Walking and Cycling Trails
The City of Salisbury has an extensive network of some 93kms of walking and cycling trails within its boundaries. The City of Salisbury is full of hidden walking and cycling opportunities that may not be well known amongst locals, including regular and potential walkers and riders. Our main trails include:
The Little Para Trail (16.5km)
The Little Para River Trail traverses some 16.5kms from the hilly escarpments in the east of Northern Adelaide to Barker Inlet in the west. The Little Para River has many attractions for all to enjoy, meandering through many significant sites that played an important role in the early development of the City of Salisbury. Of great importance are the remnants of natural landscapes along the river’s edge including varieties of eucalyptus woodland and native golden wattle. The richness of the area provided an immediate focus for settlement which began in 1837. Council began acquiring land in the 1960s for the purpose of providing open space for public use and a belt of parklands surrounding the Little Para River with accompanied trails.
The most significant trail in the City of Salisbury, The Little Para River Trail allows riders to follow a predominantly flat 5km unsealed trail (apart from a short on-road detour at Porter Street, Salisbury) West from Carisbrooke Park (next to Main North Rd) to the Salisbury Town centre (behind Parabanks Shopping Centre ).
From the Salisbury Town centre, the Little Para River Trail has a 5km all-weather (bitumen) surface option on one side of the trail to Port Wakefield Rd at Bolivar. (Dry weather underpass) The all-weather (bitumen) surface then continues west under Port Wakefield rd, and runs alongside the White Road Wetlands and around Globe Derby Park, linking with the Dry Creek Trail.
The Little Para River trail also runs east from Carisbrook Park (Salisbury Park) under Main North Rd and up the hill above the Old Spot Hotel for 1.4km before becoming Private Property. (steep gravel sections)
Points to join the Trail (East to West) include:
- Carisbrooke Reserve - Main North Road Salisbury Park (opposite the old spot hotel) Top and bottom car park. (Top car park accessible via slip rd by Malinya Drive; bottom car park accessible directly off of Main North Rd) Open sunrise to sunset.
- Parabanks Shopping centre - Gawler St, Salisbury. The trail is opposite the car park
- Hausler reserve (sometimes known as Greentree park) - Cnr Kings Rd & Greentree Boulevard, Parafield Gardens
There is some great additional information available via the Walking SA website.
Dry Creek (14km)
The Dry Creek Trails are a network of walking and cycling trails that follow Dry Creek and its reserves from Wynn Vale and Valley View, past Yatala Prison, through Mawson Lakes to the Little Para River Trail near Barker Inlet. (through the council areas of Tea Tree Gully, Port Adelaide Enfield and Salisbury.)
The City of Salisbury section runs west from Down Drive Valley View (close to Grand Junction Rd), through Walkley Heights, Pooraka and Mawson Lakes to Globe Derby, where it joins up with the Little Para River Trail.
The land adjacent to Dry Creek is a landscape of change, originally taking the form of a seasonal river delta with the tidal salt marsh. Construction of tidal levy banks and channelization of Dry Creek from c. 1880 to 1940, created grazing pastures and subsequent holding yards for cattle transported to the Cavan Abattoir. The recent development of Mawson Lakes (1990 to 2012) saw parts of the river developed into a picturesque seasonal stream.
Between Bridge Road and Walkleys Road, historical buildings and structures have survived within the park from the days when the quarries were worked by inmates of Yatala Labour Prison, and date back to the early years of the Adelaide colony. These include the Yatala Powder Magazine, Blacksmith’s Shop, several guard lookout posts and a cottage, which remains on the former R M Williams property.
Notes:
- There are a couple of road crossings at Briens Road, Bridge rd (short on-road section at Pratt Ave Pooraka) and Main North Rd.
- There is a dry weather underpass at Walkleys Rd
- The trail is broken by the railway line at Mawson Lakes & the trail can be re-joined by either taking the bridge on Elder Smith Rd or the pedestrian crossing further North at Greenfields station.
- Please note the cycling/pedestrian underpass at Port Wakefield Rd - Globe Derby is affected by tides. The Dry Creek trail then continues and links to the Little Para River Trail behind Globe Derby.
Points to join the Trail City of Salisbury (East to West) include:
- Stockade Park - Hoods road, Northfield. Track from the park leads down to the Dry Creek Trail from the car park. Open 6am – 6pm
- Greenfields / The Watershed, 665 Salisbury Hwy, Mawson Lakes SA. The trail is accessible via a dirt track north of the car park. This car park is open during Watershed opening hours only. (8:00 AM - 4:00 PM)
- Mobara Park, 14 Garden Terrace, Mawson Lakes. The trail runs next to the park
There is some great additional information available via the Walking SA website.
Tapa Marinthi Yala
Tapa Martinthi Yala translates to "pathway to embrace today" in Kaurna
The Tapa Martinthi Yala Shared Use Path follows the Northern Connector motorway, between The Northern Expressway (from Gawler) in the north to the South Rd, Port River Expressway Interchange in the south. (see maps below)
There is a connecting path along Port Wakefield Rd at the Bolivar interchange between the Northern and Southern sections.
This is a significant piece of shared-use infrastructure, offering both walkers and cyclists a long-distance option that is safe for active transport users with key destinations at both ends.
The Tapa Martinthi Yala Shared Use Path path connects the new Port River Bikeway and the Stuart O’Grady Bikeway, creating around 43km of continuous paths from Gawler to Port Adelaide. It also links to the Gawler Greenway (and the City)
Map of the Tapa Martinthi Yala Bikeway.
There is some great additional information available on the Walking SA website.
Cobbler Creek
There are multiple trails within Cobbler Creek Recreation Park and the Department of Environment and Heritage have done some work recently upgrading the Trails for off-road cycle use. Within the City of Salisbury, the Cobbler Creek trail runs from Salisbury Heights within the Cobbler Creek corridor just below Bridge Rd to Main North rd. It is also possible to follow trails within the Cobbler Creek conservation park that take you to roads within Salisbury Heights heading north where you can then link into the Little Para Trail.
Great information available through the National Parks website.
Reserves and Parks
There are a number of Reserves and Parks within the City of Salisbury that provides some GREAT opportunities for walking and cycling, particularly for novice riders. Kaurna Park, across from the Springbank Waters shopping centre on Waterloo Cnr Rd at Burton has a 3km loop and trails cutting through it. Unity Park (South Tce, Pooraka) has various trails running through it that include the bitumenised Levels – City Bikeway from South Tce, Pooraka to Grand Junction Rd (Northfield). There are also connecting reserves with trails between Bolivar Rd, Paralowie and the Little Para Trail at Salisbury Downs (road crossings at Fairbanks Dr, Whites Rd).