Lake Mountain (Cascades)
Taungurung/Wurundjeri
Quick info:
In a Nutshell:
- Around 45 km of trails including the iconic Cascades
- Small trail network at the resort with some easier trails, but not ideal for new riders
- Cascades Trail is a pearler of a long-distance point-to-point track down to Marysville, with a wide variety of features (some quite technical), and excellent riding
- A bit of climbing en-route, but the payoff is worth it with around 1500m of vertical descending overall
Network size:
45 km singletrack incl. Cascades
Our rating:
4/5 MTB Fist Bumps
Facilities:
Trail difficulty:
Not much for beginners
Suits riders:
Not the easiest beginner trails
Bike chooser:
Not for leisure bikes or DH rigs (climbs)
Web:
Trail Maps:
Shuttles:
Where is it?
By car:
About 1 hour 45 minutes northwest of Melbourne to Marysville, then another 25 minutes up to the ski resort and trailhead.
By PT:
Metro train to Lilydale then the 684 bus to Marysville (bikes are not allowed on this bus though), then shuttle to top.
Description:
Lake Mountain ski resort hosts the start of the iconic and fantastic Cascades Trail. It also has a small network of trails at the resort.
It’s only open to MTBs in the summer months from November to April, but resort entry is free during this period.
Not surprisingly, being a ski resort it’s up the top of a mountain, so you have to get up there first. It’s a long ride up but thankfully shuttles run from Marysville on weekends and some weekdays in the summer. It’s also a pretty easy self shuttle with two vehicles.
From the resort there is an 18 km network of marked dedicated MTB trails heading in a south-westerly direction (the Home Trails), which loop around and back up to the resort. There’s only 4km of green MTB trails here, so not much for beginners. Trails twist and turn through the trees, carving through tricky little rocky features.
The Cascades Trail is the main event though and is a 28 km (from the resort) mono-directional trail which branches off from the Granite Grind Trail. Cascades winds its up and down from the resort to Marysville, way, way down in the valley.
Beware though, while Marysville is about 1000m lower altitude than the summit, you’ll be climbing for almost 600 m along the way and it is deceptively hard work. For that hard work though you do get a total of over 1500 m descent, which is nice.
The trail itself is excellent and just keeps giving. It has a bit of everything from near vertical berms (losing all that lovely altitude you just gained in the blink of an eye!), rocky drops, gap jumps, and epic descents. Oh, and some climbs. It’s rated blue, but on balance a very dark blue given the features and terrain.
In no time you’ll be sitting outside the Duck Inn in Marysville, sipping on a cold trail ale with a gigantic grin on your chops and pondering whether the legs have got another run in them.
Note that there is no drinking water at the top other than the kind that comes in a plastic bottle with a price-tag attached.
Page last updated: 21/7/26
