Karapoti Park is situated in the Akatarawa Valley to the north of Upper Hutt.

Karapoti Park, located in the Akatarawa Valley

The Karapoti ride (results) (photos) is very challenging, with the October 2005 event being made trickier by short stretches of soft or slippery going on some parts of the trail. The hill climbs are very substantial and a test of the fitness of your horse.

The Junior and Warehouse Grain rides cover a 20 kilometre course that includes a large loop. Almost the entire ride from one kilometre out from the Start/Finish line is in mature exotic forest.

Karapoti 20k trail profile (Novice, Junior, Warehouse Grain)

The Start/Finish line is at an altitude of 120 metres. The ride climbs to approximately 450 metres at it's highest point on the outwards trail, before dropping to 260 metres on the loop. The height lost in the loop must be gained again on the homeward trail. Consequently, over the course of the ride, there are over 500 vertical metres of uphill climb.

The Start/Finish line is at the car park on the Akatarawa Road. The riders proceed to the Karapoti Road and cross the Akatarawa river bridge at the confluence with the West Akatarawa river, proceeding then through private land to enter the forest. At this point, a GPS becomes less than reliable due to the interference of the tall, mature pine forest preventing "line-of-sight" contact with the GPS satellites. Consequently, parts of the mapped trail have been re-drawn using the TUMONZ software and following the mapped trails that were deemed most likely to have been used, based on the GPS data available and some local knowledge gained first hand on foot while photographing the ride.

With very few open areas on the trail, and such as there were being surrounded by forest, this is a ride that does not afford great vistas, but it is nonetheless a very special ride. While we New Zealanders probably don't think of exotic forests in the same way as we might our native bush, the Karapoti forest trail has a beauty of its own and a serenity that one only finds in forests, whatever their origins.

Karapoti 20 km trail map