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Upper Blue Mountains Trail beside Rail
The Upper Mountains Trail Beside Rail advocacy was commenced by Martin Krause in 1998 and he has been committed to it ever since. The original group were some firies from Katoomba and some climbers from Blackheath, as well as Kevin from the old bike store in Katoomba.
Since then the Upper Mountains Trail Beside Rail advocacy have managed to get Greenway funding for feasibility studies and engineering survey projects.
The focus of the Upper Mountains Trail Beside Rail advocacy is between Wentworth Falls and Mount Victoria. This is important for 2 reasons. One it creates a safe alternative to the road for Mountain bike commuting. Secondly, it is the missing link for the Trans Mountains Trail. From Penrith you have the Lapstone Zig-zag to Glebrook. The Oaks Firetrail to Woodford, The Andersons and Ingar Firetrails to Wentworth Falls. From Mt York you have a Buffet for choice that gets you to Hartley Vale.
The trails between Wentworth Falls and Mt York are already there, we just need the gates open.
The best way to help right now is to Like their facebook page and sign the petition.
Additional information is also available here.
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I don't think we'll get gates open because of the moto problem but I am wondering if it's the right time to push for cycling access for those of us willing to lift bikes over gates.
Sort of there informally anyway, if my suspicion that patrols are now very rare is to be confirmed. In 2012-13 the SCA only issued 31 penalty infringement notices, and most of those weren't to cyclists. Anyway I shall propose that the authority is a lot less motivated to boot folk out of our public land unless the activity really is polluting. There were NO actual prosecutions at all.
So, back to the prohibition lifting climate: we got Woodford catchment trails re-opened and that hasn't proven to be a disaster for SCA at all. The W5 Watershed trail from Wenty Falls to the dam area is also correctly marked on National Park's maps as outside the prohibited special area (tho of course exit via the dam wall remains off limits), so in a sense we have that one back albeit as an out-and-back option. It wasn't in the area anyway but a decade ago SCA were claiming it was.
Perhaps they'll be feeling smug about denying the Gundungurra's native title claim over the catchment lands, thus a bit less war like.