Old Coach Road Track – Cascade Kauri Regional Park (Closed due to Kauri Die Back)
From the Fairy Falls Track on Scenic Drive, Old Coach Road Track follows the line of the old road, and part of Scenic Drive, up to the end of Tawari Road. The track then heads down to Mountain Road passing large kauri and rimu en-route. 2.4 km 1.0 hour. (Source).
The Old Coach Road Track branches left from the Fairy Falls Track at the Scenic Road end and basically runs parallel with it, bypassing the falls entirely but ending at the same point on Mountain Road.
As this track follows the line of the old road the track tends to stop and continue further along the road at various points. Because of this I think it’s safer to traverse the track from the Scenic Road end that way when you come out onto the road you are facing the oncoming traffic (which moves fast on this stretch of road), however that being said I prefer to start at Mountain Road as the very last section (when coming from Scenic Drive) or the very first if you are starting from the other end is very steep and although it’s a hard lung busting and hamstring screaming ascent it’s far less technical than descending the same section.
I will say that I far prefer the Old Coach Road track to the Fairy Falls track, it’s feels (to me) so much more adventurous than following a compacted gravel path AND the huge bonus (for me) is that there are no stairs. Sure it’s a little confusing the first time you traverse it (due to the fact that the track crosses driveways, comes out onto various roads and even wanders past someone’s house) but as long as you keep an eye out for the little triangles, because yes, the track is actually that narrow path running beside the garage belonging to the random house in the middle of nowhere.
If you want to keep your feet dry, you can run/walk this track as an out and back (4.8 km) or you could make a loop using the Fairy Falls track (5.2 km). Although earlier I said that I’d prefer to ascend Old Coach Road track from Mountain Road, if I was going to do a loop I would go down Old Coach Road track and ascend the Fairy Falls track, mainly because my knee copes much better going up stairs than down them (my lungs on the other hand ….. )
Below are photos of Old Coach Road Track these start from Mountain Road heading towards Scenic Drive until the Goodfellow Track. From that point, although the pictures are still in order they show the view from Scenic Drive towards Mountain Road, as they were taken on seperate days.
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Till next time
