50% Single track
50% Sealed Road
Description
This trail follows the twists and turns of an historic power station water race as it passes along the edge of the scenic reserve. It starts at the end of Lake Kaniere Road where it forks at the edge of the lake. We skipped out the first, easier, section as it was still being upgraded for cycling. This section is less than 3km long and should be nice when its finally finished. We started from the car park on Ward Road. The first couple of hundred meters are good, but then there is a couple of kilometers with lots of steps and other obstacles. You’d have to be a little mental to ride down some of these steps and extremely skilled to ride up them.
Eventually the steps fade out and the riding becomes more fun and technical along thin sections between steep drops and the water race. A short steep 4wd descent takes you to the road. Due to an impending storm and no desire to carry bikes over steps anymore we opted to head back on the road which is easy enough.
Apparently there are plans to upgrade the track to make it easier for bikes and maybe include it in the Westland Wilderness Trail. Hopefully this will mean the removal of lots of the steps but the keeping of the narrow technical sections. Time will tell.