I don’t want you to think that we spend all our time hanging out in liberal enclaves in California, or hipster gin bars in Polk St. Sometimes we venture further afield. Earlier this month we got away to Denver, Colorado for a weekend.
Arriving late at night, the drive to the hotel was pretty dull…flat lands, freeways, and monstrous stores…Anna was not impressed. But then the sun came up to a clear but bloody cold day, we went out to explore, and pretty soon we said: “You know, this looks like the sort of place we could live.”
Interesting neighborhoods, nice old homes, the city feeling busy but not overwhelming. Plenty of options for physical activity too. Bike paths everywhere, trails along the river, and the mountains nearby, offering plenty of options for mountain biking, snowboarding, etc.
Cold though:
We didn’t plan it, but the annual Denver Parade of Lights was on while we were in town. So we stuck around to watch it:
You can’t see it all that well, but these are “lowrider” cars. Hilarious to watch, but maybe not the most practical. Note the angles some are on:
On Sunday morning we went out mountain biking with Nick from Front Range Ride Guides. This turned out to be a fantastic choice. We could have just hired bikes, but going with a local guide made it a much better experience.
We met Nick just outside Denver, and then travelled with him to the trailhead. He provided top-quality full-suspension bikes. No crappy rental fleet, these were good bikes, like I would like to own.
It was still clear and cold, starting off below freezing, warming up to maybe 45°F/7°C. The rivers were half-frozen, and you can see a little snow lying on the ground. We were super-lucky with the weather – a couple of days later and the temperature dropped a further 20°. We were able to have a great day out biking:
Nick was great company, easy to ride with, super-knowledgable about the area. He was clearly a very experienced rider, but he had the ability to work with different levels of riders, and make you feel at ease. We needed it too – you can see from these shots that we were up in the mountains. Something like 7,000 feet, and we’d only just arrived in the area.
Riding along flat to gentle inclines was fine, but as soon as we started climbing the lungs started burning. Later we’d stop, and my legs would be jelly-like, as if we’d climbed much further.
The ride was nicely paced, with great opportunities to stop and check the view, with a nice long downhill trail followed by a gentle ride back down the dirt road to the trailhead. Well-balanced, and perfectly finished with a couple of beers back at the parking lot, enjoying what was really a superb day, considering it was 3 weeks from Christmas.
We could have hired bikes ourselves, and spent time researching trails, consulting maps, getting lost, etc. I’ve done that sort of thing plenty of times in the past. But I’m glad we did it this way. No hassle, just turn up and bikes are ready to go, you don’t have to worry about navigation, someone can advise on trail choices, etc.
The best thing about this particular setup was that it was totally customised to us. No large group tour thing. This was set at our pace and ability, with no pressure to keep up, or waiting for slower riders. We got to do exactly the sort of riding we wanted to do, with someone who knew exactly what they were up to. Highly recommended, and we’ll catch up with Nick again when we return to Denver.
Anna and I have had enough of the high property prices in Auckland, and the frequent rain. So we’ve moved to a place with even more expensive real estate, and fog…but little or no rain.
That’s right, we’ve moved to San Francisco. My company has relocated me to the Bay Area, to work at HQ. Anna has worked very hard over the last few months to make it happen. Packing, selling stuff, giving it away, closing accounts, etc. Lots and lots of administrative work.
But now we’re here. We’re staying in an AirBnb for another week, then we’re moving to a furnished apartment in the SoMa district of San Francisco. We’ll stay there for a couple of months while we figure out where we want to live. We’re undecided if this will be in San Francisco, or maybe down the peninsula, closer to where I work.
It’s a new adventure for us. You’re all welcome to visit us, as long as you don’t mind sleeping on the couch or floor!
Let’s cut to the chase: Our weekend riding the Timber Trail & staying at Flashpackers Ongarue was the best experience we’ve had so far on the New Zealand Cycle Trails. The whole combination of riding, accommodation, transfer and meals was just fantastic.
The Timber Trail is a newish track through the Central North Island in New Zealand. It starts in Pureora and passes through 88km of native bush, regenerating forests, and a former bush tramway line, finishing in Ongarue.
Rem @ Flashpackers in Ongarue offers a range of services, from accommodation, meals, car transfers to bike rentals. You can put together whatever combination suits you. Our plans were:
Arrive Saturday night, after dinner
Have breakfast on Sunday, and get vehicle transfer to the starting point at Pureora
Ride to Piropiro Camp (about halfway along the track), pick up the car, and head back to Ongarue for dinner
Monday morning have breakfast, get dropped off at Piropiro, and ride back to Ongarue
Drive back to Auckland (about 3 hours).
That was no problem to organise. Even better, there’s no checkout time on the last day, so you can have a shower when you get back, before the drive home.
The Accommodation
Ongarue is only a shadow of its former self. It once had 3,000 people, but with the mill gone, there’s only a few people left. There’s still a few houses left, and Rem has renovated one of them, next to the old General Store. It is a beautiful old 3-bedroom house, with full kitchen, and spa pool. Anna immediately declared:
I’m in love with this house! This is the greatest place you’ve ever taken me!
This was about 2 minutes after arriving, long before we’d even looked around properly, or done any riding.
The house is rented out on a per-room basis, but we were lucky enough to be on our own. So we had our choice of rooms, and the pianola all to ourselves!
The spa pool’s just the ticket for after a day’s riding too:
No need to light the coal range though. The 3 heat pumps kept the house warm & toasty:
Day 1: Pureora to Piropiro
Strong riders can complete the whole trail in one long day, but it’s better split over two days. The problem is that it’s a point to point ride, and there’s not many entry/exit points along the way. You’ve got a few options:
Ride out partway, then turnaround and ride back over the same trail to the start
Ride to Piropiro Camp at the halfway point, and arrange a shuttle/pickup
Ride all the way through to Ongarue (and organise transport to the start or finish)
There are a few shuttle services available to drop you off, and pick you up, but Rem does something a little different. Using our car, we drive to the start, with Rem and his bike. He drops us off, then drives the car to the halfway point. He leaves the car there, and rides his bike home to Ongarue. We then have as long as we like to reach the halfway point, pick up the car, then drive ourselves back to Ongarue. The advantage of this approach is that we don’t have to get to Piropiro by a specific time – we just need to get there before dark!
The first section of the trail goes straight into native bush that wasn’t logged. Apparently they started by logging the sections further away from town, working their way back in. So then when the logging was stopped, they were left with a native bush section near town.
From there it goes through some areas that have been logged more recently, before starting a climb into higher altitudes. The bike trail itself goes to around 1,000m. You can see a clear change in the trees. Look at the mosses that grow on them:
The bike trail goes around Mt Pureora, but doesn’t go to the top. There are two marked walking tracks that divert off the main trail to the summit at 1165m. The second one is shorter, but the trail is rough going:
It took at least half an hour to get to the top, but it was worth it. From here you can see all the surrounding countryside, and across to Lake Taupo:
We had lunch at the top, then headed back down and picked up the bikes again. Not long after this we came across Bill, a DOC contractor working on the trails. Even though it was a Sunday he was out working on the tracks, grading a section. The weather was good, so he was out while he good. As he put it, he doesn’t like getting wet, so if it rains he stays home.
We stopped to have a chat, and found out that he was the one that had put up the small signs on the track showing where some mobile phone coverage was available. Most of the track had no coverage. He’d also put up a small sign pointing out a view of Lake Taupo through the trees. It would have been easy to miss the small gap.
The day was getting on by this stage – it was around 2:30pm, and we’d done less than 20km of the 45km we had to cover. The good news was that things opened out from here. More gravel roads, less single track. More importantly, we were generally going downhill, a welcome break after the long steady climbing. So we made good progress over the last section. Much faster than the first.
We did have to stop and take a few photos of the first of the eight suspension bridges on the trail. Very cool, but be warned that these things to wobble about. Keep riding, don’t look down 🙂
The last part of the trail dips in and out of a few gravel roads, finally winding up at Piropiro camp. Light was fading by the time we got there – I would not want to be any later. We spent about 7 hours on the trail, including the diversion up the walking track. Most people will be a little faster than us, and if you didn’t do the walk you’d have plenty of time.
As promised the car was there waiting for us. From the camp it’s a drive down a gravel road, back the main road. It’s a bit weird to drive the car out from a section you didn’t drive into. The signs weren’t obvious, so we just had to hope we were going down the ‘main’ gravel road. Eventually we hit the tarseal, and we knew we were on the right track.
We jumped in the spa at Ongarue, while Rem sorted out dinner. Long day on the trail, a beer in the spa, and a great dinner. What else could you want?
Day 2: Piropiro to Ongarue
This time Rem goes with us to Piropiro, drops us off, then drives our car back to Ongarue. He gets the day off riding.
I haven’t been out on the bike much recently, so hopping back on for the second day in a row is alway a little tender. We get back into the swing of it, but I spend more time then usual standing up, out of the saddle.
The trail is quite different today. Again, it starts with a climb, followed by mostly downhill. But this time the climb is only for around half an hour. We cross the longest suspension bridge on the trail, separating the two large forestry blocks:
From there it’s uphill in the bush until we hit the bush tramway. In the early 20th century the timber company built a tramway from Ongarue up into the bush. It took years, and they had to spend vast sums of money before they were able to actually start logging.
The tramway was used until 1958 when flooding knocked out sections of it. Diesel trucks were then becoming viable, so it became a road, before being abandoned to the bush when logging finished.
It has now been cleared out, perfect for mountain biking. The cuttings through the countryside are very clear, making for a mostly level line. Steeper gradients than a regular railway, but better than going up & down every single hill.
There are many deep cuttings, and fabulous views out over the valley:
There’s also a few remnants of the old camps. Some camps had quite a few houses, but these have all gone now:
The original track had a spiral section, where they needed to gain a large amount of elevation in a small space. The spiral was closed when the tramway was converted to road, but has been re-constructed:
Huge long downhill sections are lots of fun. Kilometres fly by, but sadly the downhill doesn’t go all the way to the end. The trail levels out a few kilometres from the end, and follows a track alongside a small river. Very pleasant, but if you’re tired after a couple of days, it’s just a little bit more effort than you’d like.
The trail itself ends about 2km from Ongarue. The last 2km is a mostly flat, quiet tarsealed road. We rolled into Ongarue, and took advantage of the late checkout to get cleaned up before heading home. Tired, but very satisfied.
Special Mention: The Food
You might think that if you’re doing a couple of days of mountain biking, you can eat whatever you like. No chance of gaining weight, right? Yeah, well…Rem feeds you well. Very well. You will not go hungry here. Rem cooked us breakfast both days, and provided a packed lunch for the trail. He also cooked a fabulous dinner. Ask for the recipe for the kumara & butternut recipe.
You’ll need the food on the trail, this is a long way from the Otago Rail Trail. There are no cafes here. We only saw one other person on the track in two days. Plan on taking all your food. You can drink from the streams if you’re low on water.
The kitchen at the house is fully equipped, and you could easily cook your own meals if you preferred.
Do It
Overall: Highly recommended. Both the ride, and staying at Flashpackers. If you can, get a group of 6 together and take over the whole house. I also recommend doing the vehicle transfers the way we did it. Much better than a shuttle.
In the early days of mountain biking, when I was growing up in Whangarei, some trails were built on Parahaki, a 241m hill/mountain that overlooks the city. This is very close to town, making it viable to ride out to the trailhead. So much better than packing up the car to go biking.
Times have changed. I moved away from Whangarei, the trails were lost to logging, and now we call it Parihaka.
We were visiting over summer 2015-2016, and I’m pleased to see that the trails are being rebuilt – see this page, and the maps here.
The trails are the typical logging forest setup – a network of single-track built around a gravel road spine. We started from the Abbey Caves Rd entrance, and rode up some trails, before getting on the main road for the last leg up to the top.
From the top of the trails, you can head across the sealed carpark, and up the steps to the main lookout. You won’t want to do this every time you come up here, but it’s worth doing at least once.
I’ve walked up Parihaka many times, and I’ve ridden my bike up the road a few times, but it was the first time I’ve come up to the lookout via that angle.
From there we went back down the trails, looping around a few times to cover almost all of the trails. Lots of fun, mostly good trails. Thankfully it was dry, so the clay soils were good riding. Probably a bit sticky in the wet.
Be warned: These trails do have some tricky bits: See the damage that Anna suffered:
Note the bruises on one leg, and the bandage on the other ankle. To really rub salt into the wound, after the crash that caused this, the only way out along the trail was via a side track that was almost completely closed in with gorse. When you’re bruised and bleeding, the last thing you need is to get smacked in the face with a gorse bush.
Better hope that the husband has some sugary sweeties in the car to cheer you up when you finally reach the bottom, or things could go bad for both you and him…
At the time the trail ended at Waikino, some distance short of Waihi. I’m pleased to report that they’ve finished the Waikino -> Waihi section. On a wet New Year’s Day, Anna & I parked at Waihi railway station, and rode to Waikino & return.
The riding was lovely, except for the rain – that’s why the photos are of us at Waikino station cafe, warming up & drinking hot coffee!
The summer holidays weren’t just about mountain biking. We also took the time to visit the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. As the name suggests, this is a former quarry that has been turned into gardens over the last 15-20 years. Someone had the vision, and plenty of people put in years of hard work to turn it into reality.
I first visited here more than 10 years ago when it was just starting out. At the time it was a lot more bare, but now things have bedded themselves in. Well worth the trip if you’re in Whangarei.
