lines on offer. You can carry speed to get a little bit of lift off the side hits or keep it pinned between the trees and fly down the nearly 5kms to the bottom.

Keep your eyes open for little side features and jumps on Red Carpet — they are everywhere.

Em embracing the drift. When we were in Forrest in March, some of the material added to improve draining ways still working its way into the soil.

Live by what you preach — keep it pinned through the trees.

Red Carpet was the kick-off to the Forrest facelift that began in August of 2021, and in passing, we’ve heard some grumblings about the work that’s been done to improve the sustainability of this trail. It has taken some time for the material that was introduced to move water off the trail surface to go subterranean and finish off Red Carpet’s underground plumbing.

It has bedded in since the initial work has been done, and the more tyres that run over the trail, the better it gets.

Red Carpet certainly has some of the lush elements you expect of a place named Forrest, but remains a crowd favourite descent.

There are some wild features on Red Capet, like the clay canyon — this trail keeps you guessing in the best possible way. It’s not hard to see why everybody raves about this descent.

When things slow down a bit, be sure to keep your head up and look around. The scenery is ever-changing and the forest (with one ‘r’) is spectacular.

Down towards the bottom, the bush opens up, the trail surface becomes a bit more clay-based, and you can really rip through the turns.

Recovery with Zest | The Local Watering Holes

In the same way, the whole crew gasped at the scale of the pump track in such a little town, we were left equally as breathless at the local cuisine we sampled across the few days.

Now, it wouldn’t be a classic mountain bike getaway without a cold beverage at the end of the day, but home-cooked Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine on an open verandah? I think we found a new post-ride favourite.

Welcome to Granny’s House. We hope you’re hungry.

We could not get enough of the Warak Inab.

In Arabic, Dar Teta means Granny’s House, and this immaculate little spot on the main drag of Forrest was the find of the trip. You felt like you were welcomed into the little wooden cottage with low lighting and a proud chef turning out beautiful home-cooked food.

“Oh my, that smells so good,” Jono said, eyeballing the plates on neighbouring tables.

Colourful and delicious, the meal at Dar Teta was a highlight of our weekend in Forrest.

A few hungry mountain bikers, with a wide variety of dietary requirements, could not have been more content all walking out of that place — an absolute hit.

For snacks, morning coffee or, if you love a mid-day pink milk like me to keep the legs ticking over, head a bit further down the road to the Forrest General Store. Floor-to-ceiling in sweet treats, savoury goodies, and wares to fire up your taste buds, there’s also classic paddock-to-plate options that you would expect in the backdrop of rolling farmland. This is a high-calorie, high-enjoyment space.

It may look unassuming on the outside, but the Forrest General Store is a place dreams are made of, especially if you’ve been out riding all morning.

Find someone who looks at you the way Jono is looking at this meat pie.

Speaking of cold beverages. I was similarly perplexed by a town of 230 people that somehow also has a brewery on the main street. Forrest Brewing Company is a microbrew house, so you can get your hands on smaller-batch suds and seasonal favourites for post-ride rehydration.

For a town this size, it’s pretty crazy there is a brewery here too. The sign pays homage to the logging history of this place.

If small-batch beer and Mediterranean flavours don’t please your palate, there are no shortage of culinary delights, like Brae, which is consistently ranked among the best restaurants not only in Australia but the world. Brae is a little bit out of town but well worth the drive, but make sure you book ahead — waaaaaay ahead as it can be up to a six-month wait to get in. The Otway Harvest Trail has a to-do list of the best places to get your eat and drink on, complete with a map of where to find these restaurants of makers of small-batch wares.

Large Trees and Larger Feels | Otway Fly

As someone sceptical of anything resembling a guided excursion, after PTSD from school camp, I was in awe taking a Jono-guided walk along the Otway Fly. The sheer scale of the rainforest and the height of the ferns were just as awe-inspiring as the engineering of the tree top walk itself. It’s like Jurassic Park incarnate — minus the whole prehistoric reptiles being released by a disgruntled computer programmer part.

Not too often you get to see the forest from 47m in the air. The majority of the raised boardwalk is about 20-30m up, but the spiral tower takes that to another level — literally.

Woah is that a T-Rex in there? There just behind that giant fern.

The Otways are a really special place, and being able to take it in from the tree canopy is a pretty unique experience. Well worth your time.

“How did they make this thing? This is wild!” I said to Jono, staring down what felt like hundreds of metres to the forest floor from suspended bridges and cantilevered viewing platforms.

If you are out for some more of the scenic route on this trip, heading to the Redwood Forest and Hopetoun Falls is also a spectacle. Both these places feel like you are exploring the towering sequoia forests on the Oregon Coastline, which is something I never expected to experience a few hours from Melbourne.

Turns out the Otways are even more than they are cracked up to be. Perhaps size really does matter.

Hopetoun Falls is a short drive from Forrest. This 30-40 walk goes through some of the most lush rainforest we’ve ever seen and ends in a 30m waterfall.

While Hopetoun Falls is a spectacle in itself, we hear there are small colonies of glow worms scattered along the walking trail.

It’s pretty wild to see a 100-year-old stand of sequoia trees thriving in Victoria.

Em and Jono in among the giants. We’re pretty stoked they decided not to harvest this stand.

Yaugher

Now, Yaugher, spelt like laughter, pronounced like…we still aren’t sure…is home to some of the more natural hand-cut style of trails near Forrest. Think flat corners to practice those back wheel drifts, plus a handful of smaller-scale jumps to put some air under your tyres.

We were keen to get stuck in the next morning, but of course, there is no way we could kick off a day on the pedals without breaking something first.

“Jono, mate, how did you manage this literally two minutes in?” Murray asked.

The Yaugher side of the trail network is still in the original style of Forrest.

Before we’d even lost sight of our accommodation, Jono’s chain called it quits to ensure we were all on our toes. We hadn’t even made it to the trailhead yet.

After a quick reset of the bike (and double-checking a few spare parts), we jetted to the trailhead. A crisp morning with dappled light glittering through the trees en-route.

Jono, a born and bred Colacian (that’s the official term for the locals, trust us), was taking me for a guided tour around his local patch. There was a lot of reminiscing about hours spent on each of these trails, and kudos to some of the local legends who continue to keep the network alive and in good knick.

Forrest doesn’t have a tonne of elevation to play with, but the trails constructed by the locals make the most of it.

With the amount of rain that Forrest gets, the locals have done some seriously clever trail building — like the drain on the inside of this berm. Look through Jono’s wheel, and you can see the end of the black culvert pipe.

“These are the biggest jumps in Yaugher. They seemed so much bigger when I was a kid,” he laughed, thinking back to juvenile airborne shenanigans on the Super Loop. But beyond the knee-high hand-cut jumps, the trails in Yaugher are incredibly scenic.

These meandering sections of trail wind through regrowth areas that are popping green after planned burns, and then dive into dense sections of ferns and rainforest. They’re packed with natural features that have been cut in by Forrest Mountain Bike Club volunteers, with some particularly fun drops between trees and faster sections as you connect down through Marriners Run. Epic moss-covered trees line the sides of the trails, and there are grass trees a plenty on the aptly named Grass Trees trail.

Yaugher has not been home to much of the refurb but is the stuff of absolute classic trail riding with lots of different ways to link up the network. It will only take a few minutes to pedal in from town on the rail trail. On the way, it’s all scenic rolling hills and baby cow spotting.

The very jumps Jono remembers being Rampage sized from when he was a wee little tot.

There are a few mountain bike trails that have on-the-nose names, but none more so than Grass Trees. We have never seen so many of these things concentrated in one spot. It’s seriously something to behold.

Seen here is a Murray in the wild. Fuelled by sourdough and IPA’s, this elusive species of cameraman is rarely found out in the open, his natural habitat is lurking in the bushes and shooting bangers.

The landscape on the Yaugher side of the network is wild. From lush tunnels of green to wide open eucalypt forest, it’s hard to keep your eyes on the trail because there is so much to look at.

Shooting the gaps, the way the singletrack dips and weaves through the bush is simply spectacular. Don’t come here expecting big mountain descents, or gnarly exposed features — that’s not what the terrain offers. But frankly, Forrest doesn’t need it because the trails here are a ball.

Tight corners, big g-outs, and ferns — welcome to Forrest.

The ride from town along the rail trail is lovely. Because of our mechanical straight out of the door, we were running behind on the way in and didn’t look around on the ride to the trailhead. Fortunately, on the way back, we slowed down to take a look around.

Between Red Carpet, the Barwon Flow Trails and the Southern Trails, there is over 75 kilometres of flowy, reasonably graded singletrack with side hits at many opportunities along the way. There is something to cater for the enduro-inclined, as well as the XC athletes looking for a training ground.

Along with the revamped trails and facilities, a new Ride Forrest website has also been launched.

If you include bird watching, drop bear spotting and looking for floof balls (aka Koala friends), this place has a lot to offer for a long weekend.

Who would have thought our friendly Colac local, Jono, was keeping such a secret!

Until next time, over and out from Forrest.

Instead of jumping on the highway, we took the Great Ocean Road back to Melbourne. Not a bad way to end a weekender if you ask us.

From Forrest to the sea, and it’s not even a massive detour. How good!

This project was made possible by the Colac Shire Council, for more information visit Ride Forrest.

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