MTB Dirt Mountain Bike Forums

Castle Hill is located in the Ipswich suburb of Blakstone and is named for the castle-like house, Brynhyfryd, built by Welsh mining magnate Lewis Thomas in 1890 and demolished in the mid-20th century. It is home to a range of xc and downhill/freeride tracks which tend to be quite rough and technical due to the gnarly, rocky, scrubby terrain. It makes an interesting and challenging change from the more groomed tracks of Brisbane trail centres. The hill is mostly private property, and some tracks have disappeared in recent years as a result of the bulldozing activities of one of the landowners. New tracks have been constructed in the meantime, so the track network is constantly changing. A quite extensive network of tracks is contained in a relatively small area of bushland. The hill was substantially mined about a hundred years ago, but most holes and areas of subsidence which once presented a degree of risk to riders have been filled in recent years. In places, smoke can be seen rising from crack in the ground where underground coal seams are still smouldering.

Thanks to 'Nole' for the update (4-11-2011)