Kalateenee Mountain Bike Trails

Overview

Kalateenee Mountain Bike Trails is a 25–30 km cross-country and gravity network in Kalateenee State Forest, immediately south of Kempsey on the NSW Mid-North Coast. The trails run through tall eucalypt, ironbark and bushbox forest and span the full IMBA difficulty spectrum: easy fire-road links and beginner singletrack near the Kempsey Golf Club trailhead, blue flow and climbing trails through the middle of the network, and a cluster of upgraded enduro descents with a flagship jump line (Yetti) reached from a newer southern trailhead off Scrubby Creek Road. [1][3][6]

Trails are built and maintained by the Macleay Valley Mountain Bikers (MVMB) club under a permit from Forestry Corporation NSW. The 2023 upgrade — funded jointly by Kempsey Shire Council's Places to Play grant, the NSW Stronger Country Communities Fund and the Coastline Community Foundation — saw Hunter Valley specialists East Coast Mountain Trails (ECMT) rebuild five gravity/enduro descents and add the Yetti jump line, alongside a new southern trailhead with drop toilets, a rainwater tank and signed trail map. [2][6][7]

The network is free to ride, open year-round, and consciously designed for breadth: a substantial portion of trails were built wide enough to accommodate adaptive bikes, and the upgraded jump line includes a B-line beside the A-line so progression-stage riders can roll the same features. The Saturday-afternoon social rides from the forest carpark function as the de-facto introduction for new visitors. [1][8]

Location & Access

• Address: Macleay Valley Way, Kempsey NSW 2440 (Golf Club trailhead, behind Kempsey Golf Club); southern trailhead via Scrubby Creek Road off the South Kempsey interchange. [1][3][5]
• Region: Macleay Valley Coast (Mid-North Coast NSW)
• Drive times: ~4 hr 45 min from Sydney (M1 → Pacific Hwy, ~420 km); ~4 hr 30 min from Brisbane (~485 km); ~1 hr from Port Macquarie; ~1 hr 30 min from Coffs Harbour
• Public transport: Kempsey is on the NSW TrainLink North Coast XPT line (Sydney–Brisbane); trails are ~5 km south of Kempsey station, no direct bus — car or taxi from station
• Parking: Two free trailhead carparks: (1) Kempsey Golf Club carpark off Macleay Valley Way (older, original access); (2) southern forest trailhead off Scrubby Creek Road, built as part of the 2023 upgrade. Both sealed/gravel. [1][6][7]
• Coords: -31.1264, 152.8085 (existing DB value — verified roughly correct against Trailforks region centroid)

Best Season & Conditions

• Peak riding season: April–October (cooler dry months — Mid-North Coast summers are hot and humid). Year-round riding possible. [1][3]
• Wet-weather impact: Trails generally dry quickly on the sandy/loam Mid-North Coast soils, but heavy summer rain can render gravity descents slow and tacky. Check MVMB Facebook or Trailforks "report condition" before riding after rain. [1][8]
• Fire-danger / TFB: Kalateenee is a working state forest — Forestry Corporation NSW closes forest access on Total Fire Ban days and during scheduled hazard-reduction burns. Check the FCNSW closures page or NSW RFS app before driving up. [4]
• Snow / alpine season: N/A — coastal Mid-North Coast, no snow.
• School-holiday surge: Modest; MVMB ran free school-holiday programs in January 2024 (ages 5–8 and 9–18) and these are a recurring annual fixture. Saturdays are the busiest with the 2:00 PM social ride (3:00 PM during NSW daylight saving). [1][7]

Managing Body & Trail Builders

• Land manager: Forestry Corporation NSW (Kalateenee State Forest is a working softwood/hardwood forest). [4][6]
• Trail builder / maintainer: Macleay Valley Mountain Bikers (MVMB) club, under permit from Forestry Corporation NSW. The 2023 enduro upgrade was built by East Coast Mountain Trails (Hunter Valley-based professional trail builders). [1][2][6]
• Volunteer / dig days: Coordinated via MVMB; contact via the club email or Facebook page.
• Donations / membership: MVMB membership available via the club website (mvmb.org.au); social rides Saturdays 2:00 PM (3:00 PM during AEDT) from the southern forest carpark — open to all. [1]
• Club contact: macleayvalleymtb@gmail.com — no public phone listed by the club itself. The Macleay Valley Coast Visitor Information Centre handles general visitor enquiries on 1800 642 480. [1][3][5]

History & Background

The trail network originated as informal singletrack within Kalateenee State Forest before being formalised by the Macleay Valley Mountain Bikers club under a Forestry Corporation NSW permit. The club steadily expanded the network with volunteer trail days, building XC trails radiating from the Kempsey Golf Club trailhead. [1][3]

The major transformation came in 2023: Kempsey Shire Council secured a $301,600 grant through the NSW Government's Places to Play program (Department of Planning and Environment) — notably the first time a council-earmarked grant of this type was passed through to a mountain-bike club for spend in a state forest. The grant funded a professional rebuild of five enduro descents and the construction of the Yetti jump line by East Coast Mountain Trails. Complementary funding from the NSW Stronger Country Communities Fund built the new southern carpark, and the Coastline Community Foundation funded the drop toilet block. [2][6][7]

The upgraded trails officially opened on Saturday 16 December 2023, with ~150 people attending the launch event hosted by MVMB president Kylie Stewart. Yetti recorded over 1,200 Trailforks passes in its first week. [7]

The trails are notable in Australian MTB advocacy as a model of council-club partnership inside a state forest, and for the deliberate inclusion of adaptive-bike-friendly trail widths from the design stage. [2][8]

Recent News & Updates (last 12 months)

• 2023-12-16 — Official opening of the upgraded enduro trails and new southern trailhead, ~150 attendees (Macleay Argus) [7]
• 2024-01-08/09 — Free MVMB school-holiday programs (ages 5–8 and 9–18) ran from the southern carpark (Macleay Argus) [7]
• 2024-03 — Three-day MVMB-hosted event flagged at the opening (no specific event report found post-event) [7]
• Ongoing — Saturday 2:00 PM (3:00 PM AEDT) social rides from the southern trailhead [1]

Sources

1. Macleay Valley Mountain Bikers (MVMB) — official club site — https://www.mvmb.org.au/ — accessed 2026-05-19
2. Flow Mountain Bike — "Roaring wheels: get your gravity fix in Kempsey, NSW" — https://flowmountainbike.com/features/kempsey-nsw-kalateenee-mtb-trails/ — accessed 2026-05-19 (cited via search snippets; direct fetch blocked by Cloudflare 403)
3. Visit NSW — Kalateenee Mountain Bike Trails listing — https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/north-coast/macleay-valley-coast/kempsey/attractions/kalateenee-mountain-bike-trails — accessed 2026-05-19
4. Forestry Corporation NSW — Kalateenee State Forest context — https://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/ — accessed 2026-05-19 (land manager, TFB closures policy)
5. NSW Government — Kalateenee Mountain Bike Trails attraction page — https://www.nsw.gov.au/visiting-and-exploring-nsw/locations-and-attractions/kalateenee-mountain-bike-trails — accessed 2026-05-19
6. Flow Mountain Bike — "Kempsey Kalateenee Forest enduro trails get an upgrade" — https://flowmountainbike.com/post-all/kempsey-kalateenee-forest-enduro-trails-upgrade/ — accessed 2026-05-19 (cited via search snippets; direct fetch blocked by Cloudflare 403)
7. Macleay Argus — "Upgraded Kalateenee Mountain Bike Enduro trail officially opens" — https://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/8464091/upgraded-kalateenee-mountain-bike-enduro-trail-officially-opens/ — accessed 2026-05-19
8. Macleay Valley Coast Tourism — Kalateenee attraction page — https://macleayvalleycoast.com.au/attractions/kalateenee-mountain-bike-trails/ — accessed 2026-05-19
9. Trailforks — Kalateenee region 12398 — https://www.trailforks.com/region/kalateenee-mountain-bike-trails-12398/ — accessed 2026-05-19 (canonical region ID confirmed; trail-level data behind 403 in this session)