Onslow Pylon Track

[Jantar]

its too nice today to stay indoors on the computer so off for a ride. I decided to try and find a route form Lake Onslow to the Upper Manorburn. None of the maps show a suitable route but the terrain is good and it should be possible. Today's effort is the first part of that search from lake Onslow to Bridge Huts Rd where it disappears on the maps. The DB1K riders will be familiar with the Serpentine to Onslow section so I won't go that way.

Lake Onslow is a small reservoir for the Teviot Power Scheme, so I started at the Lower Teviot Power Station



With the temperature today at over 30 C I don't think that sign on the substation gate is quite correct



I was suprised at how windy it was on the tops. I guess those wind machines must be working.



Lake Onslow



Onslow Dam. If reseach currently being carried out at Waikato University gets followed up , this Dam could be replaced by one 60 m high.



The Teviot River as it leaves Onslow. I had intended crossing the ford rather than the bridge until a fisher waded out in his thigh waders and the water was over his knees.



My Topo map showed pylons crossing this area, and that suggests a pylon access track. Nothing on Map source, but sure enough there was a track.



There are a couple of wee fords to cross. This one was slightly deeper than it looked, about mid wheel, but it did have an awkward step up on the exit.



The track was generally easy to follow. BUT it is rutted, and when those ruts are covered by long grass the only way to find them is to drop a wheel into one.





Those Damn wind machines again. There was no wind anywhere except when these things were visable.



And finally Bridge Huts Road.




So next trip out is to find a route from here over the top to Manorburm

[unstuck]

Good area for a play.cool pics.

[FJRider]

its too nice today to stay indoors on the computer so off for a ride. I decided to try and find a route form Lake Onslow to the Upper Manorburn. None of the maps show a suitable route but the terrain is good and it should be possible.

Go and speak to the guys at the Rail Trail ... the "Goldrush" multi-sport event goes through those parts ...

[unstuck]

There are heaps of old rabbit board tracks in the area and getting to manorbourn from that last photo with the turn off to teviot dam and the bridge is doable. Can also get there going in past mckenzies beach up at the far end of lake roxburgh.

[bart]

207kb

Here, I'll fix it for you

[Eddieb]

So who watches the watchers?

It's pretty hypocritical for mods to trash a thread for having embedded images over 100kb's, then for one of those same mods to create a thread in the same forum section with 12 images embedded where the smallest is 181kb.

That's 12 infractions for you, and can a mod please remove the oversized images in this thread for the sake of those internet users still on a dialup connection.

[Padmei]

Oh the outrage!!!
You sir are the DEVIL!!!

[Jantar]

Fixed. They were all under 100kb in my own directory, but I uploaded them uncompressed.

However, see how easy it was to fix?

[Box'a'bits]

Fixed. They were all under 100kb in my own directory, but I uploaded them uncompressed.

However, see how easy it was to fix?

Hi Jantar, you missed one The one just before 'those dammed wind turbines'.

How did you do that? Just a compression using office pictures?

[Jantar]

Hi Jantar, you missed one The one just before 'those dammed wind turbines'.

How did you do that? Just a compression using office pictures?

That's now fixed as well. I used PhotoFun for the compression tool. That allows you to compress the resolution while still maintaing the 640 x 480 format.

[FJRider]

That's now fixed as well. I used PhotoFun for the compression tool. That allows you to compress the resolution while still maintaing the 640 x 480 format.

I use this website often. Has sat view too ..

http://www.nztopomaps.com/

[cooneyr]

I did a bit of searching on some maps and the Walking Access Management website when thinking about an alternative to the State Highway seal between Alex and Roxburgh. There is a unformed legal road (paper rd) along the top of the Knobby Range between Little Valley Rd (out of Alex) and Knobby Range Rd (goes past McKenzies Beach as previously mentioned). Aerial Photography suggests there is a track that mostly coincides with the legal road along the length of the range.

I'm didn't add it into this years DB1k cause many found day two tough enough without more tracks. I am keen to find out if it is ridable though as an options for future rides.

I've attached a gpx file (you mentioned Mapsource so I assume you know how to use a GPX file?). I've changed the extention from .gpx to .doc, just change it back to open it with Mapsource.

Cheer R

[Jantar]

There are heaps of old rabbit board tracks in the area and getting to manorbourn from that last photo with the turn off to teviot dam and the bridge is doable. Can also get there going in past mckenzies beach up at the far end of lake roxburgh.

I'm sure there used to a track across the top, But now that a lot of that country has revertyed to DOC land they are no longer marked. I'm sure it is doable. What I intend to do next is to make a map of the old tracks and copy them to Mapsource to load onto the GPS.

The route from McKenzies Beach is still there as long as the gate at the top of the Knobby Range is unlocked.

I use this website often. Has sat view too ..

http://www.nztopomaps.com/

I have all of the Topo maps on my PC, and they

[Jantar]

I did a bit of searching on some maps and the Walking Access Management website when thinking about an alternative to the State Highway seal between Alex and Roxburgh. There is a unformed legal road (paper rd) along the top of the Knobby Range between Little Valley Rd (out of Alex) and Knobby Range Rd (goes past McKenzies Beach as previously mentioned). Aerial Photography suggests there is a track that mostly coincides with the legal road along the length of the range.

Thanks R. Yes that track is still there and is a good ride as long as Little Valley leave the gate at the top unlocked. Many years ago (1974 from memory) there was a motorbike race between Alex and Roxburgh over that route called the Line 7 50. Line Seven were the Sponsors and 50 because it was just over 50 km return.

[FJRider]

It can be done. HAS been done. In this day and age of modern 4WD's ... everybody has one, so locked gates appear where there were none. Or fencelines with NO gates across tracks. Contact Run-holders maybe ...