Otago trip day 8 Ahuriri Base Hut to Bauchops Hill
Lewis Knauf
12 months ago
happiness
difficulty
I may be on the road for home, but there are a few tracks around MacKenzie Basin that I wasn't able to do last year because it was so wet. So today was about knocking some of those off. It turned into a fun, hard day of pounding down the hard packed river shingle tracks. The body and bike were feeling it by the end of the day.
First order of the day was the Hopkins River above Lake Ohau. I made it as far as the confluence of the Huxley River. It looked crossable but had had some rain and snow overnight, so didn't want to risk it on my own.
Next were the 3 hydro river tracks, Ohau, Pukaki, and Tekapo. Ohau was my favourite, flowy with good variety. The upper Pukaki track follows the straight fence line, so I tried to avoid it. But I had problems following the low level track because the old 4wd track had been washed away, leaving hardpacked bouldery virgin riverbed to navigate. Not an easy task with a loaded bike. Where I could follow the old 4wd tracks, they were great. The Tekapo South track was fast and hard and long. It was 50km of trying to keep the front wheel light to avoid a puncture or bent rim, because the alternative of going slow would make my teeth fall out.
First order of the day was the Hopkins River above Lake Ohau. I made it as far as the confluence of the Huxley River. It looked crossable but had had some rain and snow overnight, so didn't want to risk it on my own.
Next were the 3 hydro river tracks, Ohau, Pukaki, and Tekapo. Ohau was my favourite, flowy with good variety. The upper Pukaki track follows the straight fence line, so I tried to avoid it. But I had problems following the low level track because the old 4wd track had been washed away, leaving hardpacked bouldery virgin riverbed to navigate. Not an easy task with a loaded bike. Where I could follow the old 4wd tracks, they were great. The Tekapo South track was fast and hard and long. It was 50km of trying to keep the front wheel light to avoid a puncture or bent rim, because the alternative of going slow would make my teeth fall out.