Considering running an event on the Pikikirunga Trail??

Stage 1 of the Pikikirunga Trail has been built by the Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club on the Takaka Scenic Reserve which is Public Conservation Land which is managed by the Department of Conservation. Any organisations wishing to run events or commercial activities in the Takaka Scenic reserve need to apply for a concession from DOC. For more information please click on this link. In addition please also consider supporting the maintenance of this great trail by donating to the GBMTBC so we can keep our trail in top condition.

Trapping on the Pikikirunga Trail

Why would a group of mountain bikers, more specifically a Mountain Bike Club, want to get into predator trapping? The answer lies with the building of the Pikikirunga Trail, a grade 3 descending trail that travels within the Takaka Scenic Reserve from the summit of the Takaka Hill to Horseshoe Bend. This is the Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club’s latest trail build project. Over the last three build seasons of the Pikikirunga Trail many club members were used as volunteers. While taking breaks volunteers observed lots of bird life on the ‘hill’. When eating lunch Kakaruwai (South Island Robin) would come close looking for crumbs, Tui and Korimako (Bellbird) would sing and the ever-present cheeky Weka was always looking to steal a stray work glove or un-guarded lunch. Once the trail was built and open the club used trail cameras initially to keep track of the amount of use the trail was getting. Unwelcome pests were observed on the cameras, including possums, feral cats, deer, rats, and mice. In the current economic climate DOC are not in a financial position to do a lot of pest and weed control in the Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve. The club thought it would be a good idea to lend a hand with pest control in the reserve to give the resident birds a ‘fair go’. As rightly observed in the beginning, we are a mountain bike club more focused on riding our bikes and we realised we needed some help with this project. We teamed with the Takaka Hill Biodiversity Group Trust (TGBDGT) who have carried out predator control on the Takaka Hill for some time now. TGBDGT would offer their expertise with management of the project which ensures longevity of pest management for many years to come. We, the mountain bike club, would supply resources such as traps and volunteer labour for servicing the traps on a monthly basis. Funding a trapping project is not the usual criteria for the Ground Effect Slush Fund. The club has plenty of Trail Building tools at the moment and we thought it was worth a phone call to the good people at Ground Effect to see what they thought about our trapping project. Happily, they thought it was a really good idea too and hence the idea was about to become reality with their help. The next challenge for the club was to source some traps. Different options were considered but in the end, another great Golden Bay organisation came to the party in the form of East Mohua Trapping Collective. They had a bunch of “pre-loved" traps that were left over from another project. Club members, John, Frazer and Karen worked for several hours to recondition the traps to make them as good as new.

BEFORE

AFTER

Two other club members Murray Birch and Tony Le Sueur designed and printed a couple of stencils in order to ‘bling’ up the traps with cool logos for the club and Ground Effect. Takaka DOC also gave a hand by providing stencils for warning signs for the traps.

Finally, in the last weekend of September, the traps were distributed along the trail at a distance of 100m apart. The work was made easy by the fact that we were working on a mountain bike trail which allowed us to use the club's electric wheelbarrow and John's electric motorbike. After only a couple of hours all the traps had been placed and set up. The plan now is to lure pesky pests into the trap by pre-feeding mayonnaise for a month before putting the traps into action resulting, we hope, with maximum kills.

The club’s trapping project is not ending there. There are plans in the future to work with the Takaka Hill Biodiversity Group trust carry out wasp and possum control. Carrying out this Work with the help of our partners will allow the Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club to further enhance the biodiversity of the Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve for all trail users to enjoy.

PIKIKIRUNGA TRAIL UPDATE MAY 2025

The first section of the Pikikirunga Trail has been open for just over four months and is standing up to plenty of use. Over the summer the club has been monitoring the use of the trail at the busiest time of year and it has been standing up to the punishment really well. Our highest usage day was 148 riders and in the three months after the trail was opened more than 1500 riders and walkers have used the trail. The continued top condition of the trail is a credit to our trail builder KP at Trail Craft and our Club volunteers. There have also been a few changes behind the scenes with Bruce and Mel Chick taking a well earned break from the Project. They have both toiled tirelessly for countless volunteer hours over the last five years to turn the trail from a dream into reality. Mel and Bruce, the GBMTBC is extremely grateful for your hard work. Picking up the reins is a new-look Project Committee with the only ‘founding’ member staying on being Frazer Wilson. Other club members have stepped up and the Project Committee has been bolstered with more numbers. Supporting Frazer is Tony Le Sueur who has stepped into the role of Project Manager. The other members of the team are Johno Fausch, Karen Fausch, Karen Le Sueur, Karl Thompson and Rachael Ennor. The Project Committee is currently going through a planning phase for Stage two of the Project (to push the trail through to Upper Takaka). Although not deemed as ‘sexy’ work, this work is essential to ensuring the trail will endure for future generations to enjoy. Watch this space for more developments. In March this year the trail was used for a stage of the NZ Mtb Rally. The trail stood up really well to the punishment dealt out by these talented riders. Feedback from the riders was overwhelmingly positive with some of them commenting they really enjoyed the flowy nature of the trail. Other trail users spoken to by GBMTBC members while working or riding on the trail has been really positive and all riders are keen to see what the next stage of the trail build will ride like.

KEY SUPPORTERS

THE CONCEPT

The concept is to build a Grade 3 multi-use, all-weather trail descending from the Takaka Hill Summit (791m) to Upper Takaka (150m) a descent of 650m and a distance of approximately 10km. The first 3.2km of the trail has been completed from the Takaka Hill summit to Horseshoe Bend. Stage 1 of the trail, a distance of 3.7km has been completed starting from the Takaka Hill Walkway car park and descending through the Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve to Horseshoe Bend. The GBMTBC is now in the planning stages for Stage 2 of the Trail which will take the trail all the way to Upper Takaka.

The track design and build brief

The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club aims to build an iconic track, built to a high quality with a long-lasting robust footprint, inclusive of a variety of natural playful features. The line aims to maximize the distance for fall and keep to the gradient of 6-8 degrees specified for grade 3 descending tracks in the New Zealand Mountain Bike Trail Design; Construction Guidelines. The Takaka Hill is in a high rainfall area averaging 2000mm per year, so water management and surface is a key design parameter. Across the length of the trail, we have a mix of soil and rock surfaces so speed and cost of track construction will vary as we progress. A higher quality build will enable us to mitigate a large ongoing maintenance schedule.

Community benefits

The GBMTBC sees huge community benefits from this project. Golden Bay is already a mountain biking destination with iconic rides such as the Heaphy Track, Classic Rameka Track and other trails such as Kill Devil and Rameka Project trails. DOC figures show 2500 people riding the Heaphy Track annually and 3500 go through the Rameka Track. There is also heavy day use of all the Rameka Valley trails by locals, visitors both national and international riders. So far, in the first three months of opening Stage 1 of the trail there has been in excess of 1500 people using the trail. We have also identified a need for a new middle grade track within the Bay. Of the 22 tracks totalling 71.4 km only 5, covering 14.5 km are Grade 3 or lower. No new track has been built on public owned land for over 8 years. Hence the need for a new grade 3 track to provide more options for an average rider. The track will also open up the Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve to other users such as walkers and will assist in the control of pests and noxious weeds.

Funding

This is major part of the project. The GBMTBC has received great support from many local businesses both financially and with providing products and services, and from other philanthropic bodies. The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club also has some funds available through its own fundraising events and a huge pool of volunteer hours. Apart from our core team that have already spent over 300 Hours marking the initial line, we have had volunteers assisting on a daily basis and several very well attended working bees demonstrating the desire of the community to be involved. This will also enable us to bridge any short fall in funds by using volunteers to finish the track by hand if required.

Expertise

The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club is a registered charity and has a strong record of trail maintenance and development. The GBMTBC has built over 30km of mountain bike trails over the last 12 years and currently helps maintain over 50km of track. In partnership with DOC, it has created the Canaan Downs trails and currently has a Memorandum of understanding with DOC to work in partnership to maintain and develop these. Through fund raising and volunteer labour it has created a network of trails in the Rameka Valley, which link the Rameka Track to Project Rameka’s trail network and down the valley to Takaka – one of the longest sections of downhill single track in New Zealand. In 2010 the GBMTBC Secured $26,000 from the Canterbury trust to build the Gold Creek family loop Track in Canaan Down Scenic reserve. The GBMTBC still helps DOC maintain this track through yearly volunteer hours. In 2014, the GBMTBC secured funding from the Community Conservation Partnership Fund for $66,000 for a three-year project of remediation work on the Kill Devil Track in the Kahurangi National Park. This project was completed successfully ahead of schedule and under budget. Kieran Parish from Trail Craft NZ (a Golden Bay contractor) has built Stage 1 of the Pikikirunga Trail. KP as he is known locally has vast trail building experience and has experience building trails such as the Pike 29.

Current position

Stage 1 (from the summit of Takaka Hill to Horseshoe Bend) was opened to the public in mid December 2024. The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club is now working toward planning for completion of the trail in Stage 2 which includes obtaining permission to cross further Public Conservation Land and some private land ownership.

The Stake Holders

The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club. Department of Conservation who are statutory managers of Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve. Approval granted to build stage 1 and 2 through the Takaka Hill Scenic Reserve. Manawhenua Ki Mohua who are Local custodians - (Letter of support for the project). Takaka Forest and Bird - (Letter of support for the project). Takaka Hill Biodiversity group. Supportive of the Project and keen to partner with The Golden Bay Mountain Bike club in relation to Biodiversity management of the area. Nelson Mountain Bike Club - (Letter of support for the project). Tasman District Council - (Letter of support for the project).