It was December 2019 when bushfires savaged Cudlee Creek Forest Reserve and the Fox Creek trail network within it, leading to its devastating closure. With Covid dominating the headlines in 2020, it was only in 2021 when the potential of trails reopening began to filter through from landowner ForestrySA. Thanks to a concerted effort from ForestrySA and their supporters, Fox Creek Bike Park has been supported by a grant from the Government of South Australia and the Australian Government of 2.5 million dollars.
Now, the focus is on to build-back-better and formally establish Fox Creek Bike Park, which is in Adelaide’s Mount Lofty Ranges and about 50 minutes from Adelaide’s airport and CBD. A cost benefit analysis firmly supported the benefits of a multi-use Bike Park, revealing that for every $1 spent on the redevelopment, over $4 to the local economy is returned.
Numbers aside, there’s a real sense of excitement around the return of Fox Creek. The Park has been an iconic Adelaide trail destination since the early 1990s. The International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) trail standards were applied to formally managed trails as early as 2001, at a time when legitimate mountain bike trails were as rare as hens’ teeth.
Rocky Trail Destination has been engaged by ForestrySA to lead redevelopment of Fox Creek. I spoke with Rocky Trail Destination’s Joe Mullan on the past, present, and future of Fox Creek Bike Park.
‘Fox has deep history as an Australian trail destination that has led the way in establishing advocacy, trail standards, and IMBA Australia in the mid 2000s. I was lucky to
