A weekend camping at Hanmer Springs....
Karen and I set off on Friday morning for a weekend of camping and tramping up at Nelson Lakes National Park. Karen has yet to sample its many splendors so we were going to base camp at Kerr Bay and explore the area. Sounds like an excellent idea doesn't it...unfortunately we never made it there.
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| A busy Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park.... |
There are road repairs underway between Lewis Pass and Maruria Springs (there always are...) and a large stone was thrown up by a passing truck into my windscreen. It looked at first like we were going to be ok but a crack started to expand across the windscreen. Bugger......
We stopped at Springs Junction to check it and decided that we had to turn back for Christchurch as it looked like the whole windscreen was going to crack. I could actually see it expanding as I watched. I taped up the window as best I could and we started back over the Lewis Pass once again...
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| That window be buggered..... |
It looked like our weekend was over but as we drove the crack stopped growing so I suggested to Karen that we just bail on Kerr Bay and stop for a couple of nights in Hanmer instead. So that is where we headed...
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| The Coleman Coastline 3P tent set up for our stay... |
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| Late afternoon sun at Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park |
There are two camp grounds at Hanmer and we got an excellent spot for two nights at the Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park on the edge of the township. The park was busy but as it was early on a Friday they still had some spots for the weekend. We set up camp on our allotted area and proceeded to relax for the rest of the afternoon. The Holiday Park is awesome and has a great level of amenity so it was actually better from a camping stance than the more basic campsite at Kerr Bay.
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| Our car camping brew/cooking kit.... |
We had a nice couple of days in Hanmer...we didn't have our togs with us so no visit to the pools but we did go for a couple of walks in the forest and we went down to the village and had a walk around the shops. It was lovely and peaceful if not the action packed weekend we had planned for....
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| Delicious smoked chicken dinner wraps....yum!!! |
One thing we did do was hire a couple of MTB's from the camp ground we were staying at and we went for a ride through the forest on the Easy Rider Track. This is the easiest of the various MTB tracks around the Hanmer Heritage Forest and is a combination of single track and forestry roads.
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| All meals enjoyed with a refreshing beverage of course... |
So...lets have a look at the Easy Rider track through Hanmer Forest.....
On the Easy Rider MTB Track: Hanmer Heritage Forest:
There are several places to hire MTB's in Hanmer most of them are located down in the center of town...all of them are freaking expensive with E-bike hire at $100 for two hours and MTB hire of $40-$50 per hour.
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| Hanmer Adventure Centre are one of the MTB hire companies... |
At Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park the cost to hire a bike was $25 NZD for four hours (plenty of time for a ride in the woods) or $35 for the full day. They had a mix of Merida, Mongoose and Avanti bikes...we had a couple of Mongoose cyclocross bikes. For those not in the know a cyclocross bike looks like an MTB but has limited gearing...in this case one forward cog and 12 back cogs for a total of 12 possible gears.
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| Hire bikes at Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park |
The Easy Riders Track has several entrance points from Jollies Pass Road, Fowlers Lane and Bath Street. We started from Dog Stream Reserve right next to the holiday park and rode the full circuit in an anti clockwise direction.
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| Hanmer Heritage Forest brochure side one... |
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| Hanmer Heritage Forest brochure side two... |
Anti clockwise is the standard direction to ride the Easy Rider Track as set out on the Hanmer Heritage Forest track brochure. If you decide to ride the track in the other direction be extremely careful as you are likely to run into other bike riders...
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| Dog Stream access point for Hanmer Heritage Forest |
The track through the Hanmer Forest is a mixture of dedicated single track and forestry roads and several of the sections are joint MTB/walking tracks. The general state of the track was excellent with good signage right along the track pointing you in the correct direction.
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| Hanmer Heritage Forest: near the start of the Easy Rider Track |
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| Easy Rider Track weaves through the trees, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
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| The Easy Rider Track is well maintained |
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| One of the trail forks on the Easy Rider Track, Hanmer Forest |
It is much more difficult to take regular photos of the track when riding a bike...it takes some effort to stop, take out your camera and take the pictures. I still managed a few decent shots regardless...I really need to get myself a GoPro or similar....
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| Series of humps along Easy Rider Track, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
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| Approaching one of the forestry roads, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
We cycled roughly halfway around the course of the track before stopping for a break at the junction of the Easy Rider and Forest Walk Tracks. We had a drink and did some minor adjustments to the seats on the bikes which kept moving around.
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| Forest Walk/Easy Rider track junction, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
This was not so easy without tools...back in the day I carried a small tool kit so I think I need to make one and stash it in the car in case we ever do this kind of trip again. One 10/12mm spanner, a set of Allen keys, a chain breaker and a adjustable ratchet screwdriver would be enough for 90% of maintenance jobs...
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| The Mongoose MTB's we hired for the afternoon |
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| Forest Walk to left....Easy Rider Track to right... |
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| The hire bikes had 29 inch tires on them... |
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| Heading to Fowlers Lane on the Easy Rider Track |
The track took us down to the Jollies Pass Road and Fowlers Lane road junction from where we rode along the inside of the fence on one of the joint use sections. It was damn hot even under the trees as it was a 30 degree day in Hanmer that day.
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| Mt Isobel from near Jollies Pass Road |
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| All the longer Hanmer Heritage Forest tracks skirt Jollies Pass Road |
We stopped down by the Pinus Nigra plot so I could point it out to Karen....we have walked many of the tracks in the Hanmer Heritage Forest but I forgot to show her the sign the last time we were here. From there it was down the track to the main Jollies Pass Road entrance in the forest opposite the carpark.
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| The block of Pinus Nigra in Hanmer Heritage Forest |
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| Approaching the carpark on Jollies Pass Road |
The trust who administer this forest have re routed the start of all of the walking tracks at the Jollies Pass Road entrance...they have separated the walking tracks from the MTB tracks. This is a great idea as people were haring off down the walking tracks on bikes and ruining the track surface. Hopefully the new entrance will provide some separation for the different users of the track network.
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| Hanmer Heritage Forest: track map for the forest |
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| The Easy Rider Track heads down to Dog Stream Track |
The Easy Rider continues along the fenceline at the northern edge of the forest and then down to the Dog Stream Track at right angles to Jollies Pass Road. There is a lovely undulating single track alongside the Dog Stream right back to the Dog Stream Reserve and the back entrance to the Holliday Park off Bath Street.
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| Easy Rider follows Dog Stream for part of the way |
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| Willow trees alongside Dog Stream, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
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| Picnic area at the start finish of our ride, Hanmer Heritage Forest |
The whole ride took us about an hour with a ten minute break halfway around for a rest...not a massive ride by any standards but this was Karen's first ever off road bike ride and I didn't want to put her off future MTB riding. I am keen to do more MTB tracks...I brought myself a new Merida mountain bike after the Covid lockdown in 2020 so you will see more of these type of reports on the site.
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| Back at Hanmer Top 10 Camp with the MTB's..... |
The Easy Rider Track is a great introduction to the joys of riding around Hanmer...lovely track through mature forest with enough thrills to keep basic to intermediate riders happy.
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| My MTB near the Forest Walk track junction |
This was not the trip we had planned but still good fun...Hanmer really is a wonderful place to spend some time. We managed to rescue a portion of our trip despite adverse circumstances in the best tradition of improvising, adapting and over coming...
Cheers!!!
BTW: I am working on my Paparoa Great Walk trip reports...I took over 400 photos on the trip so I am in the process of selecting the ones I want to use for the post. This is my penultimate Great Walk...I have only the Kepler Track to walk in late March and then I will have completed the full set.
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| It was a bit moist on the Paparoa Great Walk Track... |
Keep an eye out for more details...
Access: Hanmer Springs is 135 kilometers north of Christchurch on SH 7 the Lewis Pass Highway. From Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park we headed to the picnic area off Bath Street. The Easy Rider Track starts on the eastern edge of Dog Stream Reserve. Alternately start the track from the main Jollies Pass Road entrance.
Track Times: Easy Rider MTB Track is 1 to 1.5 hours total (6.2 kilometers)
Miscellaneous: Toilets, water and map board located at the old Ranger Station/Park Headquarters car park on Jollies Pass Road. If on a cycle please stick to MTB tracks or Forestry Roads only. Watch for pedestrians at all times!!! No toilet facilities in the forest itself. Stay on the marked tracks as people have become lost in this forest in the past.
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