Waikato River Trails in a Day (2021)

When I’ve driven by the sign to the Waikato River Trails, which start about 30 minutes drive from Hamilton, the city we live in, I imagined a gravel track along the bank of the mighty Waikato River. Something like the tow-paths that run alongside along the River Thames in England. Pleasant and scenic but not challenging to ride. Wrong! There is a surprising amount of ascent, and completing the c.105km route in a day, whilst not epic was certainly a challenge.

As shown above, the trails comprise of five sections. Currently (as of December 2021) the original route along the east side of the river taken by the orange Arapuni section is now closed, requiring a diversion on roads on the other side of the river. The names of the roads – useful when riding the trails – are shown this more detailed trail map.

The road section aside, there are still four off-road sections. Three are graded as intermediate and one as advanced. I thought the maximum technical difficulty was about grade 3 but 95% of the riding was grade 1-2, so there is no reason why someone who is not a technical mountain biker would not have a good time riding the trail. Whilst the advanced section has a few short but steep climbs and descents I felt the main reason why it was given the harder grade is because it is physically tougher with much more vertical ascent than the other sections.

I’d originally planned to ride from north to south but Riverside Adventures, who arranged the shuttle service for me, advised riding it in the other direction. This was downstream, giving a net altitude loss of 200m – a nice bonus – but more importantly I think the way that the scenery revealed itself was better in that direction. The pictures below show how the ride unfolded.

I arrived at Riverside Adventures at 8.30am. Their base is by Lake Karapiro, a few hundred metres from the start of the northern end of the trail at Pokaiwhenua Bridge.

Everyone was on the shuttle and we were on our way by 9.30am and it took about an hour to drive to the other end of the trail at Atiamuri. It’s worth noting if you’re finishing in Atiamuri that there are no shops, or any other amenities, in the village.

After an obligatory photo stop I was ready to start riding just after 10.30.

I soon crossed the river at the Hamilton to Taupo state highway and was rewarded with a fantastic view of Mt Pohaturoa, an impressive lava dome.

Looking back towards Mt Pohaturoa.

Most of the trail is on a well constructed gravel path. It’s not technical, but nevertheless you need to concentrate. I nearly wiped out a couple of times when my front wheel slipped in loose gravel.

At one point the trail is squeezed between Lake Whakamaru and the road, where there are some steep steps climbing to a viewpoint. I don’t recommend carrying your bike up as they are not part of the route.

A little further on I passed a team maintaining and improving the trail. Clearly a lot of work goes into creating that nice smooth gravel surface.

The trail is well marked with blue signs, both varieties of which are shown above.

On the Whakamaru Dam, with the first section and the 27km in the bag.

The trail follows the road across the dam and not long afterwards there is a right turn – easy to miss – which leads to this electricity distribution station. Not the prettiest part of the route but the reason why the dam, and thus the beautiful lake behind it, exists.

Most of the second section, Maraetai, is high above the river. This bridge, the Mangakino Swing Bridge, is over a tributary of the Waikato. 

The trail rejoins the river a few kilometres before the village of Mangakino.

This is the Bus Stop Cafe in Mangakino, at Kilometre 38, where I bought a Coke and ice cream and ate one of my sandwiches. There is a water tap by the public toilets behind the café. It’s the last source of water until Arapuni, 57km away.

The middle, Waipapa, section is the one that is graded as ‘advanced’ is relentlessly up and down. Quite soon after Mangakino you pass old concrete structures from the construction of the Maraetai Power Station, one of which is behind the information board above.

The board gives more information about the giant concrete altar behind it.

The Maraetai Dam and Power Station.

The first 12km of the relentless ups and downs of the section are through mature pine forest… with the odd fallen tree to climb over.

When the trail rejoined the river at Lake Waipapa, I thought the climbing was over, but no, probably the steepest climbing sections were to come.

The end of the section was at the Waipapa Dam, 60km into the trail, where I had my second and final sandwich and sipped some of my dwindling reserves of water. There is an option to ride 10km to the Managwera Bridge – as far as you can go along the original trail – and back again. I was tempted to check it out, and as it was the longest day of the year I could have had time to do it. However, I decided to be sensible and head directly home along the new road diversion; I seem to be getting better at restraining my instincts to explore everything.

The road section started with an unrelenting 240m vertical ascent which was tough though it did cross a bridge with a spectacular view down to the river below.

After the climb the route turned onto Huirimu Road, which was a enjoyable gravel road through rolling farmland.

Then it joined Mangere Road, which although tarmac still had virtually no traffic. In fact the only place where there were a lot of cars was in the final few kilometres into Arapuni.

There is a café in Arapuni, the Rhubarb Cafe, but by the time I got there (around 5.30pm) it would have been closed so I didn’t try to find it. I did however take the time to ride down to this vertigo-inducing suspension bridge.

Looking from the suspension bridge to the Arapuni Power Station below. It is the oldest currently generating and the largest capacity single hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River.

After a steep descent from Arapuni the final few kilometres of the trail were gentle… and were the closest thing on the ride to the Thames tow path I had been expecting.

Supplies

As mentioned above, the only place where I could refill my water bottles was at Mangakino. I presume there is also a tap in Arapuni though I did not look for one. Over the course of the day’s riding I did not see anyone else on a bicycle and the only people I met on the trail, apart from the repair gang, were a couple taking their dog for a walk. So it’s important to be self-sufficient.

Section Timings

Hopefully these will be useful for anyone planning to ride the trails. I rode at a pretty consistent pace for the whole day.

Whakamaru and Maretai Sections: 38km. Riding time 2 hour 19 minutes (37% of total). Total ascent 278m… although as this was made up of many small, steep climbs it felt like a lot more!

Waipapa Section. 22km, riding time 1.34 (25%), ascent 374m.

Arapuni Section. 33km, riding time 1.28 (24%), ascent 386m.

Karapiro Section. 12km, 51 minutes (14%), ascent 107m. Total ascent over all 5 stages was 1145m.

I finished at Riverside Adventures at 18.20 which gave an elapsed time of 7 hours 45 minutes and actual riding time of 6 hours 12 minutes. Sunset was at 20.41 so I would have had the time to ride out the Managwera Bridge and back… though probably not the water and energy. I’ll save that for my next visit to the trails.