The Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail follows the route of a tramway constructed in the early 1900s to move pink granite from a quarry on Mississippi Creek to the North Arm of the Gippsland Lakes. The granite was used for buildings in Melbourne and also to construct a new permanent entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. The tramline was used until the 1940s.
Start of the Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail
Derek brought me to the Seaton Track in the Colquhoun Forest where the Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail branches off the East Gippsland Rail Trail. We planned to meet later in Lakes Entrance.
The first few kilometres of the trail were through recently burnt forest.
Then suddenly the undergrowth became lush and a sign warned that a steep descent was ahead.
I came to a creek with a wooden bridge
and then another steep descent.
After four kilometres I arrived at the granite quarry.
There were explanatory signs, a sample of the pink granite and of the rolling stock that was used.
I had my morning tea in the quarry listening to the calls of the bellbirds and contemplating how different this scene must have been in the days when the granite was being mined.
Mississippi Creek
Soon it was time to continue the gradual descent along the Mississippi Creek. As you might expect in a forest, there were lots of sticks across the trail.
I had to stop a few times to disentangle twigs which had become caught up in the bike chain. Sometimes I had to lift my bike over a log.
Nevertheless, the Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail was without doubt one of the most beautiful trails I have ever cycled,
perhaps rivalled only by the Old Beechy Trail between Beech Forest and Gellibrand. The forest was thick, but occasionally there were glimpses of Mississippi Creek.
About eight kilometres down from the quarry I passed the Log Crossing Picnic Area. After another two kilometres the magic was over. I emerged onto Scrivener’s Road.
Scrivener’s Road
The track at the side of the road was steep. The occasional car that passed threw up a lot of dust, but the shrubs between the edge of the road and the track offered some protection. After three kilometres of climbing, I turned right onto the bitumen of Colquhoun Road.
It was an easy ten kilometre ride from there down to Lakes Entrance.
I had cycled 26.7 kilometres and climbed 191 metres.
Recommendation
If you need to do an out and back ride, I recommend you start at the Log Crossing Picnic Area (public toilets, entrance off Uncle Road) and ride the gentle gradient up towards the quarry. This would be a total ride of fourteen kilometres, with the second half being mostly downhill.
Other lovely rail trails in the area are the East Gippsland Rail Trail and the Great Southern Rail Trail.
