Für Angela - Pureora and Old Coach Road

For a significant birthday we decided to treat Angela to a MTB trip through the Pureora Timber Trail. I'd thoroughly enjoyed a south-north trip earlier in the year and reckoned it would be just the thing for her. However, it took a while to replace my nicked bike and line up diaries so there was a bit of a delay before we finally set a date.

The plan is to drive up and do half the Timber Trail on a Friday, stay the night at Blackfern Lodge and complete the trail on Saturday before heading south to pick up one of a number of possible rides on the Sunday.

Who:   Angela, Mike, Self and Sally (support crew)
What:  Long weekend MTB trip
Where: Pureora Timber Trail and Old Coach Road
When:  30 Sept - 2 Oct 2016

Angela arrives at home late on a Thursday night to crash over with the intention of an early getaway. With the bikes loaded in the evening, we are away so early that the cafes along SH 1 are not open until we are north of Bulls. The Sugar Plum Cafe is about to put it's sign out when we pull in: it's a first visit for all of us and our breakfasts and coffees don't disappoint. The art work on the walls provides conversation fodder,varying from really quite good studies of iconic scenery to somewhat deranged little pieces.

Road trip iced coffee

Nothing like it!

For a change there is no need to stop in Taihape, so we continue to Taumaranui for fuel and final supplies, then follow SH 4 north. 21 km later is the right turn into tiger country along the Ongarue-Waimiha Road.  This is close to the southern end of the Timber Trail but it's a long and windy way north to SH 30, then east to Bennydale, and eventually the start of the trail at Pureora (not much there apart from the DoC Centre). We can't see it, but we are about 20km northwest of Lake Taupo.

The area is typical central North Island back-country volcanic plateau farm land: low, hilly and with a scarce few pockets of bush. As we near Pureora we can finally see the dusky green of the forest rising gently up the symmetrical flanks of the volcano. The top is at 1165m, but given that the surrounding volcanic plateau is 5-600m, it doesn't exactly tower so much as ease above the landscape.

A geologist would be able to tell you that Pureora is an andesite volcano which oozes lava rather than it's neighbour 20km away which has magma of a rhylotic nature (with high viscosity and gas content) and so an uncouth tendency towards sudden, loud and spectacular explosions. It has been responsible for wiping out forests and covering vast areas in metres of ash. Fortunately for road cyclists it also had the side effect of leaving a massive crater that fills up with water and can be cycled around, but that's another story.

There's a DoC campsite and toilets at the road end where we disgorge the contents of the car on to the ground and set about getting bikes track worthy.  For Angela this also involves a quick tube change. It's definitely not sunny and the cloud doesn't bode well for getting good views. But although it has been quite wet in recent days, the rain is holding off for now.

Our aim of being underway not too long after midday proves to be a pretty good estimate as we set off around 1pm. It is fairly late in the day to start so we are not expecting to see anyone on the trail, although there are some fresh bike foot prints on the track.

The transition into the bush is abrupt and stunning. A carving welcomes us to the trail and we are immediately in wonderful cathedral-like podacarp forest. Huge trunks reach straight upwards surrounded by the verdant tangle of under-story competition, that is only possible with a rigorous pest control programme.

The trail is smooth, flowing and flat but with enough bends and muddy patches to ease Angela back into MTB riding - I forget that she is foremost a road cyclist but figure that with her fitness, determination and good dose of common sense this trail will be challenging but not daunting.

Almost!

As we ride we keep a hopeful ear out for kokako but sadly don't identify any during the trip. There are plenty of tui and other birds to be heard though.

The trail starts to gently climb and we pop out of forest and into areas that have been logged. The contrast is stark - the wreckage will take generations to recover assuming they don't plant more bloody pines.

Just shy of 800m there is a wee shelter then we are back into the bush. The trail is now a little rougher in places but still gently pitched as it climbs past 900m and skirts around the cone.

First shelter

There are very few breaks in the canopy to give glimpses of the surrounding terrain so the cloud doesn't bother us. At a couple of spots handwritten signs indicate views of Taupo (we think we could see it) and cell phone coverage, but we are more intent on enjoying the bush and the track which, once the climb is done with, is generally pretty flat with just a few steepish sections.

A feature of the trail are the bridges that span high above bushy gorges. They are full-on suspension bridges with solid wood decking - easily rideable and giving views down to rivers far below.  Although we are too high to have any chance of seeing the rare whio (blue duck) that survives amidst the rapids.








We haven't been stopping much so pause for a breather and a bite at one of the occasional shelters.  We also take a look at a totara stump that a couple of wood splitters lived in for a bit after the third of their number turned up with a bride and they got relegated to the stump.

Not so home-sweet-home

I have precise instructions about where to leave the track for the route to Blackfern Lodge (and know that it is marked), but the 7 km proves to be a little bit more of a proposition at the end of the day then expected. The signs are hand-painted, old and ... rustic; they point us via tracks and gravel roads to a private road through pine forest and a wee ridge to climb over. The pine block is very mature so the logging track is soft with pine needles, occasional rotten branches, and an inclination towards sogginess.

The climb is a bit of a pinch with crossbike gearing but doable, and the down hill is treacherous enough to demand some respect. At the bottom there is a hand-written note for us on a signpost directing us to the Lodge (which is spread across two sites) and saying that Sally is already in situ.

We arrive at 6pm, after we have been on the go for 5 hours. After a bit of TLC for the bikes (it pays to get that pumice grit out of the moving bits) we wander 5 minutes up a track to the Kawauariki Falls which, with the river up, are quite impressive. The Lodge is associated with conservation efforts for whio but we are not lucky enough to see one on the river.

Blackfern lodge

Kawauariki falls

The Lodge office and backpackers ('The Forge') is further back down the road: we are staying at the Lodge which has a row of on-suite rooms and a communal kitchen/dining/lounge/pool room. It is all slightly bohemian and showing signs of age, but perfectly comfortable. A selection of Archie and war comics beside the bed complete the feeling that we are baching it.

The booking includes dinner which is basic but generous: beef hot pot, potatoes gratin and some sort of old fashioned baked sconey thing for dessert. Angela and I play some very indifferent pool before we all turn in for the night. The valley is peaceful with the sound of the falls and river drifting through the units.

At 3am I wake to a car outside.  It's Mike who left Wellington after work. Unfortunately he didn't get Sally's text message telling him how to find the place, so arrived after midnight at the Lodge office down the road. After stumbling around in the dark, and just about getting the car stuck on a farm track, he finds a verandah, wraps up in his ski jacket and dosses down til morning.

It isn't warm but he manages to get to sleep - so much so in fact that his reverberating snores wake the owners of the Lodge upon whose porch he is nestled. The husband is a bit grumpy, no-doubt wondering why one of the legion of our cities' homeless has left their underpass to invade his rural retreat. We can only imagine the scene with Mike, who is not at his best before his first three morning coffees: cold, confused at being woken from his slumbers, and trying to make sense of the directions some half dressed grumbler is trying to impart.

Over breakfast Mike's usual good nature returns and he doesn't seem to mind the hilarity with which we greet his story. We also manage the serious business of designing the most efficient way of ferrying two cars, three bikes/riders and one driver around the landscape.  Anglea and I need to get back to the trail at the point we left it and Mike is joining us - but that leaves one driver and two cars.

It's not a long ride today so we load up leisurely and head off around 9am. One car is dropped at the intersection and we head up  the road to the Piropiro Campsite, near the middle of the trail. I take the chance to re-acquaint myself with the shelter I dosed in last time through. From the campsite we can see that someone is building what looks like a big lodge near the trail - this may be why Blackfern Lodge is for sale.

It's pretty easy to follow the gravel roads back to the point we departed the trail yesterday and, after a bit of bike farfing we are off around 11.

Car ferrying

Back in the bush

The landscape around Piropiro has been logged and the trail ducks on and off logging roads before we escape back into the bush to climb to the Maramatahi Bridge and up the other side to our high-point for the day.

It rains on and off so the track gets quite interesting in places - but Angela takes it in her stride: her fitness leaving Mike behind on the uphills, whereas Mike's relative disregard for safety has him hurtling ahead on the down hills.

The track levels after the climb and undulates along for a good while before starting the long, glorious downhill. The nature of the trail changes again with the old tram route, meaning it is mostly gentle gradients and sweeping corners on a solid bench: weaving around contours and swinging through narrow cuttings that are tunnel-like - dim and lined with ferns. It really is the most lovely riding and the rain doesn't matter a bit.







We catch up with a Russian family with two quite young (10ish?) children. It must be hard work for the youngsters in the mud and we suspect they will be out quite late but they are gamely struggling on.

Another bridge

Mike sweats up a hill

Lunch break - out of the rain

Pretty clean so far

Which is not so bad

Mike stops for the view

The railway and logging flotsam en-route provide distraction for the historically minded: bits of train, a turn-table, and story boards. Most engaging is the delicate wee spiral involving bridge, tunnel and a rising (or falling) loop in the track. It's been restored well considering that a stream was diverted through the tunnel for a while.

Navigating the spiral

We cruise on down the track, past bluffs, over bridges and streams and eventually out to the Mangakahu Valley. This marks the last few kilometers of trail on the type of track where the crossbike twitches like a greyhound eager to be off the leash.

A suitable amount of dirt and grit

At the trail head a van is waiting for the Russian family (they'll be a good few hours yet) but no sign of our support crew so we cruise down the road to find her in Ongarue -  which looks exactly as I saw it last time: wet. Mike and Angela load up and head off with Sally to pick up the other car while I take the Ongarue Back Road - it's a pleasant undulating ride following the railway past tiny communities the odd Marae and eventually into suburban Taumanui - arriving about 5 minutes before the others.

Someone has had the inspired idea of picking up a roll of rubbish bags so all the wet, gritty, muddy gear is quickly wrapped up and we're on our way to the accommodation in Ohakune. Ossie's provides a good size chalet where we set gear to dry in front of the heat pump whilst we head into the Italian restaurant for a surprisingly good dinner.

A decision for the next day is required with three main possibilities for the birthday girl to choose from: the Bridge to Nowhere (with exit down river by jetboat), the 42nd Traverse, or the Old Coach Road. She sensibly plumbs for the Old Coach Road which has less logistical complexity and means we are likely to hit the road home earlier.

In the morning the gear is mostly dry and a bit of a shake renders it somewhat less gritty.  After breakfast Sally drops us back up the road at Horopito and we set off.

The usual chaos before setting off

 The track follows a road then onto the trail.  We are following the route of an old coach road and the old and modern railways. It undulates along with a good surface nice quality and easy going before crossing the main trunk line and passing the site of the old Taonui Viaduct.  Its rusting girders and elegant curve above the stream below is worth a stop - one day perhaps the track will go across it.

Taonui viaduct - still a bit cool out

Without cyclist

The trail drops into the gully, passes below the viaduct, then follows upstream in quite spectacular bush, under the new railway line, then climbs to a terrace for some easier riding. In places the old cobbles make the riding quite bumpy, alternating with mud from all the rain. It is all ridable though and the downhill off the terrace is good fun - although one of our number is caught out by the sudden transition from smooth gravel to mud. Shortly after, we are treated to the sight of the old Hapuawhenua Viaduct curving across the gully with the straight modern viaduct a short distance away.

A party of elderly trampers are straggled along the track and the viaduct and make grumpy noises about using bells, so we assume some MTBer has offended their sensibilities. We cross over and back, then climb around the ridge and detour into the old tunnel, which has been violently truncated by the new rail line smashing through it in a wide cutting.

Hapuawhenua Viaduct

A shining cuckoo is whistling somewhere in the bush as we head to the last down hill along the edge of farmland then along backroads to Ohakune.  Sally has finished another book over another coffee in another cafe and is ready to load up and head for home. Via Brown Sugar cafe in Taihape of course.

Post Script

There's a fair amount of gear cleaning to do after the trip. But everything held up well.

The Timber Trail is a great fun ride - doable in a day if you have a mind to or a good weekend option from Wellington as two half days. A good option would be to camp at Piropiro, if you don't mind canvas, and there are various companies that offer shuttles to reunite you with your car (best option would be to leave the car at Ongarue so you can hit the road as soon as you get off the trail).

Old Coach Road is a sweet little ride, but be prepared to share with walkers.  A good option if you have a couple of hours spare - take a bit more time and do it as a there and back if you have transport challenges.

All the bikes behaved well. I was quite happy with the Norco crossbike on both trails despite the narrow tyres making the muddy bits interesting, the gearing making the steeper hills harder work, and feeling the lack of suspension.  Mike and Angela's 26' hard tail MTBs were also fine for the job.