Day 12 - January 22, 2023

Day 12:  Timber Trail Lodge - Taumaranui

We ride the second half of the Timber Trail on cycle trail and historical milling tracks down to Ongarue and then onto Taumaranui for the night. 

It really was a lovely lodge in the middle of nowhere that we stayed at last night, but the internet was pretty sketchy so I have some catching up to do today.  Some parting pictures of the lodge's common area and views from there.

We met another group on the trail yesterday who were also staying at the lodge last night.  I spoke with a few of them.  They were doing 160 km today and even more tomorrow.  They will be finished a full two weeks ahead of us.  Not an ounce of fat on any of those lads (and one woman).  And none of them are terribly young.  Well beyond my capability, but good for them.............

Everyone was up and at 'em again this morning.  Another 42km on the Timber Trail and then almost 30 on the road.  Piece of cake........   After about 5 km we came to the longest bridge on the trail, and the third longest suspension bridge in the country.  Maramataha Bridge.  It is 141m long and 53m high.  

A bit of a climb after the bridge, but not bad at all compared to what we were doing yesterday.  I didn't take a picture of it, but just a few kilometres later and we passed the terminus of the old Ellis & Burnand Tramway.  The tramway fed logs to the timber sawmill at Ongarue.  The trail follows its route downhill for much of the rest of the trail, passing remnants of the pioneering past such as workers huts, cuttings and bridges - another 18 of them before we reach the end.  Information panels, such as the one below, retell the stories of this fascinating past.  In fact, there were a lot of these information panels yesterday as well and I think if one stopped to read all of them it would make for two very long (but educational) days.

Gotta say - the net downhill was much appreciated and the trail offered many different surfaces and surroundings.  And - nothing too scary for this rookie.  More "fun" today than "suicidal"....

Lots of the bridges on the old tramway section still have evidence of earlier structures.

About 10 km from the end of the trail we came to the Spiral Loop.  There is a bridge overhead and then a tunnel towards the end.  An engineering solution that eased the grade for the timber trains that wound through this terrain.

Every once in a while we would get one of these warning signs.............

All in all a positive experience for pretty much my first go at mountain biking.  My wrists are a bit tender, but at least it gave me a good reason to be riding the style of bike that I am.  I'm still finding the overall position on the bike a tad uncomfortable, and my hips/glutes aren't any better but at least they don't feel much worse than when I started out. 

Lunch at the end of the trail and then back on the road to our final destination of Tauramanui,  It didn't take long after leaving the trail to see the denuded hillsides rather than the thick forests that we've been in for the last two days.  

 

Stats for the day:

Distance:  70.1 km

Elevation (Garmin):  2132' up, 3085' down

Elevation (RWGPS):  3412' up, '4399' down (I'll believe the Garmin)

Weather:  13C - 24C.  Even in the mid-teens it was hot to ride, especially uphill, due to the humidity.  It sprinkled a bit on the last bit of the Timber Trail, but a pretty pleasant day otherwise.