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Maitai Caves
Firness ;
Technical Difficulty :
Time :
Distance ;
| Easy
Easy
Approx 1 to 2 hours
About 7km of riding.
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| No Dogs Sorry as it's a water catchments area.
Nice cruisy ride, most of it suitable for beginners.
There is a ford to cross, but you can avoid this by using the pipeline track. The Track is mostly road, with a couple of small climbs, then plunges into a stretch of native forest. You can't easily ride all the way to the caves, so the suggested stopping and turning around point is where the track crosses the river and heads on up to Dun Mountain. If you want to walk on up to the caves it's not that far and quite a pleasant walk, albeit a bit "rooty". You can chain your bike to a tree or hide it in the bush if you carry on up to the caves.
To make the most of the caves be prepared to get muddy (hey! Wer'e mountain bikers right!) and take a good torch and a length of rope to help you down from the entrance.
OK, the ride itself:
Bike or drive all the way up the Maitai Valley to the Maitai Dam, carrying on past the dam to the carpark.
Waypoint 1 (S41 17.717 E173 22.139) Carpark
From here you can either take the track through the ford, or backtrack back down the road a bit and cross the bridge.
| Waypoint 2 (S41 17.445 E173 21.944) Foot bridge
After
crossing the bridge head left and follow the pipeline around until you
rejoin the road after it has gone through the ford. Beware, this track
can be quite boggy after rain, but if you like that sort of thing it
can be quite fun too.
Once you have joined back onto the road,
follow the road up a few kilometers until it comes to the end. At this
point the road becomes a track and heads off into the bush
Waypoint 3 (S41 18.481 E173 22.326) End of the road
If
you don't like single track riding (shame on you) then you can turn
back here, or you can carry on up to the river crossing. Past the river
crossing gets into the "fanatic" category and unless you have a lot of
experience you won't enjoy it.
Waypoint 4 (S41 18.855 E173 21.952) End of rideable track.
From here you can stash your bikes and walk on up to the caves, or head on back the way you came.
Waypoint 5 (S41 19.230 E173 21.273) Caves
Once
you have done your exploring and head back, you can either choose to
cross the ford or go back the way you came and over the bridge again
Waypoint 6 (S41 17.901 E173 21.968) Ford
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