Mogo Trails – We Rode the New Mountain Biking Mecca on NSW’s South Coast

If you prefer to do your surfing in the dirt, then the new mountain biking trails at Mogo should be high on your list. We sent Canberra local Mattie to the South Coast to ride as much of the new 70km trail network as he could during the opening weekend and he hasn’t stopped raving about it since.

We Are Explorers acknowledges that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Yuin and Monaro peoples, who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Quick Overview

The first stage of the Mogo Trails, which opened in August, encompasses around 70km of singletrack mountain bike trails. Sitting just south of Batemans Bay on the South Coast of NSW, it’s about a two hour drive from Canberra and four hours from the middle of Sydney.

Mogo Trails Facts

Distance: 70-80km of trail are currently open, with approximately 130km (!) of total trails expected to be open by 2025
Duration: 1 hour to 1 week! There’s plenty of trails to keep you busy for as long as you fancy!
Elevation Gain: The highest point is the Mogo Trig trailhead at 161m
Nearest Town: Mogo, the nearest large town is Batemans Bay

Mogo Mountain Bike Trails

The new Mogo Trails network is the latest and largest mountain bike destination to arrive on the NSW South Coast. Coupled with the existing trails at Narooma, Eden, and Tathra, it has made this one of the top mountain biking destinations in Australia.

Read more: Gravity Eden – Dirt Surfing at This NSW South Coast Mountain Bike Park

With the project being managed by Rocky Trail Destinations and Next Level MTB trail builders, there’s plenty of experience behind this huge trail network and it shows in the effortless flow achieved on the trails.

Stage one of Mogo Trails opened in August 2024 and there are around 50 different trails already open.That’s a whopping 70km of singletrack riding! Currently there are three major trailheads to access the trails from and temporary trail signage to give you the skinny on each track.

There’s major signage at the Botanic Gardens entrance, with plenty more signage to come as the team behind the trails continues to prepare for the full opening.

At Mogo Trails there’s something for everyone, with graded trails ranging from green (easy) through to double black (extreme). For adaptive riders, the green trails at the Botanic Gardens trailhead are the place to head for, with more trails getting an adaptive trail rating in coming months.

Overall most of the climbs were gentle traverses up the hillside, meaning you can catch your breath after hooning it downhill. The climbs are especially restful if you’re on an e-mtb, which my riding buddy Jon and half the other riders we saw were riding on.

Information about all the trails, their difficulty ratings, and opening status, can be found on the trail forks website. It’s a good idea to check the site before riding for the most up to date information on the trail network.

Once you tire of riding, there’s plenty more to explore in the area. Mogo village has a range of cute cafes and stores, while Batemans Bay offers a larger variety just down the road. The South Coast and Eurobodalla region is home to many beautiful beaches for surfing, kayaking, and every other beach activity you could desire.

Read more: A Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Biking

The History of Mogo

The small village of Mogo was established during the gold rush in the 1850s and it’s endured ever since. There are significant spiritual and cultural associations for the Yuin and Monaro people and the name Mogo is suggested to mean ‘stone axe and large camping area.’

Now home to many artists and artisans, Mogo has had a rough few years following the devastating bushfires in 2020. Four years on, Mogo seems to be bouncing back and the addition of the new Mogo Trails is a key part of their bushfire recovery plan.

How to Get to Mogo

From Canberra, it’s a relatively straightforward drive to Mogo as you follow the Kings Highway from Braidwood, down the Clyde to Batemans Bay. From there it’s around ten minutes to Mogo, bringing your total travel time to around two hours, a touch longer if you stop for a pie on the way (do it).

For Sydneysiders, it’s about four hours to Mogo, following the Princes Highway along the coastline. You could come inland past Goulburn and Braidwood, but this adds around 40 minutes (according to Google Maps) – although there may well be less traffic along the inland route.

Where To Stay Near the Mogo Trails

As the Mogo area is already an established tourist destination, especially in summer, there are plenty of accommodation options around – you’ll want to book early if you’re planning to visit during peak holidays as the South Coast can get busy.

The NRMA Batemans Bay holiday resort has a range of affordable options varying from cabins and townhouses, to glamping tents and basic sites. The resort is only 11km from Mogo making it easy to access the trails and local amenities.

If you like your camping a bit more basic, there are a good range of camping options on Hipcamp, including this riverside campground that we stayed at only a few kilometres from the Mogo Trails.

Where To Eat Near the Mogo Trails

Mogo village is home to a great variety of cafes and you could easily visit a different one each day of your trip. A favourite of mine is Grumpy and Sweethearts, just off the Main Street. There’s plenty of cafe staples to choose from, but I reckon the salad sandwich and iced coffee is a solid option for fuelling up for the trails. The Mogo Village mountain biking trailhead is less than 500m from the cafe!

Skill Level

The mountain biking trails at Mogo are graded using the universal grading system and the extensive network has plenty of trails to suit all abilities. With trails ranging from green, the beginner level, through intermediate blues all the way up to double black, extreme rated trails.

If you look at the trail maps on Trailforks, you’ll be able to piece together a route to suit your ability and there’s definitely no shortage of options. The Mogo Trails are a great place to learn and progress as the various trail hubs throughout the network have clearly signposted and graded options for all riding abilities.

Essential Gear for the Mogo Trails

In addition to a mountain bike (you can hire from a local provider), you’ll need to pack a few essentials to make the most of your time on the trails:

• Helmet
• Gloves
• Glasses or sunglasses
• Riding clothes and shoes
• Water
• Snacks
• Repair kit
• Tools
• Phone
• First aid kit

Read more: Remember to leave no trace!

Best Mogo MTB Trails To Ride From All Three Major Trailheads

Riding a new set of trails is always a bit of an unknown and this felt especially true for the Mogo Trails – they’d only been officially open for a week when we made the pilgrimage to the South Coast.

I’d seen a couple of photos of the trails online and scoped out the trail map a little, but I was pretty much arriving blind. Ten years ago I’d ridden the old Mogo Trails, so I thought I knew what to expect, but these new trails are totally different.

The Botanic Gardens Trailhead

This was our introduction to the trails and we were blown away right from the off. Looking at the trail map, we could see there was a short climb to a trail hub where there were four descents to choose from. The climbing trail, a green track called Cosmic Thunder, is a buttery smooth and gentle green trail that meanders up the hillside and draws you into the forest.

At the top you can choose from a green descent, a blue, and two blacks, each of which drops you straight back to the car park. This section of trail is ideal for cutting multiple laps and really workshopping the trails. My favourite of these descents was a fast, tight, and fairly steep blue/black trail called Currywang. From the first descent I had a big smile on my face that didn’t disappear for the next two days of riding.

From the top of Cosmic Thunder, instead of descending back to the car park, you can delve deeper into the Mogo Trail network, following Stairway to Haven north, Hammer the Gods east, or Damn View south. We chose to head south, across the Deep Creek dam wall, and up the lengthy climb of Company Credit Card.

Mogo Trig Trail Hub

The Mogo Trig trail hub is one of several trail hubs within the Mogo Trails network and it’s the highest. Accessible from various different climbs and also accessible by car if you fancy shuttling yourselves up, the Mogo Trig hub quickly became one of our favourite spots to reach for the sheer variety of descents flowing down from it. With greens, blues, blacks, and double blacks there is definitely something for everyone at this point!

It’s hard to pick a favourite, but the flowy nature of Half Baked delivered the biggest smiles for our group. It’s testament to the trail building that we were able to hit all the features on this jump trail first time and were hooting and hollering down it many more times over the weekend. Honourable mention, however, definitely goes to Poachers Rite which is a longer version of Half Baked, with some bigger jumps and bigger berms on offer.

If you’re looking for the longest descent of the day, then I’d recommend starting at Mogo Trig, heading down Half Baked, straight into Zooniverse South and then into Tea Party. It’s one heck of a ride, trust me.

Mitchells Trail Hub

South from Mogo Trig, and accessible from the Mogo Town trailhead, Mitchells Trail Hub is another summit point that brings together a selection of routes. At the time of riding there were a fair few trailheads that weren’t open yet, offering tantalising glimpses past the red and white tape of new trails to come – but don’t get tempted to ride them before they’re ready, they’re not open for a reason.

From Mitchells, my pick of the trails is MoFlow. Different to the smooth flowy trails of Poachers Rite and Half Baked, MoFlow is tighter, rockier, and rougher to ride but delivers just as large cheek-splitting grins as the other trails.Not that I want to think about last rides, but the return trails back to the Mogo Town trailhead are actually pretty fun too, especially near the top, and I reckon having a trail network that finishes with a downhill trail is a guaranteed way to leave you buzzing and wanting to ride more.

Water, Spares, and Repairs

I just wanted to mention here that while the trails never take you too far from civilisation and the trailheads, you are out riding in the forest and need to be self-sufficient. There’s no water to be found out there, so make sure you’re carrying enough to last your ride – the last thing you want to do is detour back to the car to fill up your bottle when you could be out riding.

The same thought process goes behind carrying spare tubes, tools, and repair kits. Walking your bike back to the car when you could be riding isn’t a fun experience.

I found reasonable phone service in much of the forest, which will be essential in case of emergency. Local emergency services have been informed of trail names throughout the network and trail signs for each trail displays a ‘what three words’ code for the What 3 Words geocoding system, but make sure you have it or the Emergency Plus app downloaded.

Read more: Our Favourite Outdoor and Adventure Apps

More to Come from Mogo Trails

Over the weekend we rode 60km of trails and barely scratched the surface of the newly-opened trail network. With the Mogo Trails planned to nearly double in size over the coming years, I’ll definitely be planning more trips to the South Coast in the future.

Big thanks to MTB Direct for organising this trip and inviting us along too!

Photos by Jon Harris