Starveall-Lee Valley Track
This is an awesome epic day ride right on our back door step. From Brightwater head east on River Rd and up the Lee Valley. Start from the Lee Valley end of Meade Road, turning right immediately across the bridge and follow the road upstream on the true right. After 2.5km turn left and head up Long Gully Rd, past Link Rd, then angle right on to Bush Rd. After 5km steady climbing turn left on to Serpentine Rd where the grade eases along a ridge, then veer right on to Starveall Rd and begin climbing more steeply again. When you reach a high point of the road on a ridge top, head sharply back to your left on a 4WD track. There is a sign lying on the ground with Starveall Track on it. The 4WD track undulates north along the ridge for 200 metres to the start of the walking track. Follow orange triangle markers into the bush.
This is a grade 4+ ride and riders should be well equipped and self sufficient. There is no reliable water supply for the first 5 hours. Heights of 1100m are reached and the weather can change quickly. Be prepared.
See Starveall Track Map for map of the ride.
This is a grade 4+ ride and riders should be well equipped and self sufficient. There is no reliable water supply for the first 5 hours. Heights of 1100m are reached and the weather can change quickly. Be prepared.
See Starveall Track Map for map of the ride.
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| Follow up Long Gully Rd then angle right on to Bush Rd. | Starveall Rd climbs more steeply through recent logging. | The start of the track is signposted at the bush edge and is reached one and a half to two hours from Meade Rd bridge. |
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| The track through the bush has few roots. | There are a few short walks. | But most of the ridge is rideable. |
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| Small rocky sections make interesting riding. | Then the track descents towards a saddle. | |
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| This section offers some good technical riding. | The saddle is reached about 20mins after the bush edge. | |
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| From the saddle there is a 20 minute carry to the Lee track turnoff. | Turn right to Lee Valley at the sign and sidle around the hill for another 20 minutes. | The track can be hard to follow as it sidles around the hill climbing slightly most of the way. There are the odd venetian strips to look for. The track to the Lee heads down the ridge in the centre of the photo. |
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| At this marker, about an hour after starting the singletrack, you can get on your bike and head down a scree slope with some good technical bits. | The route is poorly marked with venetian blind strips but follows the obvious clearing. | Looking back up to the start of the scree slope. |
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| From here the going is good, fun riding. | There are a few short walks with views out to Mt Rintoul across the Lee Valley. | Once in the bush the track is quite rideable without large roots. |
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| The track drops quite steeply off the side of the ridge a couple of times. The descents are quite technical, but can be ridden if you are up to it. | Eventually the track comes out of the bush at Trig F with views out to Bishops Cap. | Good views of Tasman Bay are had from here too. Follow the orange markers carefully down into the fir trees, and shortly you get on to a forest road. |
| Follow the main forest road down to the river. If in doubt at intersections go left, and eventually you come to the new bridge across the Lee River. This area is currently being logged (Feb 2007) so should only be ridden on Sundays. From the bridge the road is through private forest owned by Lee Forests. Ph 542 3769. Follow the road out past the cement works and back to the starting point. |  | Allow at least 6 hours for the ride. You get up to 1100 metres and the route is exposed so carry extra clothing no matter what the weather when you start. The track is not maintained and markers can be hard to follow in some places, so pay close attention to navigation. If you lose the markers, go back to the last one you saw and locate the next one from there. |