Mountain Biking in Mining Country

I was hanging out in Nelson trying to decide what to do when I got invited to go to Fox Glacier and do some ice climbing. The invitation came from Tasha, who I had not seen in a while; Paul Barr was willing to guide for us and John Rosseter was going down so how could I refuse? It is always more fun to have people to play with and these folks like to play my way. I had been talking about riding the Queen Charlotte Track on my bike and John was keen to go. I looked at the logistics and the QCT promises to be epic, not from a technically difficult perspective; although it would be challenging, but as a beautiful ride that should not be rushed. On the Queen Charlotte Track you can stop off in a cafe for lunch, sleep in nice accomodations, swim in beautiful spots, gather your own mussels, and ride some great singletrack. Plus, there is a water taxi to and from the ends complete with baggage transfers; how sweet is that? I didn't want to rush it so it is in the future; anybody interested? Instead, I decided to head down to the west coast and hook up with John for some riding a little closer to Fox Glacier. We met in in Reefton which is a mining town; the City of Light, still getting mileage from the fact they had the first electricity in New Zealand which doesn't keep them from rolling up the sidewalks before the sun goes down. Reefton has a reputation, or at least sells itself, as being a Mountain Bike mecca. I picked up a map of bike trails at the I-site and it looked good. When John arrived I suggested that we go play on some of the easier trails in the afternoon and take on something more difficult on the morrow. Well...... we mounted up and rode out of town, then back in again, seems we're having trouble finding the start of the trail. We finally settled on something that went up, rode a little bit and then pushed. I pushed more than John but this trail was steep and it turned out to be an infinite hill. Every time we thought we were at the top the trail continued up. Finally, we found a trail that was on our map, some sweet single track which lead right up into the swamp. I'm thinking, only in New Zealand can you have a swamp at the top of the ridge. A few hours later we made it down to the river road and headed back to town still 12 Km away. The sun was setting and we were hoping we could find some place to have a beer and grab a bite to eat. Thankfully the pubs don't shut down quite as early as the rest of town so we were in luck.

Nice colour in the trees alongside the infinite hill

Looking down into Reefton and beyond from the infinite hill

Reefton from above

The Ajax Gold Mine and two tired bicycles; how is that for a double entendre?

Since the easy trails around Reefton wore us out and the rest of the options were long or very steep loops we decided to go over to Westport and see what we could find there. We stopped in the local bike shop which I find is the best way to get the latest info on local trails and spoke to a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic woman who gave us some info on The Old Ghost Road (another adventure for the future if anyone is interested) and some trails around Denniston which is a mining area north of Westport along the coast. They sounded like just what we were looking for so we drove on up. They were mostly two track four wheel drive and mining roads but in a very scenic location so we spent a couple of hours riding, not pushing, and having a good time.

John working on my bike which was starting to get finicky

View towards the coast from the Denniston Plateau

Yours truly enjoying the ride and the scenery

John enjoying his new 29er

After riding for the afternoon we stopped for groceries and headed back to camp at Reefton for some dinner and a beer. The next day we decided to get a little closer to Fox Glacier and drove down to Hokitika a cute little beach town further south along the coast. We stopped in the bike shop and spoke with Nelson who sent us up to check out the "Jewel of the Crown" of the West Coast Wilderness Trail which is the latest addition to Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail. http://www.westcoastnz.com/newzealand/west-coast-wilderness-trail/

Nelson told ud we should stop in Cowboy Paradise which is along the trail and spend a few dollars with the owner who is building an Old American Western Town right along the trail. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so you'll have to take my words for it, it was quite an experience. The trail was as advertised, wide and easy, never steep and through some of the amazing New Zealand bush with lots of ferns and beautiful scenery. We rode up a side road as recommended and took abreak along astream that had greenstone veins in some of the boulders. The track down was fast and fun and when we got to Cowbly Paradise we were ready for a break. We weren't quite ready for what we found there but life is an experience. The proprietor Mike, or "crazy Mike" as we dubbed him first asked us if we were one of the couples they were expecting for the night. Not us, we were neither a couple or staying for the night, just stopping to spend a couple of dollars. He lead us inside to a construction zone which is going to be the main saloon and then out the back to a partially finished deck where he was drinking beer with his construction crew. I'm begining to see why nothing is quite finished yet. Mike did have a cooler with beer and a plywood bar so we sidled up and had one or two along with some very entertaining conversation. The plan is to build 57 buildings and have an entire town complet with everything you could ever get in an old western town. The shooting galleries were already in place and well used. The idea is you can hire guns to shoot, ride horses, drink whiskey, play poker, and even get a woman; you might be starting to see why we dubbed him crazy Mike. It will be interesting to go back in a year or two and see what kind of progress has been made.

After we flew back to the car with just a threat of rain we drove into Hokitika to the holiday park and fixed ourselves a well deserved meal. The next day we rode up to a mountain bike network called the Blue Spur after a mine and spent an enjoyable morning riding some sweet single track until we both managed to break our toys. My chain broke and John's freewheel locked up, someone was telling us it was time to take a break from riding and head on down to Fox Glacier to meet Tasha and Paul for some ice climbing. Unfortunately we were a couple of Km outside of town and it wasn't downhill all the way so we had to push. We stopped at the first Chippy we saw and enjoyed some fish and chips before packing up and heading out.