Touring the famous Bridle Track in NSW

If you’ve been into four-wheel driving for more than a few minutes, chances are you’ve heard of this place.

A couple hours northwest of Sydney, just out of Bathurst, the roughly 50km-long Bridle Track was the place to go if you were just cutting your teeth in the off-road scene. Or at least it was up until 2010 when a colossal rockslide at Monaghan’s Bluff shut the track down for the next decade and a bit. Fast forward to 2023 and the track (finally) re-opened and it’s still a fantastic place to spend a sneaky night or two.

It’s not so much about the off-road driving – to be honest you could drive a fair percentage of it in your grandad’s Camry – it’s more about marvelling at the landscape, the wildlife and finding that beaut little campsite that you and the family will remember for the rest of your lives.

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The history of the joint

The track was opened for gold miners to get from Hill End to Bathurst in the mid-1800s without having to go via Sofala.

It was coined because it was so narrow you had to lead your horse by its bridle, and the name stuck. By 1870 it had been widened to allow passage of carriages and by the 1930s it had become a tourist drive, predominantly for motor vehicles.

You will notice a lot of evidence of the mining history dotted along the track, including tunnels, or adits if you want to get technical, that can still be accessed by the non-claustrophobic adventurer.

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Getting there

If you’re navigating by the stars, head northwest out of Sydney till you hit Bathurst, then hang a right up Duramana Road for a few kays until you see a big ol’ sign saying “Bridle Track”.

Or, if you like doing things the non-difficult way, just slap Bridle Track into your GPS and let it do the heavy lifting. It’s a gazetted track and well signposted. There are probably easier tracks to find, but we can’t think of too many.

Day trips are a possibility and would be great for the kids (big or little) given the abundance of flora, fauna and swimming holes on offer.

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However, you’d be missing out on a huge part of what makes this place so special – the camping. It’s seriously up there with some of the best in the country.

Right on the river, easily accessed and all pre-paid via your taxes. It’s spot on for bringing the tin lids and letting them run wild on the high-fructose corn syrup that’s pumped into everything these days, or equally ideal for a few mates to knock the top off a few Denzel Frothingtons after a busy week.

There are even toilets and if you have a more modified vehicle, there are quite a few campsites off the map that don’t get the influx of people.

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Recommended gear

This is an excellent overnighter for people with stock or lightly modified 4x4s. While there are a few tricky-ish side tracks, don’t expect your LS-swapped, 37-inch tyre sporting Patrol to be particularly challenged.

But that’s not what this place is about. It’s about easy access, idyllic camping on the banks of a crystal-clear river system (well, two river systems, the Macquarie and the Turon, but who’s counting?) within a couple hours’ drive of a major metropolitan centre. If you can’t find something to like about that then who are we to judge? Still, you seem kind of cranky; is everything okay at home?

Anyway, bring your camping gear, enough food and drinks for your trip and maybe throw in a snatch strap or two if you like being super-prepared.

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Camping access

As mentioned, it’s predominantly 2WD or high-range 4x4 touring, but conditions are more variable than Australian Prime Ministers over the last decade, so bring your wits and keep ’em about you.

Heavy rains the previous week can affect big changes in river depth and flow, and the trickle you camped next to last month may be closer to a raging torrent this time around.

With that said, this is one of the best beginner trips within cooee of Sydney (or Bathurst, duh) and while the wheeling is far from what you’d call difficult, the conditions can easily catch you out if you’re not ready.

Realistically though, there’s so much to see and do. The main sites are well signposted and well-appointed with plenty of room for everyone.

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Firepits and long drops are provided at regular intervals too, which is a far cry from the usual NSW National Parks over-bollarding of anywhere remotely cool, but we digress…

In truth, the most difficult decision you’ll have to make is whether to go for a site on some lush green grass or head for the soft loamy beach, a literal pebble toss from the water.

This time around we camped at the bottom of an unmarked track (Sammys Hole), which was steep and rutted enough to require low range and some judicious wheel placement. The payoff was that we had the place to ourselves a couple of metres from the river. For a cruisy drive a couple hours from the ’burbs this is as good as it gets.

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When to go

The track is open year-round and is essentially always accessible (huge mountains falling over the track notwithstanding).

Given that it’s less than half a day’s drive from several major urban centres it understandably gets pretty chockers on the weekends and holidays. Best time to come would be out of school holidays and, if possible, during the week.

With that said, there is really a metric buttload of camping available here, both marked and unmarked, so there’s a better than average chance of you finding a suitable spot.

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It’s advised that trailers are left at home due to the narrow track, but people do bring their campers (probably a bit too narrow for caravans) and there’s no shortage of spots to set one up.

Also, the Bridle Track is a bit of a rite of passage for 4x4ers. The terrain is nothing short of spectacular.

First you’re tracking along the river bank asking yourself “how’s the serenity?”, nek minute you’ve climbed 100m-plus up the ridge and are all wide-eyed at the topography of the peaks and valley systems of the area. It’s a magical place like that.

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One last thing

Look, selling you on this place is not difficult. Yeah, the off-road driving is not on par with the Cape or the High Country, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for a lot of folks.

The truth is that this is one of those parts of the world that’s just begging to be explored. There are so many campsites and so many tracks in the region to poke your nose down, and the Bridle Track is just one of them.

In the same area you’ve got the Turon River system, Dixons Long Point, the Coxs River run, Sunny and Dark Corner to name just a few. Fair dinkum, we’ve been driving and camping here for over 20 years and have barely scratched the surface.

If you live in this neck of the world, this is your backyard. Come and find it.