Makara Peak - Nikau Valley

Took the bike for a spin into the Makara Park again. Normal way up, Koru, Salley Alley, Missing Link, Aratahi. At this point I thought I should ride some tracks I've never done before so I headed onto Upper Leaping Lizard.

Now I'd say this particular track isn't going to be anyone's favourite. It's currently quite overgrown and just not the most fun track in general. However, it's fairly short and then you're on (Lower) Leaping Lizard. Now THIS is a fun track. I didn't encounter much of it today as I wanted to tackle Nikau Valley. I found this track to be quite a challenge. Very steep and rocky technical sections down and then a steep climb back out to the Missing Link track. I then made my way up to the peak via Aratahi and Tower 16 Connector. Had a rest here and enjoyed the view and then I headed down Zacs Track (the new bits are cool), down Northface (love this track!) and the 4WD track out to Allington Road. As a side note, all this linking to tracks.org.nz makes me think I need to log in and update some of the tracks on there.

So there we go, a tiring but fun ride. I won't consider Leaping Lizard ridden until I head all the way to the bottom. Strava map below.