1. Head south from the CBD towards Wollongong (via the Princes Highway)
2. About 3 km past the turnoff to Royal National Park is Engadine. Turn right into Heathcote road and go about 200m to Forum Drive.
3. Turn left into Forum & go all the way to the end. There are two trails (one further up the hill on the left). Take the one on the right, beyond the gate.
4. About 30m along there’s a trail on your right. It’s really a walking track and quickly becomes unrideable (i.e. hike-a-bike). Head down the hill keeping left for about 50m. The Pipeline Trail is below you.
5. If you want the biking entrance then you have to go back up Forum Drive and 200m left along Heathcote Rd to the entrance where the Pipeline comes out from under the road. Trouble is there’s no car parking at all there & very little shoulder on Heathcote Road so with trucks & cars blazing downhill it can be a hazardous ride, but the trail is rideable immediately after the gate.
6. Both entrances lead to a bridge over the Pipeline itself which is a massive 2 metre radius concrete and steel tube carrying water from Woronora Dam (which is where the trail ends) towards Sydney. We follow the pipeline most of the way
7. The trail starts off mostly damaged tarseal and this continues for about 3 Km and then turns to shingle and clay. The tarseal has some massive potholes and on the downhill sections it can be fun to jump these.
8. The pipeline is on your left and on your right is Heathcote Creek. (Woronora River is in the next valley on your right). You get good views of this most of the way.
9. On both sides (mostly left) there are walking tracks leading up to the main roads or down to the river but as far as I can tell none are rideable.
10. Along the way there are a couple of picnic tables and a few places over the creek where you can stop for a break.
11. The trail starts to head uphill after about 5Km from the start and continues to rise for about 6 - 7Km. It never gets steep, just a little arduous on a hot day. The surface also gets rocky.
12. Near the top you can start to see more distant views of the landscape of Heathcote NP, which is similar to Royal National (just across the freeway). You even get a glimpse of the dam at a couple of points
13. After about 10Km you come to a gate and off to the left is a trail up the hill to a pylon and a lookout. Go up for a look (it’s steep) or continue on around the corner and head along the ridge for a couple of Km and you hit another gate and just after that you meet the road towards the dam.
14. Turn right and ride for about 2 Km, mostly downhill.
15. The dam area is open from 10am to 5pm for visiting. Apparently there are stern warnings if you trespass outside these hours.
