Access to the Hira Forest is via the Maitai Valley, the main entrance is at Sharlands Road approximately five kilometers along Maitai Valley Road. From here you can head left up Sharlands Road (Red) or right along Central Road (Red). You can either do a circuit returning to the Sharland Road entrance or finish further up the Maitai Valley, towards the Maitai Dam and return via the Maitai Valley Road.

With great views along the way, this is an area you can return to again and again and find a new route to explore each time.

The Hira Forest Tracks

Waypoints below may not correspond exactly it will depend on Satellite coverage
But should be within 50m of target.

1    S41 16.549    E173 19.733    -    Access to Hira Forrest from Maitai Road
2    S41 16.383    E173 20.065    -    Sharlands Road Carpark
3    S41 15.112    E173 20.717    -    Access / Exit to Chings Highway
4    S41 14.861    E173 20.716    -    Lower Bob's Fern Road Turnoff
5    S41 14.813    E173 20.537    -    Bob's Fern / Kaka road junction
6    S41 14.665    E173 20.998    -    Scottwood Wiggles Exit at 5Km Mark
7    S41 14.933    E173 21.035    -    Start of Chings Highway
8    S41 14.640    E173 21.288    -    Upper Bob's Fern Road Turnoff
9    S41 15.076    E173 21.705    -    Isolated Hill Turnoff
10    S41 15.127    E173 21.859    -    Thomas Road Turnoff
11    S41 14.214    E173 21.865    -    Thomas Road to Bob's Fern Turnoff
12    S41 13.780    E173 21.666    -    Top of Bob's Fern and start of Wiggles
13    S41 16.326    E173 20.401    -    Isolated / Chings junction (approx)


A couple of Suggested Rides


Sharland - Central loop - Easy - bit of fitness req.

Roughly 20km of Forestry road

Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1.
From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Now you have a 9km uphill ride following the road and not turning off, eventually you will get to the top at the turnoff to Thomas road. Carry on straight ahead and cruise on down to the Ludd saddle. From here its another short uphill to the intersection with Central road. Turn right here and follow the road back down to where you started!


Bob's Fern Loop - Easy -Bit of fitness required

Some people prefer to do this loop in the opposite direction.
Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1.
From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Ride about 4.5 km up the road to the lower Bob's fern turnoff at waypoint 4 and turn left.
Ride up another 200 meters or so to the skid site at waypoint 5. Take the right most road that doesn≠t look much like where you want to go, but it is,  and prepare for a grind up this road to the ridge at the top. Turn right at the ridgeline junction and enjoy a flat ride the rest of the way to the top of the valley at waypoint 12. To complete the loop, follow the road around and down, enjoying a nice bit of downhill back to the upper Bob's Fern turnoff at waypoint 8. Turn right and cruise the road back to where you started.


Tuckers Trails - Downhill - Moderate technical

There are three custom made Singletrack rides that comprise the Tuckers trails.
The first is the Ground Effect Slingshot the second is Scottwood Wiggles and the third is Chings Highway. They are best done in that order.
Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1. From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Ride up the road approximately 5.5km to the Upper Bob's Fern turnoff where you will find a sign pointing you in the right direction. Turn left into Bob's fern road and grind your way up to the top of the valley to waypoint 12.
Now you will have to climb the last bit up the firebreak to the trig point at the top. Which is where the Ground Effect Slingshot starts. This track sweeps back and forth across the hill and is a great flowing ride in itself.
Enjoy the ride back down to the road and once you come out onto the road turn right and about 20 meters down you should see another little sign pointing over the edge, this is the start of the Scottwood Wiggles.
The first half of the wiggles is like the Ground Effect, sweeping and flowing, after that it plunges into the forest and becomes rooty and a bit more technical. Follow this track all the way down until you come to a fork. You can either choose to turn right down the hill and finish the last very rooty bit of the track, or opt out left and up to the road.
From either exit turn left and follow the Sharlands Road up to the skid site at about the 6.5km mark or waypoint 7 on the map.
At the skid site you will see a sign and some little arrows pointing you to the edge of the skid site, go to the edge and you will find the start of Ching's Highway.
Drop off over the edge and go for it, but beware of the sharp corner about half a k down the track. To complete Ching's highway turn left at the sharp corner and carry on, or you can choose to go straight ahead and join back onto Sharlands road at waypoint 3.
Given that you are carrying on, the track does not flow quite as well as the other two, and is a bit more technical in places. Eventually you will come to a junction near the bottom. You can turn right and out to the road, or turn left and carry on around the extra bit and then back out to the road.
 
Kaka Peak  - Easy - Intermediate bit of fitness req.

Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1. From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Carry on up the road just past the 4Km mark to the lower Bobs Fern Road turnoff at waypoint 4. Turn left and ride up a couple of hundred meters to a skid site. Waypoint 5.
From here take the track to your left that goes down a bank. This track soon starts to climb and you will grind your way up to the top ridge. This track can be a bit icy in winter. At the point where the track joins the road at the ridge, you can turn right and head up to the Supplejack lookout for as view.
Once you have been to Supplejack or if you want to skip that, turn back south along the ridge until you come to an intersection at the edge of the forest.
The road to the right heads up to Kaka peak and a great view over town. The road to the left heads back down to the Carpark at the bottom.


Isolation Hill and spur - Moderate with steep downhill at end

Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1.
From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Now you have a 8.5km uphill ride following the road and not turning off, eventually you will get to the turnoff to Isolation Hill at waypoint 9. Turn right here and then right again to climb your way up to the top of Isolation Hill. Once you have enjoyed the view, cruise back down the road and then turn right at the bottom and follow the road all the way along Isolation Spur to just before the end. If you get to the dead end you have gone to far and will have to backtrack about 300 meters. On a sharp corner you will see a very steep track going down. This is the only way down unless you want to backtrack. It is rideable.
But many will walk most of it. It joins back on to the Chings Highway at Waypoint 13 on the map and you can then do the last bit of Chings and out to the road.

Thomas Road and ridgeline route. Easy but with a couple of walks

Start by making your way up the Maitai Valley to the entrance to the Hira Forest at Waypoint 1.
From here ride up the road to the Sharland road turnoff and turn left.
Now you have a 9km uphill ride following the road and not turning off, eventually you will get to the top at the turnoff to Thomas Road.
Turn left into Thomas road and follow this keeping to the left all the way to the Trig point at the end for a view. Backtrack to waypoint 11 and ride (if you can) down to the top of Bobs Fern Road at waypoint 12. Follow the ridgeline all the way around and take the route to the right rather than go back down Bobs fern road. Carry on around Wells hill and then down the fence line. It gets a bit technical here and you may have to walk.
At the bottom of the steep road you can turn left and head on back down to Sharlands road, or turn right to get to a small clearing. From the small clearing ride up the single-track (if you can) to the road at the top. You can detour off to the right to the top of a flat hill for a view, or turn left and follow the road around to the Supplejack Lookout for a view there. You can either carry on to Kaka Peak and then Down Kaka peak road, or just down from the Supplejack lookout you can turn left and follow the road back down to waypoint 5.