Best Mountain Bike Trails in Arapuke Forest

OPEN

Intermediate

1.3m

65m

-295m

12h 24m

A predominantly downhill flowing trail with lots of berms and a smooth surface that's fun for all the family. Running from the summit of the park this trail has has a few incarnations over the years. The berms and rollers make for great times and make About Time a great trail to get those skills dialed in on. There is even a bridge thrown into the mix to keep you on your toes the whole way down to where it meets Ice Breaker.Keep your eyes out, at the mid point of the trail in branches. There is the option to continue on About Time to Ice Breaker, or you can split off and take a short trail section to Container Hub. This is good for riders who wish to go straight into Mr. Twister.

Intermediate

4.3m

330m

-144m

28h 48m

The old classic A two way trail open to bikers and walkers only, be aware of oncoming bikers and particularly in Summer, there are lots of walkers passing through as it is part of the Te Araroa National Walkway.This is the main access trail for the park leading you up to Pūpū Rahi around 900m from the start.The trail is a nice uphill climb to the Scotts Rd carpark, the surface is rocky and there are 4 creek crossings on the way up which can make your feet wet if there has been a lot of rain. The first part climbs through a gully of native bush before opening out above farmland which gives a nice view back to where you started, this is a good spot to take a breather on the seat kindly provided by the PN City Council. The second half of the track sidles around the hill steadily gaining elevation. This part of the track has a fun short downhill section before the last climb to the top. Back track is only open to bikers and walkers but it is occasionally used by farm and council vehicles.Backtrack is an old paper road that is part of the Te Araroa Walkway which has reverted back to a nice natural 4wd drive road climb through native bush.

OPEN

Advanced

322m

27m

2h 58m

A steep and technical uphill that winds up the valley below Rocky then turns sharply and follows an old skidder track up a spur to a 4WD track that takes you back up to the Container Hub.

OPEN

Advanced

1.2m

79m

-12m

11h 4m

Checkpoint Charlie is a mid level “catch” track that runs from the lower trail hub right across to Eastern Bloc on the far side of the park.This is a shared use 2 way trail that primarily is there to bring walkers across the park avoiding our MTB trails, there will frequently be walkers on it as it is part of the Sledge Track loop, please be courteous to other users and keep your speed under control.The main function of Checkpoint Charlie for us is to enable access into and out of trails, as the park grows and more trails are built, loops will be able to be created without dropping right to the bottom of the hill on every run.Very steep in parts, it is not an ideal way to traverse the park but for keen riders it will provide a challenge to ride the whole way through it.

Very difficult

1.7m

5m

-273m

15h 47m

Chewbacca is a challenging, technical trail. It is steep and gets even more difficult in the wetChewbacca is hand cut single track, built by Empire of Dirt in 2018. Everything is rollable, but you certainly need your bike handling and brake control dialed. Great example of a modern MTB trail / enduro ride.The trail starts at the Park Summit and continues down to Te Ara Kaikohi at the bottom. There is also the option to cut out at the half way mark, which will take you onto Check Point Charlie. This is a good option for those looking to lap the top half of the park or wanting to lap out to the Shuttle.

OPEN

Advanced

714m

60m

-4m

5h 37m

This is a challenging, grade 4 climb which is an alternative to Jack and the Beanstalk.

OPEN

Advanced

208m

15m

-13m

1h 36m

If The Bends is getting to you, you may need to decompress. Take this trail for quick access to the Shuttle Pickup.This short climbing trail branches off The Bends and connects onto Mr. Twister just before the Shuttle Pickup.

OPEN

Intermediate

925m

1m

-52m

6h 58m

Foo Fighter - mysterious flying objects A short but fun jumps trail mixed with all sorts of jumps, lumps and bumps. Everything on the trail is roll-able, there are no compulsory gaps or drops. However, like any jumps trail, if you pick up speed be prepared to catch some airtime! The important thing is to know how to land safely ;-)

OPEN

Advanced

836m

1m

-69m

1h 39m

Humpty Jumpty was designed to give riders an introduction to air time. A couple of rollers beside the road to warm you up lead you into a steepish descending right hand berm, swoop through the next 3 berms and down to the first table top. All of the jumps are well formed and allow you to go as fast or slow as you like to practice your style down to the Culvert Hub.From the Culvert Hub you can head into lower Rhythm and Vines or Kissing Rock to carry on the bottom of the hill or head into Checkpoint Charlie to take you back up the hill to do it all again.

OPEN

Easy

1.4m

30m

-18m

8h 59m

In 2012 there was a major amount of harvesting of the area previously know as Woodpecker Forest. Working in partnership with PNCC, the Manawatu Mountain Bike Club contracted JB Ware to cut and shape the trail to our specification. The one way trail traverses a mainly flat area beside the pond out to the eastern boundary and then starts to descend through a series of bermed corners towards Rambo Gully before turning back to the pond and crossing the dam. The trail then gently climbs above the pond and alongside Arapuke Rd. Ice Breaker continues onto Riff Raff or exits onto the road.Formerly known as Jack Frost.