Moerangi MTB Track now officially open

As part of the celebrations dubbed Whirinaki 25, the Department of Conservation officially opened this masterpiece of a Mountainbike track on Saturday, 5^th September 2009.

The 35 km track through the magnificent Whirinaki Forest Park, dubbed a ‘Dinosaur Forest’ by famous botanist Dr David Bellamy has three comfortable huts along the route and the ride is to be promoted as a multi-day experience.

Dr Bellamy was present to participate in the 25 year anniversary celebrations and more than 60 mountain bikers took the opportunity to join the celebrations by riding the track in one day.

The track links the Okahu Valley road-end [off State Highway 38 southeast of Minginui] with the magnificent River Rd carpark and ecological area at Minginui. Ridden from the Okahu end as we did, there is 200 metres more descending overall – definitely the direction to ride it if doing the whole track in 1 day.

Driver ‘Slim’ Pene eased the clutch out on the South Star Shuttle from Sala St with 27 persons and bikes on board at 7.15am. An hour later we were winding along ‘Te Urewera Rainforest Route’ [Sh38] between the Urewera National Park and the Whirinaki Forest Park. The building excitement and anticipation was tempered with nervousness as we observed the snow covered bush along the ridge tops. At 9.30am we were bailing from the bus on the Okahu Rd carpark, checking in with DOC staff, and riding up the 2Km to the trailhead. Several other groups had arranged their own shuttles or had taken advantage of the DOC ‘gold-coin’ service to be delivered to the trail head by 4WD Club shuttles.

The opening ceremony started with speeches where yours truly paid homage to DOC and local Iwi Ngati Whare on behalf of riders and Mayor Colin Holmes of Whakatane ruefully pointed out that although this special part of his district was on Rotorua’s doorstep, Whakatane District ratepayers maintained the roads for us to enjoy it; choice thanks Colin. Then the Ngati Whare party performed a karakia before the cutting of the ribbon and the journey began, about 10.45am.


The first kilometre or two of track was not encouraging, still soft and affected by recent rains and snow; there was plenty of pushing up and tripod-ing down this muddy section. Then suddenly that was all gone and we were rocking along. The grade 2-3 trail, a mix of pumice and crumbled rock surface, afforded time to take in the scenery with care being required on blind bends and the interesting approaches and departures to some bridges. Word of advice here – if your handlebars are wider than the 700mm mine are, you’ll want to change for narrower ones or you’ll be walking a few of these bridges.

From Skips Hut it was a steady climb then a fast flowing descent to the Te Wairoa River and the historic Rogers hut.

This hut, built in 1952, complete with a stained glass window was manned by DOC rangers and NZ Deerstalkers Assn volunteers who had sausages on the BBQ and a hot brew waiting; luxury. A strict 1pm cut-off was in force at this point – anyone arriving past that would be required to return to the Okahu Rd end. All those on our bus were through here and onto the big climb soon after noon.

From Rogers the real track work is evident, with digger and chainsaw having created an amazing route up over the Moerangi saddle. The climb is a solid and enduring one, with regular short descents to cross side creeks affording a brief respite.

The Moerangi hut is 500m off to the South of the main track and worth a visit. It sits in a north facing clearing overlooking the stream below, with a composting loo and fresh water supply and would make a great option for an overnight stay on the journey.

From the Moerangi hut junction it is about 150 vertical metres to the Moerangi Saddle and a breathtaking view north to Mt Tarawera across the Whirinaki and Kaingaroa forests. But then the real fun begins, 9Km to the River rd carpark, 98% of it downhill.

The track drops at a moderate angle for about 7Km, until an un-named junction amid massive rata trees.

The downhill then becomes gentler but straighter and faster through ferns and tawas before joining the Whirinaki tramping track, crossing the picturesque ‘Te Whaiti nui o Toi’ canyon and climbing through the fabulous ecological area to the River Rd carpark.

Slim had the shuttle waiting. As DOC staff checked everyone through we racked our bikes and dived into our reserves of warm dry clothing and food. I’d arrived here at 3pm with 30 shots on the camera. I figure that without stopping for photos the ride took 4 hours including food and rest stops and the short side trip to Moerangi hut.

This track will only improve with use as the rock and pumice settles down. It clearly has the potential to be affected by slips and windfall in extreme weather, but if maintained this ride, which is epic in every sense, will rapidly earn a deserved reputation as the North Island’s best MTB experience.

‘On-the-day hero’ award goes to Tak Mutu of Multi-day Adventures, our medic/sweeper. He shepherded the last rider the entire 35Km’s handling the tears and providing the encouragement to get her through. I just hope it hasn’t put her off the ride, and recommend that people of reduced fitness and skill levels take more than one day with an experienced mentor on this track. This rider wasn’t part of our club group so to show our appreciation for Tak’s heroism we ditched his gear with the 4wd club and the shuttle checked out for Rotorua without him. Actually he caught up as we unloaded at 6.05pm.

DOC’s Rangitaiki Area Manager John Sutton is due a huge vote of thanks from the MTB Community for the vision and commitment to tracks such as this. His staff on the day and the volunteers from the NZDA and Geyserland 4WD Club made the opening a brilliant experience and one our Club is keen to repeat.

Finally, Nick Doney and his contract crew plus the DOC staff who toiled on this epic construction for over a year – Legends. I’d been offered the opportunity to check out progress on this track some months ago and I was sorely tempted but over-committed. I’m glad I waited for the final product. As my peers on the Mainland cheese advert say, “Good things take time”. Here’s the proof [excusing the mis-spelled acronym].

Dave Donaldson, Community Events Guy
Rotorua MTB Club

R.E.A.P , 7.30pm Wednesday 28 October.

A presentation on Grant and Trystan's bike packing tour, 4500km from Banff Canada to Antelope Wells, NM on the Mexican border - 50 days (plus rest days) of mountain biking through the wilderness and small-town North America, following the Continental Divide.

They kept a blog, which proved quite popular - it can be found at www.greatdividetrail2009.blogspot.com