Heaphy Track overnight trip

In late August I was sitting down after dinner checking my email and up popped a mail from Ground Effect. It went like this:

"Hi Paul

The Heaphy Track is a multi-day backcountry ride with no equal in New Zealand - 78 outrageous kilometres of benched singletrack snaking its way across the top of the South Island. A three year trial commenced in 2011, allowing seasonal (winter) access for mountain bikes. This appears to have gone sweetly but we will need to see that confirmed by the authorities later in the year.

If you're keen on riding the Heaphy, but are prevaricating, there is still time (just) to round up a posse before it closes for the year at the end of September. We've written plenty over the years to help you plan for backcountry adventures.

Check out History on the Heaphy and the Weight Watchers' Equipment Guide. ......"

With a personal invitation like that from the wonderful people at Ground Effect I decided to go. A quick check of the calendar and the weekend of the 14/15th September was free. A bit more googling and a phone call the next day and my flights and accommodation were booked. When I started to look into the logistics its actually a very remote part of NZ and does have some very cold and wet days. Its also a self supported ride although you can book a bed in the DOC huts at NZD$32 per night. As I worked though the logistics of carrying enough warm clothes and food for 2 days the shopping list got bigger and I pondered the wisdom of a solo trip. I did invite the boys from SXC racing however their excuses were just to lame to bother printing in full. Stuff like "it was only one weeks notice", "they might not have groomed the trails" and "There are not enough strava segments" meant it was going to be a solo ride.

The bike preparation consisted of swapping the carbon seatpost with an aluminium one so that I could fit a seatpost carrier for the sleeping bag. I rode from the "dry" side which starts at Brown Hut. The trail up the first hill was rideable and a pretty gentle gradient although it does rise about 800m before it starts to flatten out. That bit of track was pretty wide and not that rough although the drop if you went over the side is quite steep in places so I kept to the middle of the trail as much as possible. I walked most of the creek crossings as the creek beds consisted of large boulders with the ever present steep cliff reminding me that any mistake would be painful.

The plan was to ride until Saxon Hut and after a short stop at Perry Saddle Hut for some food the terrain was mainly undulating across a plateau. I was riding in a short sleeve jersey so it was starting to get quite cool by the time I reached Saxon Hut shortly after 3pm. I went inside to find it empty. After putting on some warm clothes I had a look at the log book which travellers are obliged to sign to find out that it had snowed heavily a few nights earlier. By this stage it was down to about 5 degrees so I had some dinner in the last of the daylight and got ready for an early night. Just on dusk a local Kiwi showed up and scavenged some crumbs from outside. He turned up again at daylight the next morning but was too shy to hang around for a photo.

There was a bit of wind and rain overnight but I was quite warm in a down sleeping bag. The huts generally sleep 16-24 people and have water, toilet and cooking facilities although you need to bring your own gas.

It took me a while to leave the next morning. While I was in luck with the weather turing on another sunny day It was quite chilly and had snowed overnight in the hills that ring the valley I was riding through. I ended up deciding to wear a rain jacked over my riding jacket and that kept me very warm for the next few hours while I rode to James Mackay Hut and then descended down the wet part of the rainforrest. This section of the track was quite rutted and I chose to walk a few bits. It looks like they have invested a fair bit in making the surface all weather and that was the final piece they needed to upgrade. I passed quite a few people in this stretch and learned that while I had Saxon hut to myself the larger James Mackay hut was full that night. The descent itself was quite wet with a few bog holes that stopped my bike and had me dismounting to drag it out of the goo. Despite the damp conditions and lots of moss the surface wes pretty good and I didn't find any slippery bits.
After the main descent I stopped and washed my bike at Heaphy Hut, had some more food and got going again so I would get to Karamea Airport by 2pm for the fight out. It turned out that 10kph is about as fast as I could comfortably go so between getting off the bike for a bit of sight seeing and walking across wire bridges that swayed in the breeze I had to ride a consistent tempo to do the trip in two days. The scenery was great, some of the mossy sections were the thickest I have ever seen. They have a lot of weird plants and the edge of the trails is much steeper than we are used to in Australia.

I would do it again although I would take a few people with me next time and stop for two nights.

http://www.strava.com/activities/82724712