Wilmington to Quorn on the Mawson Trail

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn

“Rhonda! Rhondaaaaah!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I chased Rhonda down Old Gunyah Road. We were riding the Mawson Trail between Wilmington and Quorn. Rhonda and Di had gone ahead and missed the turn onto Richman Gap Road.

Unfortunately Rhonda was enjoying a long, beautiful roll and was oblivious to my frantic attempts to stop her. I knew she wouldn’t be happy about having to climb back up again.

Luckily I had been able to catch Di before she had gone too far ahead, but it looked like Rhonda might roll all the way into Quorn and miss one of the highlights of the Mawson Trail!

After two kilometres, Rhonda stopped to look around. By now I was considering abandoning the chase, but when I saw her pause, I waved my arms frantically to indicate that something was amiss.

Concerned, she rode back towards me. I explained that we had gone off course and we began the slow climb back to where Di was waiting.

This incident is worth mentioning, because back in 2015, when I last rode this section of the Mawson Trail, we almost missed the same turn. On that occasion, Des, who had ridden the trail before, alerted us to the Mawson Trail marker which was pointing to a track beyond a gate.

For future reference, here’s a photo of the turn onto Richman Gap Road.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - the Mawson Trail marker points to Richman Gap Road behind the gate
Mawson Trail marker points to Richman Gap Road behind the gate
Wilmington to Old Gunyah Road

Our day had started uneventfully enough with a fairly flat three kilometre ride from our camp at Stony Creek Bush Camp into Wilmington.

From Wilmington, we followed Gunyah Road north. About 15 kilometres out of Wilmington, we stopped for a snack break

Rest break on Gunyah Road
Photo by Rhonda Whyatt

and our last glimpse of Mount Remarkable.

Mount Remarkable in the background
Mount Remarkable in the background
Old Gunyah Road

About 20 kilometres from Wilmington, we came to the turn-off onto Old Gunyah Road. On Old Gunyah Road the views became spectacular – typical Flinders Ranges scenery.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - on Old Gunyah Road
Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn
Richman Gap

A further ten kilometres on, and after our short detour (mentioned above), we began the climb on Richman Gap Road. It became steep towards the top.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - the climb on Richman Gap Road
The steep climb on Richman Gap Road

Eventually we reached the crest and began our descent into Quorn.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - the crest at Richman Gap

As we turned onto Richman Valley Road, the views opened up.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - views on Richman Valley Road (November, dry)
Richman Valley Road November 2019

This is the same view in May 2015 at the beginning of the wet season.

Mawson Trail from Wilmington to Quorn - views on Richman Valley Road (May, wet season, green)
Quorn

The seven kilometre roll into Quorn is so beautiful – such a wonderful reward for over 700 metres of climbing. (This is the part of our Mawson Trail ride from Wilmington to Quorn that I really didn’t want Rhonda to miss!)

As we approached Quorn we got a nice surprise. My husband Derek and Kenji the dog had come out in the car to meet us. Derek took this picture of us on Richman Valley Road.

Mawson Trail between Wilmington and Quorn - three women riding into Quorn
Riding into Quorn

Our destination today in Quorn was the Quandong Cafe.

Quandong Cafe in Quorn
Quandong Cafe in Quorn

Emily’s Bistro is also very good and there are two pubs in town.

Summary

Including our ride into Wilmington and our accidental detour, we had ridden 48 kilometres and climbed over 770 metres on our Mawson Trail ride between Wilmington and Quorn. Here is the Strava map of our adventure:

To read about our other rides on the Mawson Trail, see our ride from Brachina Gorge Road to Wilpena. While staying in Wilmington, we also cycled the Melrose Wilmington Rail Trail.

8 thoughts on “Wilmington to Quorn on the Mawson Trail”

  1. Hi there, I’d be very keen to come and join you guys in one of your cycling adventures; I’m not sure whether newbies can join your club or not….

    Bob

  2. I document many group and charity rides as a hobby. I lost count years ago of people who are enjoying the ride so much that they become oblivious to the route. I often use an electric assist bike while working, and have been able to easily chase down the wayward rider. Otherwise we wait for the “help me” call when they realize there is no one else around.

    1. Hi John Actually I was using an eBike at the time but in Australia pedal assist is limited to 25km/hour, so I couldn’t catch up with Rhonda who was rolling quite a bit faster. I was just about to use your second strategy when luckily she stopped 🙂

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