Spragg Bush Walk, Cascade Kauri Regional Park
Walking Track (2km) – From the picnic area at the junction of Scenic Drive and Mountain Road, a gentle graded walk leads past the historic cemetery to a large kauri; then continues down gentle grade and crosses a small stream to rejoin Scenic Drive, 500m north of the picnic area (15 minutes). Two branch tracks link this walk with Turanga Road. The first branch is on the right 30m before the large kauri and meets Turanga Road on its first bend (5 minutes); the second, 200m beyond the large kauri, continues downhill to meet a small stream and emerges at the end of Turanga Road (10 minutes). Source.
I’ll be completely honest – I’ve run the Spragg Bush Walk once and I find it highly unlikely that I’d ever go again .. it’s spooky as all f**k!
Granted I ran it on a particularly windy and rainy weekday afternoon (in Winter), so running in an area you are unfamiliar with while the wind whips the trees can be a tad disconcerting, especially if you grew up “watching” horror films such as Friday the 13th, but yeah, I don’t know – I just found the entire length of the trail unsettling and who builds a trail around an historic cemetery anyway?!?!
Apart from the fact that I got the trail gave me the heeby geebies, the route itself is nice enough, there is even a stand of large Kauri trees, which were impressive but I really disliked how on some sections your practically running in someone’s backyard .. it’s just weird.
Anyway, for a trail with such a large car parking area you kind of expect more than a random network of tracks linking two roads and although it’s listed as 2km in length with all the back tracking you have to do (to get back to the car park) you’ll end up closer to 3.5km.
The other stuff;
Location – Approx 660 Scenic Drive, if you are heading towards Mountain Road it’s just before the turn off.
Parking – Yep
Toilets – No, closest is probably Fairy Falls
Kid Friendly – I guess, if they like cemeteries.
Till next time
