Trail builders are three weeks away from opening the newest section of the Mountains to Sea – Ngā Ara Tūhono Great Ride cycle trail.
When complete, the 29.4km Te Hangāruru Cycle Trail will deliver the infamous “missing link” in a multi-day adventure ride, starting on the volcanic slopes of Mt Ruapehu and ending at the Tasman Sea in Whanganui.
Iwi collective Te Korowai o Wainuiārua is working with the Ruapehu District Council and other stakeholders in the central North Island to build the trail connecting Waimarino (formerly National Park village) to Horopito, and eventually to Pōkākā.
Trail manager Lynley Twyman said construction of this section began in October 2023 and was being built in stages as funding came in.
Te Hangāruru would feature boardwalks, 17 bridges and four suspension bridges over a track through subalpine landscape, including podocarp forests.
The country’s longest suspension bridge, stretching 200m across the Makatote River, would be built in a later stage of the project.
Earlier this month, teams from Midwest Helicopters, Abseil Access and Impel 2010 installed a 30m suspension bridge over the Mangaturuturu River, and trail builders were now working on completing the approaches.
Another 99m suspension bridge would be built over the Manganui-o-te-Ao in the next phase of works, and an underpass under the Main Trunk Line, just north of Pōkākā, was under construction.
“Once complete, this trail will be another jewel for the Ruapehu community and an unforgettable ride or walk for adventurers across Aotearoa,” Twyman said.
Ngā Ara Tūhono Charitable Trust, which oversaw the trail, was seeking final funding for the last phases.
“But we’re building everything we can now, with the resources we have,” Twyman said.
The Trust was chaired by Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe. Members included Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton, Tūpoho iwi representative Chris Kumeroa, Ngāti Rangi Ngā Waihua o Paerangi pouārahi Helen Leahy, Te Korowai o Wainuiārua chair Aiden Gilbert, Whanganui Māori tourism representative Hayden Potaka, and Whanganui District Council representative Rory Smith.
The completed Mountains to Sea trail would offer more than 320km of connected trails, including stretches through two national parks and alongside the Whanganui River.
It would become one of the 23 Great Rides of the New Zealand Cycle Trail, Ngā Haerenga.
The first 9km of Te Hangāruru – “a fabulous piece of track” – would open on June 19.
The Trust was calling for community volunteers to pitch in from 10am on Sunday, June 1, to plant 800 locally sourced native trees and shrubs around the Horopito trail head, opposite Horopito Motors (also known as Smash Palace).
The planting was part of a rehabilitation project for land that was returned to Te Korowai o Wainuiārua by the Crown earlier this month under a treaty settlement.
“It was covered in rubbish and pest plants like gorse, broom and blackberry. It has been cleaned up with care – now it’s our turn to give back,” Twyman said.
“This planting is all about rehabilitating the whenua, making sure we’re contributing back to the environment and our people.
“The community keeps asking how they can help – this is how. Bring your spade, scissors, boots and lunch, and get stuck in.”
Twyman said Te Hangāruru gave riders a front-row seat to “seriously stunning central plateau scenery”.
“You’ll cruise through native forest, alongside relics from early timber milling days, and beautiful farmland.”
Towering above the landscape was Hauhungatahi — at 1521m, one of New Zealand’s tallest volcanoes.
“What makes it truly unique is that it’s built atop an upfaulted block of ancient mesozoic marine sediment – rock that once sat on the seafloor,” Twyman said.
“The lava that formed Hauhungatahi erupted around 900,000 years ago, making it more than three times as old as Mt Ruapehu.”
The completed trail would feature an 18km section of the historic Marton Sash and Door tramway route, built in the 1920s for locomotives to take logs from Waimarino and Ngātokoerua to the town of Marton, south of the plateau.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.