Mountain Biking the Queen Charlotte Track - By Erik

My first go at one of the many trails in New Zealand turned out to be harder than I thought, amazingly beautiful, and an overall great time. 

In November I went with four friends to the Marlborough Sounds at the north end of the south island to ride the Queen Charlotte Track.  While the Queen Charlotte Track is regarded as a classic new Zealand walk, it is also considered to be New Zealand’s best single track mountain bike rides.  The track runs in and out of coves, up and over mountains and along the summit ridge along much of the 42-mile length.  Elevations along the train ranged from sea level to up to about 1,500 feet. A general map of the area and trail location is provided below.

We did the trip over three days, having a tour company move our equipment from site to site so that we didn’t need to carry our own gear, other than a day pack filled with snacks and plenty of water.  We stayed at hostels along the way, with one only accessible by trail or boat.   

From Picton a water taxi took us to a place called Ships Cove, which is the place where Captain James Cook first landed in NZ during his explorations of the area.  This is where our ride began.  Overnight stays were at Punga Cove and Portage Bay.  We concluded our trip in Anakiwa, then took another water taxi to Picton.  

We weren’t the only ones in for the ride.  Our water taxi was filled to the max. 

First stop at the James Cook memorial, the beginning of our trip.  

Some sections of the trail were so steep that we had to push our bikes.

It was cloudy the first day, but that didn’t stop the scenery from showing through.

The Weka bird was everywhere we went.

On the second day the sun came out.  What a nice day.  See that ridge line along the left.  We rode from here along its entire length.

The scenery didn’t stop.

Some places along the trail were a bit treacherous, with many locations with steep drop-offs.  This spot was wet from a small water fall on the uphill side of the road.  The loose rocks on the trail didn’t help either.

Good place for a break.

On the last day, all of us tired, we stopped and had a dip into the water at Davis Bay.  It was about as warm as it could be, still cold by my standards, but well worth the short soak.