12% Gravel Road
32% Sealed Road
56% Single Track
A lot of work has gone into these two tracks recently, and it shows. They are brilliant, fast flowing and technical; a complete joy to ride! The scenery just happens to be great as well.
Description
This has got to be one of the best stretches of singletrack in the country, its definitely one of the best in Canterbury. The Hogs Back and the Dracophyllum Flats tracks are quite new, and work is ongoing on both of them.
It’s best to park at the Craiggieburn campsite which is at the bottom of the Broken River access road. Cycle up the Broken River access road for approximately 2.5km to an obvious Doc sign marking the start of the Dracophyllum flats track, which is at a t-junction in the road.
The trail starts off quite rooty, rutted and fast, before it smooths out a little as you approach Broken River. A new large bridge has been built here so no need to get your feet wet. The trail then climbs up to the flats themselves before several short descents and short steep climbs. Its all rideable, and great fun. At about 4kms in you reach the top of the last descent marked by a small antennae. This descent is quite long, fast and just brilliant. A short river crossing at the bottom then a short climb brings you out on the Cheeseman access road.
The hogs back track starts opposite, initially on a 4wd track, before abruptly climbing the hillside via a couple of steep switchbacks. After the switchbacks the trail eases and is relatively easy up to picnic rock at the obvious highpoint. From here its nearly all downhill, and nearly all perfect. A few fast, loose switchbacks bring you off the top before sweeping fast singletrack leads you across open ground, through trees and over bridges. Its all intermediate terrain that can be taken fast. There is one last short climb up to the ridge above Castle Hill village, but this is well worth it considering how good the descent down through the trees is. This really is an excellent track.
(10/11/2013) Update: The last descent seems to have an increasing number of drainage ditches being dug on it. These don’t ruin the ride but they do create a few fairly harsh bumps along the way.