Manly Dam walk

Probably the most popular mountain bike trail in Sydney & its easy to see why at only 10kms a lap it manages to fit in a huge variety of terrain with a couple of tough little climbs, some fast & flowing down hills, twisty single trail & technical drops.
Clockwise lap is well signed & easy to follow, most technical parts have a variety of lines depending on your level of experience.
Please don’t ride the trail after rain, it gets far to much traffic to deal with if the ground is soft, you can always check the trail conditions on the no mob website.

Who knew that there was a dam in Manly, let alone one in which you can swim with ducks and swans! This gorgeous spot has pretty much everything you want in a bushwalking spot — walking tracks, picnic areas, wood fired BBQ pits, play equipment, swimming, a waterfall… there’s even what looks like a water ski jump ramp in the middle of the lake!
Stay late enough and you might get some furry visitors, particularly if you have food out. We had to chase away a greedy possum, but were also lucky enough to see a heavily pregnant bilby!
If you ever visit do go for a swim. The water’s gorgeous and you might even find an orange frisbee at the bottom of the lake, lost during what seemed like a genius idea of playing water frisbee. Who knew that frisbees didn’t float! Let me know if you find it, yeah?

Build a viewing tower!
Hello … did you hear me?
BUILD A VIEWING TOWER
This lovely bushland walk in the hills above Manly has so much potential. It’s a circuit walk of just under 7.5km, accessible from various points but most commonly reached from the park near the dam wall off King Street. You can complete the circuit in either direction, following red arrows that keep you on track. Be warned that these are a little intermittent and there are cross paths that share access with various mountain bike routes of the Manly Warringah War Memorial Park, but if you keep the dam consistently on one side of you, you can’t go far wrong.
It’s certainly a blessing to be able to feel this far from civilisation so close to the city. The track is unsealed and you do not come across buildings, roads or cars for its entire length. It is just such a shame that there is no point at which you are high enough or sufficiently clear of the tree-​tops to see the view across the dam and down to the coast, which I am sure would be magnificent. An aesthetically thought-​through viewing tower would add a great deal to an already pleasant outing.
At the park near the dam there are picnic facilities, toilet blocks and barbecue pits that can be booked through the council. It is possible to swim in the dam, and it is used by kayakers, stand-​up paddle boarders and so on. I would hate to be unlucky enough to land there on a day that the ski jump was in use though — the power boat noise would be ruinous.