Cycling the Pinnacles Desert Loop WA

It may well have been one of my crazy ideas, but I thought it would be great fun to cycle the six kilometre Pinnacles Desert Loop. Although it is intended for motor vehicles, I figured that if we started early, we would not have too much competition from cars for the track.

Derek is used to my early starts to avoid the heat. Once I had supplied him with coffee, we were heading off in the car to Nambung National Park.

As we are travelling with Derek’s dog Kenji, it sometimes takes a lot of organization (such as finding a dog-sitter) to visit a national park together. The day before I had been to the park on my own. I was keen to show Derek this amazing attraction, (not to mention try the loop as a bike ride).

Nambung National Park

The Pinnacles are the main feature of Nambung National Park, just 190 kilometres north of Perth.

Opinion is divided as to how the pinnacles formed. However, scientists agree that the limestone, which is the raw material of the pinnacles, comes from ancient sea shells.

The Parks and Wildlife Service requests that you do not touch the pinnacles as they are fragile and can break easily. Also, you could be crushed if one of these heavy rocks came down on top of you.

Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre

We started our loop at the Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre. The Centre is open between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm but the public toilets are available outside these hours.

This was not long after our bikes had been stolen, so at this stage we had unfortunately only managed to purchase one replacement. I am the keener cyclist, so I rode the loop and Derek took the car around.

Derek started ahead of me.

The Pinnacles Desert Loop

The track is well compacted from vehicles driving the trail.

Nevertheless, the surface is very sandy in places and I would recommend a reasonably fat-tyred bike.

While the track is mostly flat, there is a bit of a climb towards the end.

The Pinnacles range in size from only a metre to four or five metres tall.

We only met one other couple on the track. Disappointingly, and despite all the signs, they were climbing on one of the larger pinnacles to take a selfie. They did look a bit sheepish as we came through!

We completed the track while the morning was still cool. Derek had enjoyed seeing this unusual environment, and I had loved riding through it. I had cycled six kilometres and climbed 68 metres.

As we were leaving, we noticed that cars were starting to pour into the national park. Lucky we had started early!

While short, the Pinnacles Desert Loop is a very enjoyable and different ride.

Another excellent ride in the area is the 14 kilometre Turquoise Way, which is a lovely shared walking and cycling trail that follows the Coral Coast south from Jurien Bay. Further north, you can cycle on the beach in Broome.