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Marsden Valley - Third House track
The track from Jenkins Hill through to Third House was quite a good technical ride before the July 2008 storm which dumped trees all over the place. We'd heard the track had been opened up again some time ago, so it needed checking out. To warm up we rode up the new Marsden Valley track then turned left at the top and headed through to Jenkins Hill. From there the turn off on to the singletrack to Third House is well signposted. The first 100 metres of the track wasn't too inspiring and mostly unrideable. Further on we were able to ride remnants of the old track, but there was a lot more off and on the bike.
Where the old track went down the rock bluff, the track has been re-routed to the west and entails a long unrideable sidle around to join the old track at the bottom of the bluff. I would rather go down the rock bluff as it was a lot quicker even if quite steep.
From the bottom of the bluff most of the track used to be rideable, but now there are more root balls to circumnavigate and a few new windfalls to scramble over. It took us about 2 hours to get through to Third House from the top of the Marsden track and 4 hours 15mins to do the complete loop down the Dun and around the road.
Unless the track is upgraded I wouldn't recommend it. There is plenty of better technical riding on Sunrise Ridge without all the carrying.
The 4wd road from the top of the Marsden track
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Plenty of evidence of storm damage along the road
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The track surface is pretty rough where it has been re-routed
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There are still a few stretches of the old track more or less intact
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There are still a few short technical sections...
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but they aren't really worth the effort to get to
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