Cycle trail to Okere Falls celebrates first anniversary

Stan Clements, John Fowler and Bob and Sally Yule are members of the Ridge Rd care group.

It's a year since the off-road cycle route between Roydon Downs and Okere Falls was officially opened.

Accessed from Paengaroa via Old Coach Rd and Roydon Downs Rd, the trail provides cyclists with a picturesque and safe route away from a busy section of SH33 between Paengaroa and Rotorua. The trail is exclusively for cyclists and walkers - not for horse riding or vehicles.

The $185,000 trail has been funded by the NZ Transport Agency and the project is a joint effort supported by Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Charitable Trails, local iwi Ngati Pikiao and Ngati Makino and the Department of Conservation.

The bush section known as the Kaikokopu-Ridge Rd trail is watched over by a care group organised by John Fowler.

The care group looks after about 2.5km of the trail where it runs through a stand of native bush.

"It's looking really good. There's a bit of maintenance, but it's not a huge job, and there's a good care group going in there keeping an eye on it," says Fowler.

"We've just picked up a little bit of work at the Rotorua end - so it's just in the native forest bits that are pretty special."

Fowler been involved since the idea of the trail was first floated about two and a half years ago.

"We were instrumental with Marty Robinson in getting it to the councils and pushing it through. We just seemed to time it well as far as funding was concerned and the councils and regional council came on board and DoC was quite happy to put a track through there.

"What it does give us is a lovely corridor through to the Rotorua end and it's nice that's off road."

The trail has been particularly busy during the Covid-19 alert level lockdowns.

"Most days somebody is riding through, especially at the weekends."

Fowler says the trail is used recreationally and by cyclists looking for a route through the area.

"And groups are coming through from both ends, which is good."

In the middle of this month the care group will take delivery of 300 native plants donated by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and will hold a couple of planting days before the end of winter.

A working bee this week will clear spots for planting. The trees will add to the more than 200 that have already been planted.

"There are few deer up there so [the plants are] anything that's not too palatable to deer.
There are some manuka and lots of totara. Totara are really good trees to plant because they are hardy and not very palatable."

The care group is always on the lookout for volunteers to boost its ranks.

"We are looking for people who might want to spend a couple of hours once a month - that seems to be enough to tidy things up."