Mountain Biking in Karratha, WA

Located up in the top end of Western Australia, Karratha isn’t the place you’d expect to find a vibrant MTB community. But Travis Deane discovered that this part of the Pilbara isn’t all about red earth and mining. 

What do you know of the north west of Western Australia? When I was growing up it was where the character Helen disappeared for several seasons in the soap opera Neighbours. “Painting landscapes in the Kimberley” was the excuse in the television show, and the north west of Western Australia was like saying ‘she is on the moon’.

It’s certainly a long way from Ramsey Street and a long way from anywhere, but my day job brought me to this area and the potential for mountain biking was undeniable. The Western Australian bush is stunning. Sun bleached green spinifex contrasts sharply against the cloudless blue of the sky and the iron rust red of the rocks, and it’s these rocks that account for the mining boomtown of Karratha.

I was there in May, when the weather is turning frosty in most parts of Australia. A text came through from a mate who’d headed south of Perth to the Karri forests; “Slept all night with the stove gas burner on, trying to keep warm.” Well I’d just hopped of the plane into 30-degree weather—shorts are the standard winter uniform in Karratha.

I’d been made aware of the mountain biking potential via social media and members of the hyperactive local MTB club, as they often launch raids on unsuspecting southerners at various events. Work may have brought me here but I was keen to ride and see what the fuss was all about.

MTB Boomtown

The club and the trails have certainly come a long way. Local mountain biking identity Damien Muller filled us in; “The Burrup Mountain Bike Club was established in 1998. Three years ago it had forty members; now we have one hundred and thirty. This is partially due to the growing trail network; it started off with a few sections linking 4WD trails and it’s grown to include approximately 22km of singletrack with a skills loop and a kid’s loop. In the winter there’s a 10 race series with an average turnout of 60-odd riders and in the summer we have social rides.”

We’d barely had time to complain about jet lag before we were rolling out to the trails. The spinifex is rarely above knee height, which makes for an interesting experience of you’re used to riding through a tunnel of vegetation. “Hey there’s Toby,” our guide said, pointing at a rider across the valley 400 metres away on a different trail. It’d be tough to sneak out for some ‘secret training’ in this place!

We struggled up our first hill towards the rock buttress at the top. Singletrack sprung right and we were off, contouring around the hill ducking and weaving above and below rock lines.

“No pea gravel!” my wife exclaimed. Indeed the marble like surface that is common in Perth, dealing out frequent lesions in friction coefficients, was nowhere to be seen. It’s a different type of rock and there’s very little topsoil on this ancient landscape; the trails are scraped rather than scooped.

Flat sharp rocks litter the trails. This combined with the harsh flora in the area makes tubeless tyres a popular choice with the locals. You’ll also encounter some football-sized rocks, so big volume tyres are preferable too.

The singletrack worked us along the range for a while before we hit a bombing a descent with berms and jumps. It’s hard to make tight and technical trails when the vegetation is all spinifex, so instead the builders have gone with the current ‘flow trail’ trend and made their trails very fast and open. On we went through the network with options springing up left and right; we’re sure no two riders would do the same combination of trails.

Local Challenge

The locals have also built structures to challenge themselves. “This one is called Canadian on the Rocks,” Damien told us proudly. “My friend, a Canadian, attempted it and face planted on that rock”. I’m sure the amusement of the name is dependent on your role in that story. The big daddy is called Chute Thru; it’s a ramp with a drop of at least four metres from the end—serious business if you’re up for it. Luckily Toby Muller, the local rising downhill star (sponsored by Scott Cycles in town), was on hand to show us how it was done.

After a tour of the trails with Damien and Tristan we returned to our accommodation, thankful of no spills. It does make you cautious going out on new trails when you wear normal riding gear and your guides turn up in knee pads and elbow pads!

Over the coming days we rode the network of trails with a bunch of different groups and no two rides were the same. It could be an ‘extreme-fest’ if you wanted but it was just as easy to have a pleasant roll around on flowing trails. The tough sections were often visible, with well used B lines in place. Whatever your preferred style, most rides would turn into a solid two hour hit-out.

The club also has some nearby XC race loops that we rode, but with the explosion of new trails right on their doorstep, out-of-town loops seemed somewhat neglected. The Arboretum and Seven Mile Loops (both about 6km in length) should probably be reserved for rides before or after club races when they have been cleaned up.

The town of Karratha is perfectly set up for mountain biking. It’s laid out in a long stretched-out rectangle, with the trails in the hills that rise next to the long side of the rectangle. So, no matter where you are in town, it’s always a very quick roll out to the trails. Because of this, there’s no central trailhead, although the car park at the BMX club serves as good a meeting point as any.

The trails are contained by main roads on four sides, making the risk of riding off Burke and Wills style into the outback impossible. Be wary of the hotter months however, as you could easily get in trouble if you’re unprepared. We were surprised by how many riders we saw out on the trails, perhaps it was the ability to spot them from kilometres away. We even came across a mountain biking school group and the local club has purchased seven bikes as loaners for people who want to try out the sport. If you’re visiting and can’t bring your own bike, there may be an opportunity to line up a demo from the local Giant dealer.

Tourist Trail

After wearing out the legs riding all the great trails, we thought we should play tourists for a bit. There’s plenty to see and the area is steeped in history; pay a visit to the Roebourne Old Gaol built in the 1880s where prisoners were sorted as per their skin colour and the Aboriginals were kept in neck chains—a sobering reminder of the past. There’s also tours of the huge gas plant on the Burrup Peninsula and the massive iron ore loading facilities. Both only run weekdays. After checking out the Roebourne Museum and swimming in the beautiful ocean (did we mention our friends freezing down south?), we headed 150km inland to Millstream National Park.

There are two national parks in the area; Millstream and Karajini, which is a bit further out. Although there isn’t any singletrack in Karajini, it is a stunning place to visit with amazing gorges—canyoning down the gorges is a highlight for many a traveller. We went to the Millstream National Park to ride the ‘Red Roo Trail’ – a dual use track that departs from Miliyanha Campground and travels along the rim of the river to Deep Reach, which is a great place for a swim (18km return). A dirt road runs parallel to the IMBA green trail making navigation and early exit options easy.

Returning to Karratha we were in time to meet a few of the locals at the pub. In true Karratha style, they were building one of Australia’s largest bottle shops at the front. Apparently one of the national chains has its most profitable bottle shop in Karratha; it all feeds off the single men’s quarters near town and the Fly In, Fly Out (FIFO) culture that had been brought in by the massive mining boom. Economically this region is a behemoth. It’s where the majority of Australia’s iron ore gets shipped overseas from the Pilbara and there’s also a massive gas processing facility.

Underneath this however, Karratha does have a soul, and the mountain biking community is a part of it. Depending on the viewpoint, the town is either a terrible and isolated place to be stuck in a mining camp, working long hours for weeks at a time, or it’s an amazing place to live, with fantastic boating, fishing, scuba diving and mountain biking at your doorstep.

The local mountain biking community love the trails and they want to share the love. We dare you to try the Karratha trails without a local offering to be your guide! When we stepped off the plane, we met two new riding buddies who threw us a key of a third. “They’re the keys to Trevor’s house” (we’d never met Trevor). “He said to make to make yourselves at home.” The brotherhood of cycling—don’t you just love it?

General Information 

Getting There

Karratha is a very busy regional airport (it even has its own Qantas lounge). It has over a dozen flights most days with direct flights to Perth, Brisbane or Broome. Port Headland, two hours up the road, has direct flights to Bali. For those wanting a nice drive it’s only 1,500km from Perth! 

When to Visit

The annual average minimum temperature at Karratha is 20 degrees! This place gets hot and wet. Avoid summer unless you want to ride at the crack of dawn. The cooler months bring beautiful riding weather. 

Food and Accommodation

General costs have traditionally been expensive due to the tyranny of distance and the high wages people are paid to attract them to this remote area. In recent years FIFO workers have taken up the accommodation but there is a desire to attract tourists, so shop around for a good deal. There are several good restaurants in town. We hung at the Soul Cafe, which supports the local MTB club—they had free Wi-Fi and tasty Mexican. 

Bike Shop

Scott Cycles (the only bike shop)

4 Balmoral Rd, Karratha WA 6714

Open 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday

(08) 9144 2984