In my opinion one of the best pieces of single track anywhere. Its fast, exposed and has an awesome view, even if it’s marred by an unsightly rock formation…
Paddling into the morning mist on Doubtful Sound
A loop round Moke Lake, past Lake Dispute then through 7 mile forest. This route has a bit of everything from steep technical 4wd track to smooth single track. Its a proper mix with great scenery.
From the car park, a couple of kms west of Queenstown, take a great little single track almost opposite the entrance. This single track goes steadily uphill avoiding most of the climb up Moke Lake Road. Once on the gravel road continue uphill and along until you reach the campsite next to Moke Lake. The route goes through the campsite, across a small bridge, and follows an excellent singletrack along the far side of the lake. At the end of the lake the track becomes a little less distinct and a bit overgrown for 1.5 km, but it is still rideable. From a small house the track becomes a bigger, looser 4WD track, dropping steeply down to Lake Dispute. After the lake the track changes again to a great, technical singletrack which reaches the road. A short distance on the road brings you to a car park on the opposite side of 7 Mile bike park to where you started. From here you can take many different routes through the forest, all on great purpose built tracks, ending up back at the car.
A truly deserving Great Ride that is unfortunately closed to bikes for most of the summer. The views are epic, the track superb and the accommodation plentiful.
We split this ride into two days by staying at Mistletoe Bay. This made the first day over 60km long and pretty tiring. We used Cougarline water taxis to get us to the start and transport our bags. This was a great decision as cycling with all our stuff would not have been fun.
The ride is generally pretty easy apart from the first hill and the hill up from Torea Road near Portage. All the other hills are less steep or less sustained. To add to that the only slightly difficult descent is down to Resolution Bay and that’s not very long. At the end we decided to ride back along the road as we didn’t want to wait for the afternoon taxi, or pay for one just for us. As a bonus the road was actually quite good, and didn’t feel like it was too long.
Grace leading ‘Let’s Go Bushwalking’ on Red Wall – Sebastopol Bluffs
A good, long, mainly single track ride with several river crossings and no major hill climbs. The trail traverses along the bottom of the Ben Ohau Range.
To get to the start just head out of Twizel along Glen Lyon Road, and just after you cross the canal there is a large layby and DOC sign on the right. The start of the track meanders next to the river along single track. After about 7km you cross Fraser Stream and steadily follow the left bank for a couple of kms. The track then recrosses the stream and climbs up to a picnic bench and viewpoint. If it wasn’t for the sand flies it would be a nice place to stop!
The trail now traverse the foot of the hills for around 4km before turning back towards the road along the side of Gladstone Stream. After 3kms you reach the main river crossing, Twizel River, near some old huts. This crossing can be a quite deep and fast flowing after heavy rain, care is needed. The remaining part of the trail heads south east before turning east to go through a small working forest. As you come out of the forest you reach a car park at the other end of the trail. A gravel road then leads you to the main road. To complete the loop turn right on the main road, right again towards Twizel, then right along Rhoboro Downs road or the road on along the canal.
This route can easily be extended by a detour to Baikie Hut. This can be reached by turning north at Gladstone Stream or just after crossing Twizel River. This loops adds about another 12kms.
A great little single track just beyond the port hills. A few small diversions add extra interest and difficulty!
3 of the port hills singletracks nicely combined for an afternoons riding. These tracks get better with familiarity.
A fine circular route takes you up and over Mt Oxford through beech forests and tussock grasslands. A picturesque waterfall adds interest.
Again it was a baking hot day, another day in the furnace of paradise, when we decided to hike up Mt Oxford. The majority of the path is through dense beech forests which have a thick covering of smelly, sooty mould. On a hot day the smell can get a bit overpowering. Once above the treeline the views open out and the hike is a lot more rewarding. The breeze alone was reward enough for us.
As we returned east, along the south side of the hill, we took the detour to Ryde Falls. This small detour is very worthwhile to see these picturesque falls which are just above a small campground.
As a side point, you can take a mountain bikes on this route, but why you would is beyond me. The way up is a long carry, and the descent is very steep and technical. You’d have to be pretty good to ride it!
A foothill with a number of DOC tracks around and over it. From the top the view is magnificent, from the Pacific all the way to Mount Cook.
With a dry, sunny forecast we headed to Mt Somers to go climbing on the crags above the Pinnacles hut. But on the drive over the strength of the wind became very apparent, buffeting the car and making the drive more exciting than expected. Not being a fan of climbing/belaying in strong winds we changed our plan, and decided to just hike up the mountain from the Woolshed Creak end.
Overall its a relatively pleasant walk, with good signs and a decent track. The last few hundred meters up to the summit is fairly steep and a little loose. The only issues we had were with the sand flies when we stopped, and a slight lack of water as, at the time, we were a bit concerned with drinking out of the streams. The wind we experienced on the drive over was only really noticeable at the start and near the summit, and it was never too bad for hiking.
The view from the top is great and makes the walk more than worthwhile. This was my first view of Mt Cook, and to be honest it looked pretty huge and difficult from this distance.
