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Summer in the Snowy: biking with kids from Jindabyne

snow action team 19.01.2021

Steve Leeder has the lowdown on biking with kids from Jindabyne.

Most of us can’t go up north for winter, so many of us are rediscovering the delights of the Snowy Mountains in summer – especially for getting the kids out and active.

Biking the lake trail out of Jindabyne
Minty putting in the hard yards © Steve Leeder

I finally have both of my kids with me in Jindabyne and they want to do rad stuff.

After a couple days of hanging at the lake and swimming and just relaxing after everything that is Xmas and then our drive back down from the central coast, we jumped on our bikes and headed over to the Hatchery Bay trail.

It’s a trail that you can ride all the way from town out to the Gaden Trout Hatchery and then back.

The hatchery is run by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and grows 4 species –  rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, and Atlantic salmon.

Visitors can view and sometimes partake in feeding of the big fish that come to the surface in some of the hatchery’s brood stock ponds, watch a 10 minute introduction video that outlines the hatchery’s purpose and operations, and go for a walk around the grounds with one of the experienced hatchery staff. Guided tours of the hatchery are conducted at 10am and 2pm daily.

Gaden Hatchery has over one hectare of parkland on the banks of the Thredbo River. Coin operated barbeques and picnic shelters are available. Entry is $10 adults,

Empty beach biking from Jindabyne
Hit the beach and hit the water along the way © Steve Leeder

We started from the Claypits, so it’s about 8-9km’s round trip.  

I can’t recommend this trail enough. Its pretty easy for the very little, or the faint of heart.

Minty is only on a BMX bike and she was ripping along this trail. I think one of the great things about the Hatchery Bay Trail that makes it such a fun outing is that there are a million spots for the perfect picnic stop along the way.

We were out on a pretty hot day, almost 30°, so we took advantage of lots of the stops and had beaches to ourselves for swims.

Beach stop biking from Jindabyne
Plenty of picnic spots too © Steve Leeder

The other trail that is pefect for getting the young ones out on is Copper Tom Trail on the other side of Jindabyne that heads out to the Dam.

There are a few fun features to keep those that want to try and push themselves on and honestly I love just going real fast on this trail. The berms and the jumps are pretty fun at speed. This trail has a great starting point as well, with a swimming beach to cool down at after your ride.

If you are looking to ride something a bit longer and find some harder trails you can continue over the dam wall and ride the trails of Mill Creek. 

There is a full range of trails that go all the way to East Jindabyne, including one of my favourite flow trails anywhere called PINK.

If you are keen to get out but didn’t bring your, or your kid’s, bikes you can head into the awesome crew at Sacred Ride in Jindy to hire bikes.

If you want to make your day even easier you can organize a guide through them to show you all the best stuff and even get some tips along the way.

For a bigger day out check out the awesome Thredbo Valley Trail from Thredbo to Jindabyne.