Put your wheels in motion at Anstey Hill

Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park has always been a pop­u­lar place to burn off ener­gy, attract­ing walk­ers, run­ners, and well-behaved canines. The wind­ing and steep nature of the park’s tracks and trails have always seemed to be per­fect for moun­tain bik­ing, and the good news is that as of this week, you can do just that.

Anstey Hill’s trail net­work has been upgrad­ed to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for moun­tain bik­ers while ensur­ing the trails remain safe for every­one and con­tin­ue to pro­tect the park.

The upgrade has made the most of the exist­ing tracks and trails, with two trails pure­ly for moun­tain bik­ers and some des­ig­nat­ed for walk­ers only. And to top it off, there are new carparks, mak­ing it even eas­i­er to park and ride.

Whether you’re a novice or expe­ri­enced rid­er, the park has trails any­one can enjoy.

If you’re new to two-wheels, check out the Lit­tle Quar­ry Loop, right next to the Gate 1 carpark and pic­nic shel­ters. A sim­ple, gen­tly undu­lat­ing 600-metre lap is per­fect for get­ting the feel of your tyres on dirt, with a cou­ple of lit­tle off­shoots to test your skills. This track is also per­fect if the lit­tle peo­ple in your life want to give it a go.

When you’re ready to explore a lit­tle fur­ther into the park, trav­el clock­wise around the Wednes­day Loop. You’ll climb up across a vari­ety of land­scapes and pass evi­dence of the sil­ver min­ing his­to­ry of the area, before tak­ing a fun descent back down to the car park.

If you’re not in a hur­ry, jump onto the Bur­saria Loop. This will take you out along the top of the hill to the remote oppo­site cor­ner of the park, with some great lit­tle tech­ni­cal­ly chal­leng­ing rocky sections.

And for those who pre­fer to feel the pull of grav­i­ty, there’s even a cou­ple of advanced, one-way, down­hill trails. The first fol­lows the orig­i­nal route of a heav­i­ly erod­ed vehi­cle track – apt­ly named Grand Canyon Down­hill – which takes you from Gate 16 down to the bot­tom of Tor­ture Hill Track, with dou­bles, berms, rock drops and rock gar­dens to keep you on your toes.

The Wild­side Down­hill starts at the high point of the Wild­flower Track, and fol­lows a steep and rocky align­ment down to Gate 3, where a new car park with room for a trail­er has been constructed.

So what are you wait­ing for? Hit the tracks!

Look­ing for oth­er moun­tain-bike friend­ly trails? Check out these oth­er6 parks for moun­tain bik­ing in Adelaide.