PACKHORSE DOWN
We explored a trail-based experience as rare as rare can be, but one well worth the few minutes of exhilaration.
This story of adventure was shot during the 2021 edition of the Ignition MTB Festival; an event we would thoroughly suggest attending next year.
Normally an up-trail, there are really only two times during the year which you can legally ride Packhorse down the hill. The first that will come each year is amid the carnage and chaos that comes during the McKayos mass-start Enduro race, the other – during the Ignition MTB Festival to mark the start of the mountain biking season.
On the Sunday of the aforementioned mountain biking festival, we linked up with the 2-time winner of the aforementioned mass-start Enduro race – Ben Mcilroy, for a casual roll down what we think is one of Falls Creek's most underrated trails. We say casual more to describe the way he approached it, while for us it was more of a hapless hound chasing after a wiley hare type situation.
Though not everything got off to a smooth start...
One thing worth mentioning about Packhorse Down is that the welcome mat (if you will) is rather innocuous – mostly because you're about to tackle the trail from the wrong end. Being one of the very few trails on the low side of the Bogong High Plains Road that cuts through the middle of the Falls Creek Village means that Packhorse isn't so much out of the way, but even during a weekend like Ignition, with hundreds of people around, it remains out of the spotlight – while the focus is firmly on trails like the higher Thunderbolt, and Flowtown which almost runs parallel to Packhorse on the high side of the road.
ROUTE: PACKHORSE DOWN
Distance: 4.1km / Descent: -262m
Much like its high-side sibling Flowtown, Packhorse introduces you to the trail with a few fun flowing berms. While they might come quicker, they are certainly a lot smoother.
Exiting the final berm of this opening section is a short bridge before you enter some tighter, twisting single track – a taste of what is to come for much of the remaining 4 kilometres.
Soon you'll pass the iconic Packhorse waterfall, immediately followed by a short climb. After you crest this one, you're dropped into a bit more of a techy descent section, which (during earlier runs the previous day) had us wondering how on earth that part operates as a climb. That being said we don’t know shit about cross-country riding, so we should stay quiet on that.
Normally during this time of year you're treated to a couple of felled trees – tipped over from snow or aged induce fatigue. We aren't 100% sure, just spitballing, but storms and hell strong winds pushed through the entire state of Victoria a week or so before Ignition, so what were a couple of felled trees in previous years became almost a tunnel, for what we can only assume was due to those winds. Fortunately, it always came up during the faster sections of the trail, giving you a sense of hitting hyperspeed.
Packhorse Down rewards you for all your efforts, and gives you plenty of moments to rest across the series of bridges scattered throughout, with the longer ones coming through the middle section of the trail. With all the attention on the higher octane trails up the hill, a traffic-free run down the trail is an absolute delight, where you can spend time cruising up the climbs and enjoying yourself to the maximum on the rapid descents.
It's as you start to get sight of the Bogong High Plains Road, and then the Howmans Gap Ticket Box where you begin to know the trail comes to an end. Considering you've done the trail in reverse, you don't get a showpiece ending like Flowtown offers with jumps and berms and the like, instead you are shot out into the entrance of the Howmans Gap YMCA, ready for your shuttle back to the top.
Thanks to Beemac for allowing us to chase him haplessly down the trail. If we were a hunting dog, we would have been retired and left to swat flys away with our ears(?).
Will we ever do a Packhorse Up? Probably not, but next Ignition MTB you'll know just where to find us.