Mountain Biking – The Glen Dene Ridge Track near Wanaka

When we first arrived in Wanaka several months ago, it was the beginning of summer and we were super excited to get out and do some hiking in the area. Within our first few days in the area we got out and climbed a peak called Isthmus Peak. Well, summer has now long passed and the days are colder and shorter but I had a day off of work and I really wanted to cross a certain mission that I had long been planning off of my list. This was the Glen Dene Ridge track.

Getting to the top of Isthmus:

It starts by climbing up Isthmus all of the way to the summit, and then traversing a long ridgeline and series of peaks until finally descending down the side of Mount Burke back to the shoreline of Lake Wanaka. I had heard of several people doing it and it sounded like a great adventure. People also go heli-biking on Mount Burke and get flown to the top where they ride the same trail down that I wanted to ride.

So, I had a day off from work with no plans and I scheduled it in. Unfortunately, this day turned out to be quite rainy and foggy. I woke up that morning to falling rain and fog so thick that you couldn’t see the surrounding mountains. The forecast said that it was supposed to stop raining in the afternoon so the whole morning was spent debating whether I should just commit and go for it, or put it off for a sunnier day.

My stubbornness got the best of me and around noon, Hilary drove me out to the base of Isthmus peak with my bike. I started the climb at 12:30 and spent the whole time second guessing whether I had made the right decision. For most of the climb up Isthmus, I was in sheer fog and wasn’t able to see anything except the road continuing upwards with no end in sight. I realized that in the fog, you have no perception of how far you have left to go, and you have no views to distract yourself with, so the climb quickly became very monotonous. There were a few breaks in the cloud that offered unique views out over Lake Hawea through a window of cloud, but it was always quickly swallowed up and closed in.

Two hours after leaving the vehicle, I made it to the top of Isthmus, Because the ground was soft, I ended up pushing my bike up most of the climb, but I was happy with being able to make it to the top in that time as I had expected it to take a while longer.

Riding Across the Glen Dene Ridge:

From the top of Isthmus, I expected it to be a slightly downhill or flat ride all of the way across the ridgeline. This, however, was not the case. It turned out that there was, in fact, lots of climbing left to go. I thought it would take about 2 hours to get across the ridge, but it took closer to 4. I’m going to summarize this ride in a matter of sentences, but for some reason it felt like it took an eternity.

To be fair, there was a lot of downhill along the ridgeline, but it seemed like every downhill was greeted by double its amount in uphill. The fog was also very thick so when I was riding downhill the moisture from the mist gathered on my clothes and left me with a damp cold feeling for the entire ride. The fog also had an eerie feel to it and when it would close in around me, everything was perfectly silent. Even if I did hear a sound like a boat or a plane in the distance, it was muffled and seemed as if it was outside of the small bubble that had become my world. In these moments, I would focus on the road ahead in the fog and push on slowly. Most of my ride went on in this fashion and I rarely had any reference points for how far along the ridge I had travelled or how much I had left to go.

Because it was winter time, my biggest concern was trying to get off of the ridge while it was still light. I had packed a headlamp that is great for riding with, but I didn’t really want to be high up on an alpine ridgeline with a thick fog and no idea where I was when darkness fell. And with this in the back of my mind the entire ride, I had to push onwards even when I was beginning to feel exhausted. Normally, you are able to ride the entire ridgeline, but with the recent rain, the ground had become very soft and riding any of the uphills was a struggle so I had to push my bike across most of it.

At one point, when I became frustrated with the never ending road and the lack of reference points, I pulled out my phone to see if I had a GPS signal. I was completely blanketed by fog and I could see the light starting to turn a dull orange as the sun was beginning to drop in the sky and get closer to sunset. I figured I was nearly at the top of Mount Burke and ready to begin the big descent back down but wanted to double check on my phone. When I pulled up google maps and found myself on the GPS my heart sunk as the little blue dot of my location finally came to rest in the middle of the ridgeline. I realized then that this whole plan probably wasn’t one of my best ideas, but because I had come this far, I couldn’t really turn back. My only option was to push on as quickly as I could to do as much of the ride in the light as possible.

I’ll save you the monotony of the ride that I had faced myself. From the descents followed by slow climbs followed by descents and repeat. Instead I’ll fast forward to when I finally reached the end of the ridgeline. At this point, something happened and the fog began to dissipate. Slowly, it peeled back layer by layer and I was able to first, make out the faint outlines of the surrounding peaks and ridges, and then finally see the line of the road continuing on in the distance. I was finally nearing the peak of Mount Burke which would mark the end of the ridge traverse.

As I looked behind me at where I had come, I was able to get some perception and saw the ribbon of the road disappear into the distance as it wound its way up and over hills and peaks far into the distance. It seemed impossibly far and I was surprised at the distance I had covered. With the fog I had only been able to see one small piece of road at a time and had never assembled it into its full picture.

The Descent from Mount Burke to Lake Wanaka:

As the last of the fog slowly lifted, all that was left was small tendrils slowly slithering along the ground and around the peaks and ridges like snakes. The sun was beginning to go down at this time and as the light faded, the cold began to set in. I was in a hurry to get on my bike and begin the long descent back to the lakeside while it was still light, but I was also taken aback by how awesome the views were. At the time, I was still exhausted from all of the walking and climbing that I had done, but looking back, I think these moments had made the entire ride worth it. I definitely wish that I had been able to have a clear view for the entire ride as I think it would have been amazing, but I was happy to at least have had a small glimpse.

With that, I made the 30 minute descent back to the lake side. I was cold, hungry, wet, and tired at this point and didn’t enjoy the ride down as much as I might have otherwise, but it was still exhilarating. There were a few times that I realized that I was going very fast and that a wipeout or a flat tire going at this speed would be a very bad thing but I quickly put those thoughts to the back of my mind.

Full darkness had set in by the time I reached the bottom of the descent and I got in touch with Hilary to meet me at the end of the Mount Burke Station Road in an hour. I mounted my headlamp on my helmet and rode out the rest of the distance to the road in the dark.

Now, in New Zealand, there are big sections of land that are like large farms called stations. And the last section of the Glen Dene Ridge Track ends in the Mount Burke station. Technically I should have gotten permission to cross through the station but we’ll forget about that for now.

So, while the last section of the ride through the Mount Burke station was relatively uneventful, there was one memorable part. I had been following the road for quite some time when it was suddenly blocked by a large 8 foot tall gate. I noticed chain wrapped around the gate and panicked as I had no idea how I would try to get myself and my bike over the fence. There were two different gates and the first one that I tried was locked shut. The second, however, was chained but not locked. Fewh!

As I unwrapped the chain and swung the gate open, I looked up and saw hundreds of eyes staring at me from across the field. I think it was a deer or elk farm, which wouldn’t have phased me under any other circumstances, but in the pitch dark after a long exhausting ride, it was the icing on the cake. I had no other options, so I quickly closed the gate behind me and crossed the field quickly, hoping that I would find a gate somewhere on the other side. The hundred of eyes followed me for my entire crossing and I tried to keep thoughts of being trampled or eaten from my mind. I found the gate on the far side, crossed through it, and carried on. From this point on, the station was a maze of roads and I don’t know how I ended up in the right spot but I finally found the place where I was to meet Hilary and sat down to wait. In total, the ride took me 6 hours to complete.

So, what had started out as a cool idea in my mind, ended up being quite an adventure with a few moments of defeat and regret along the way. But these are always the times that are the most memorable and riding the Glen Dene Ridge Track is definitely not one that I’m going to forget any time soon.