I first rode the Craigieburns, by memory 12 years ago there was only one trail, well 2 actually, The Edge and The Luge, that was the original and now what I call ‘The Classic’. Grovel your way up the Craigieburn ski area road and along the mostly traversing Edge complete with scree lines and exposure, hence the name.
The Luge is another beast, I once took a mate from Golden Bay (RIP Paul Whitaker) for his first lap, at the bottom he exclaimed ‘ Luge! More like rootville!’ It’s the epitome of rooty trail but it flows..if it’s dry.
Sometime in there more trails were added motivated by two driving forces, a burgeoning community of riders in the little collection of holiday homes called Castle Hill Village and Ground Effect Clothing’s slush fund that assisted the limited resources of the Department of Conservation to extend the trail network to include Hogs Back, Dracophyllum Flat, Sidle 72 and Coal pit Spur tracks to link up the trails from Castle Hill Village to Flock Hill Station.
It was now possible to spend 3-6 hours traversing xc style along the range with plenty of options for side routes.
More trail was built both legitimately and underground that became ‘approved’ such as Dicksons, Cuckoo Creek, Camp Saddle and Cockayne Alley increasing the difficulty of trails on offer and using the access of the Cheeseman Ski area to allow shuttles and allow the running of several big enduro events.
Easier trails have also added value for families and beginners, including the Hogs Back uphill and Hut Creek Track. Not to mention the other world class climbing and bouldering at Castle Hill Rocks and the 5 ski areas that are unique to the ski industry of New Zealand and the ‘ski the clubbies’ culture. Cave stream.
Finally Porters ski area jumped on the bandwagon and built a flow trail out the door of the Porters Lodge with a cafe for between laps. There is talk of more trail development in the adjoining conservation estate.
12 years on from my first visit there is now an extensive trail network for all types of riders. Some accomodation but few users stay in the park.
‘The High Line’
The High Line came about from necessity on this trip, as late last year a big rain event came through and wiped out the lower section through the Cass-Lagoon Saddle Track in the Craigieburn Forest Park.
The Cass Lagoon has a notorious reputation as one of the most difficult mountain biking routes in Canterbury. There are long hike-a-bike sections and stunted, gnarled sub-alpine beech forests, exposed roots, stream beds, and rock gardens. The challenge factor is high, plus we chose to hike to the ridgeline above Craigieburn ski area and drop into Cass Saddle via more than 500m of chunky steep scree.
The climb from the valley floor was a steady hour on the access road, plus another two hours of mostly pushing on a steep 4x4 track, and then carrying the upper part of the ski area to the ridge. The scree was significantly chunkier than the previous time I’d descended it, not the creamy cut-your-way-through ball bearing type. Rather, it was patches of baseball-sized (and bigger) that instantly brought you to a stop, normally falling sideways onto sharp shingle with exposed skin.Now where are those knee pads…
Once at the saddle, we commenced licking our scree wounds and preparing ourselves for the descent to Hamilton’s Hut. Unrideably steep in only a few short pitches, this section is oh so good and gets better as the sound of the stream grows.
The palatial Hamilton Hut has 20 bunks and it’s pretty popular with the Te Araroa walkers (the trail from the top to bottom of New Zealand). It was full to the gunnels on this night, so Rod and I took our mattresses out the woodshed and made comfy.
Knowing we had the more epic sections to come on day two, we ripped into it nice and early. Some flowy sections gave way to mostly mank for two hours. The old West Harper hut was a welcome sight. Built in 1957, some of the beech log framing still looked original. We collapsed on the long grass and ate some food, trying to lighten the load for the push to the lagoon saddle A-frame hut.
Climbing out of the bushy valley was tough going, with a mix of riding little gems and shouldering the bike up narrow bushtracks, constantly bashing the wheels or getting wedged. Another couple of hours saw the crazy two-bunk, A-frame shelter come into view. We took a well-deserved break before soldiering on to the saddle proper where the wind chill was obviously combing off the glaciated peaks of the main divide. We donned jackets for the descent to the road end. It started off sweet but quickly turned into gnarly rocky mank with sizeable drop offs and the odd short hike. When we returned to the shelter of the forest the technical riding continued to within a few hundred metres of the waiting shuttle vehicle.
All up, it was a seven-hour day on the first day and close to nine hours on the second. It was hard graft, with equal quantities of hiking to biking, but the rideable sections were sublime. It was the upper level of backcountry bikepacking—right up my alley, but not everyone’s.
Rose rode a Salsa Deadwood with 29 x 2.6” tires, I was on a Salsa Pony Rustler on 27.5 x 2.8” rubber, and Rod was on his Giant Reign. Rose and I both had down wear (jacket/and sleeping bag) from Rab. My riding apparel is from Ground Effect. Rod and Rose used Salsa Anything Cradles on their handlebars. Both Rose and I have custom frame bags. I carried a Garmin InReach mini for emergency satellite communication. The video was predominantly shot on a Lumix GH5 with 8-18mm and 12-60mm lenses, GoPro Hero 7 black for POV, and my first attempt at aerials with the amazing little DJI Mavic Mini.
Footnote This is the first time I’ve put a disclaimer on a video. This is to discourage folks from thinking this is an easy overnighter. It’s not. Additionally, this sort of riding has an impact on the environment, which needs to be considered. Look after the backcountry.
I had met Sam Moore through a mutual friend and visited Forest Lodge of which Sam operates for the Cheeseman ski club. It’s tucked away at the base of the range a few km of the main road with trail heads going in every direction and the access road usable for shuttling to the gnarly downhills almost 400m vertical above the lodge.
The lodge has basic shared accommodation with communal kitchen and living area looking down to the Torlesse Ranges across a huge alpine tussock flat. Hot showers and comfy beds await. Sam keeps the place spic and span and will even drive your shuttle for you if you’ve got your own vehicle.
The trails are popular but not crazy, there’s a plethora of other trail destinations in Canterbury starting with the chairlift accessibility of the Christchurch Adventure Park and the Port Hills network, Mt Hutt bike park going from strength to strength and not just the stupid steep downhill trails it was only a few years ago and the North Canterbury foothills, wharfdale, blowhard, mt Thomas etc. that’s only the destinations and hour and a bit from downtown of the second biggest city in Aotearoa.
In my opinion Craigieburn is top of the heap, Beech Forest, incredible views, established older benched tracks, new skool technical trail, scree, grade easy to sick! It’s the backcountry riders trail park.
If you’re coming from out of Canterbury consider the Forest Lodge, no ones paying me to say that, but hey if you like riding backcountry of course you’ll like staying in a magic spot like the lodge. Ride your bike out the door or shuttle further afield.
The future of the Trail network of the Forest Park is worth consideration. The opening of the new Paparoa Track has now established the Buller/West Coast as the premiere multi day mountain biking capital in the country with the new track added to the Heaphy, The Old Ghost Road and the West Coast Wildernes Trail. Multi day rides on this side of the divide are a bit less ‘world class’ but there’s some good options if you scratch around. However no major draw card in Canterbury.
If I may suggest that the Craigieburn network was extended from Castle Hill Village further along the base of the range to Porters ski area the length of the point to point achievable would be in the vicinity of 35-45km. The trail would start/finish at two existing businesses (Porter’s Lodge and Flock Hill Lodge), it would would pass through Accommodation options at Castle Hill and Forest Lodge. It may be too short for the greyhounds but with the multitude of other trails branching off to make longer or more challenging routes possible.
Could it be possible that Canterbury already has the makings of a world class multi day trail that could increase the number of bikers visiting and also increase the bump to the local economy. Only the future will tell. In the meantime make time to explore this