Kersbrook MTB car park

Overview

Kersbrook MTB (also called Kersbrook Forest MTB or, more precisely, Mount Gawler Forest Reserve) is a small, volunteer-built downhill / all-mountain network on ForestrySA land in the northern Adelaide Hills, roughly 36 km (≈ 1 hr) north-east of Adelaide. It sits on the western side of Mt Gawler Road at the intersection with Airstrip Road, on a pine-plantation hillside that drops away to gully country. The local short-hand description — "Fox Creek's younger sibling" — captures it well: a quieter, more technical, jump-heavy alternative to nearby Fox Creek Bike Park, with a strong emphasis on airtime and short, repeatable runs.

The current network is the rebuilt version of trails that were originally graded in 2012, scheduled to open in April 2015, then almost entirely destroyed by the January 2015 Sampson Flat bushfire. Restoration work was undertaken through 2016–2017 by volunteer trail crew and the trails have evolved since. Today there are six rideable MTB trails plus one XC climb (Dead Man's Climb), with ride days typically structured as shuttle laps from the top car park (intersection of Mt Gawler Road and Airstrip Road) or self-shuttling via fire road MG23 / Dead Man's Climb. Total descent is in the order of 122 m vertical across ≈ 2 km of singletrack, so it's a high-intensity rather than high-volume venue — best paired with shuttles or laps rather than treated as a destination XC ride.

Riders are explicitly restricted to the west side of Mt Gawler Road; the old Mt Gawler Long / Devils Gully trail on the east side was dismantled and permanently closed by ForestrySA and the trail crew (timber felled across the line, features removed). The trail network is unfunded forestry-land singletrack — no toilets, no water, no signage at the trailhead beyond what the volunteer builders maintain.

Location & Access

• Address: Mt Gawler Road & Airstrip Road, Kersbrook SA 5231 (top car park / trailhead)
• Region: Adelaide Hills (Mount Lofty Ranges / Mount Crawford Forest area)
• Drive times: ~1 hr from Adelaide CBD (≈ 45–60 min depending on route via Tea Tree Gully / Gumeracha); ~25 min from Tea Tree Plaza
• Public transport: None practical — car or shuttle only. The town of Kersbrook itself has limited bus service; the trailhead is a further few km out of town on Mt Gawler Road.
• Parking: Free gravel car park at the trailhead at the Mt Gawler Rd / Airstrip Rd intersection. Additional carparks exist in the wider Kersbrook area (Bowden Street near school, public hall, lower carpark on Main Kersbrook Road) used by walkers / e-bikers, but the MTB trailhead is the top car park on Mt Gawler Road.
• Coords: -34.770, 138.821 (verify against Google Maps — this matches the DB record)

Best Season & Conditions

• Peak riding season: Autumn–spring (Apr–Oct). Cooler conditions make the climb out feasible; pine-needle / clay surface is grippier when slightly damp.
• Wet-weather impact: Pine-needle and clay surface drains reasonably well, but heavy rain can leave the jump-line sticky and rutted. Volunteer crew typically asks riders to stay off after very wet events to protect the surface.
• Fire-danger / total-fire-ban impact: ForestrySA closes all forest land to the public on declared Total Fire Ban days. Fire is prohibited on ForestrySA land from 1 November to 30 April (Fire Danger Season), with possible extensions on high-danger days. Riders should check CFS / ForestrySA notices before driving up in summer.
• Snow / alpine season: N/A — Adelaide Hills, no snow.
• School-holiday surge: Light vs Fox Creek; Kersbrook stays comparatively quiet. Shuttle bookings worth checking on Escapegoat's Facebook page; their public shuttle dates here are sporadic.

Managing Body & Trail Builders

• Land manager: ForestrySA (Mount Gawler Forest Reserve, within the broader Mount Crawford Forest area). Phone: (08) 8391 8800.
• Trail builder / maintainer: Volunteer trail crew (not formally branded). Adelaide Mountain Bike Club (AMBC) involved in broader Adelaide Hills trail advocacy and maintenance, though Kersbrook is volunteer-led rather than club-owned. A long-standing lead builder announced stepping back from regular maintenance at the end of one of the recent winters after six winters of work — succession is informal.
• Volunteer / dig days: Sporadic — announced via Kersbrook MTB Park social channels (Facebook / Instagram).
• Donations / membership: No official donation channel for the trail network. Riders who want to support advocacy can join AMBC (https://ambc.asn.au/).

History & Background

• 1980s onward: Wider Mount Lofty Ranges Trails Network includes walking trails through the Kersbrook / Mount Crawford / Mount Gawler area.
• ~2012: First-generation MTB trails graded on the western side of Mt Gawler Road, building on existing forestry roads and old singletrack lines.
• Jan 2015 — Sampson Flat bushfire: A series of fires from 2–9 January 2015 burned >20,000 ha across the northern Adelaide Hills. The town of Kersbrook was among the worst hit (12 houses destroyed). The MTB trails — scheduled to officially open in April 2015 — were substantially damaged.
• 2016–2017: Volunteer trail crew rebuilt and upgraded the network. Trails reopened progressively, with five downhill lines (Kersy Koasta 2.0, Happy Trails, Jumps Revamp, Multi-Gaps, Senduro) and one cross-country climb (Dead Man's Climb) becoming the established network. The walking-trail "Rising from the Ashes" event on 8 October 2017 opened the walking-loop network (Morgan, Old Kersbrook, Anderson, Simpson) — note: these are walkers' loops, not MTB trails.
• Recent years: Mt Gawler Long / Devils Gully trail on the east side of Mt Gawler Road was permanently closed by ForestrySA and the trail crew (trees felled across the line, features removed). Long-standing lead builder has begun stepping back from regular maintenance.

Recent News & Updates (last 12 months)

No major recent news surfaced in research. The network is in steady-state with the configuration described above. Volunteer crew activity continues; shuttle availability via Escapegoat remains intermittent.

Sources

1. Trailforks — Kersbrook Forest region — https://www.trailforks.com/region/kersbrook-forest-22709/ — accessed 2026-05-20
2. Trailforks — Mount Gawler Forest Reserve region (alt) — https://www.trailforks.com/region/mount-gawler-forest-reserve-64050/ — accessed 2026-05-20
3. ForestrySA — Bike riding — https://www.forestrysa.com.au/bike-riding/ — accessed 2026-05-20
4. ForestrySA — Visit our forests / Mount Crawford — https://www.forestrysa.com.au/visit-our-forests/mount-crawford-forest/ — accessed 2026-05-20 (general fire-ban and forest-land rules; phone number)
5. Escapegoat Adventures — Adelaide Hills MTB locations — https://escapegoat.com.au/the-best-mtb-locations-in-the-adelaide-hills/ — accessed 2026-05-20
6. Escapegoat Adventures — MTB shuttle service — https://escapegoat.com.au/mtb-shuttle-service/ — accessed 2026-05-20
7. Walking SA — Rising from the Ashes, Opening of the Kersbrook Trails Network — https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/walk-event/rising-ashes-opening-kersbrook-trails-network/ — accessed 2026-05-20 (historical context, 2017 opening of walking loops)
8. Wikipedia — Kersbrook, South Australia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kersbrook — accessed 2026-05-20 (town distance, history, Sampson Flat impact)
9. SARCC — P.L.E.B.S. Rides (Kersbrook) — https://sarcc.org.au/plebs/ — accessed 2026-05-20 (local toilet / parking notes)