As I live on the Kapiti Coast, my local riding spot is the Akatarawa Forest that is accessed through Whareroa farm. There are a multitude of trails in there, relics of a rich logging history that have been rediscovered by trials motorbike riders and who have linked the old skid tracks with some very special technical single track. One of these is the popular Hochimin trail, which is one of the earlier finds but has recently been hacked up by those real bastards of the off-road world...the motocross bogans of Kapiti.
Jono takes one for the team. This section is tough even in the dry.
The other day Jono Baddiley, Paul Larkin, Nic Johnson, Mark Quayle and I thought we'd take a look to see how bad things were in there. It's always wet in the Akas jungle so I wasn't expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised at the dryish loam created by our wheel spinning motorised brethren and whooped with glee at the extra speed the new double track width cuttings put in by their lesser skilled moto brothers ... the quad bike clan. They're still bastards though.
There's a whole heap of secret single track up there
Anyway after our 50 minute climb out of the farm and into the bush, we slid and bush bashed for an hour of jungle single track through to the bottom of Big Ring Boulevard for a rest and a snack before I left them to find their way through to Lowertiki as I had to get home to do my chores. I climbed back up Big Ring to my favourite view of Kapiti Island and the 25 minute descent down Cambells Mill road and into the farm to throw some shapes down the Kapiti MTB clubs new DH trail. The others continued on for a 25 minute XC loop to the excellent descent into the next valley and the steeper ascent back up to the Campbells Mill gate to follow my route back home.
Technical, damp, dark, native, quiet, loamy, slippery and fun. If that sounds like you, then the Akas is your kind of place.
There are a whole heap of trails in this area but shouldn't be attempted without a guide as even after 8 years of once a week forays myself, I still get lost occasionally and have to back track my way out. From the Farm carpark the shortest loop is about 1 hour 45 minutes and once in the forest there is no phone reception so go prepared.
Top of Whareroa farm about to head back down. Kapiti Island in the distance.