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Klondyke Road is 18km of windy and sometimes steep logging access road near Port Waikato. It’s western end starts from the Tuakau Bridge-Port Waikato road 5 km West of Port Waikato and it’s eastern end runs off the Wairamarama-Onewhero Road 2km from Onewhero.
Views from Klondyke Road
Contributed by: @Sharn
Track type: Gravel Logging Road Track composition: Bumpy, Steep Slippery when wet?: No Suitable for bikes <650cc? Intermediate Suitable for bikes >650cc? Beginner River crossings? No
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A tight uphill turn on Klondyke RoadThrough the bush on Klondyke Road
Would love it. Email it to adventureridingnz@gmail.com if you could and a few words about whether there’s stream crossings etc like is on the other tracks on yhe site and I’ll load it up.
Finally got my log done, had to edit oy the rest of my ride… I’m very new to the GPS stuff.
I’ll actually email the track file and pics not enough room here
Track name:
Description:
Track type: (Gravel road)
Track composition (bumpy,steep)
Would the track be particularly slippery when wet e.g. due to papa clay? (No)
Suitable for <650cc? (intermediate)
Suitable for >650cc? (beginner)
Are there river crossings on the track? (No)
I rode past it couple of weeks ago, saw it and thought to myself; ” Self! That looks an interesting road” but due to time constraints, carried on. Bugger ! Don’t know when I’ll next get down there.
Discovered Klondyke Road a few months ago while bimbling around the port. Saw the sign and thought – wonder where that goes. Attached a photo of the view back as the road tracks up the hills and another of the view towards the Waikato river.
Thanks for letting us know about this road. Looks like a beauty. I road South from Port Waikato to the Nikau Cafe last week and the scenery was stunning. According to Ann who runs the Nikau Cafe there were some scenes of Lord of the Rings filmed in this area. I then carried on South ending up at the end of Te Akau Wharf Road overlooking Raglan. What a magic spot. Highly recommended. And then if you live in Auckland you can have a nice sealed twisty road blast (legal limit of course) up SH22!
For a beginner, which direction would be more suitable? West to East or East to West? What I mean, is it easier to go uphill or downhill? I am on a DR650 with semi road on rear and knobbly on front.
Cheers
@Kit Tyler said:
For a beginner, which direction would be more suitable? West to East or East to West? What I mean, is it easier to go uphill or downhill? I am on a DR650 with semi road on rear and knobbly on front.
Cheers
I’ve only ridden it once and that was West to East. No matter which way you go you get to go up and downhill. On the day we did it it was raining and a huge tracked tree felling machine had just driven up the east side and ripped it to pieces and it was pretty slippery as it had exposed a lot of clay. I would say the West side is a bit more twisty with sharper corners though so I’d prefer to go up the west side and down the East I think.
Just did Klondyke from East to West today before work, awesome road, really torn up from the trucks but quite manageable for a beginner. Just have to be extra careful on corners as I passed 4 logging trucks on my ride. Will def be trying this again the other direction soon!
For a stumper of a ride that blows you out of your socks….
Starting off just a few km further south (coming from Tuakau, keep going south past the Klondyke Rd. turnoff, into the valley) the turnoff into Ponganui Rd. is on the valley floor just past the bridge.
Ponganui Rd. becomes Brien Rd. along the way, just keep following the endless rollercoaster which gets narrower and narrower.
Stay on the ridges, using the Wairamarama-Onewhero Rd. the views turn from awesome to sublime.
Once more, continue on the ridges via the Waikaretu-Wairamarama Rd…..or dip towards the coast on Baker Rd. (which looked awesome from above!!) which links up with the coastal road from/ to Port Waikato.
We stayed “up top” into Kaawa and some more gravel/ backroads into Hamilton.
Maitakitaki Rd. is a little eastern “feeder” to the ridges and WELL worth a look…we only rode down it a few k’s before returning to the “spine” track.
Pretty easy riding…we were used to the prolific amount of pre-Xmas gravel through the bends and steeper bits by then. 🙂 Little to no corrugation (which didn’t stop the posties in their merry dance of 1/2″ suspension travel hehe)
FYI, I’ve tracked Klondyke Rd for the NZOGPS maps, and from map release 20150523 onwards the road is correctly shown as gravel and more accurately mirrors reality in layout.
Klondyke is a great road and is in good condition – have ridden it a couple of times lately (each time heading west>east).
For Hamilton/cambridge/TA riders makes a great day loop starting from Whatawhata. Head on the Raglan road, before Te Uku turn right toward Waingaro on Ohautira road. after 15km or so on this road turn LEFT onto Ruakiwi Road, at the end of Ruakiwi go left onto Te Akau rd, on Te Akau rd a T intersection comes up bear RIGHT onto Te Akau Coast road heading north (this is an absolute GEM of a road with amazing views pancake rock formations and a great riding surface. bear LEFT to stay on Te Akau Coast Road when an unsigned turn to the right comes up. after a short descent down a twisty road you arrive at a 2-way intersection which isn’t well signed, look left you should see a blacksand dune over a narrow bridge, turn that way (LEFT) onto Pukerewa road, you should cross the narrow bridge then haul ass along a fast straight which climbs up onto the ridge and gives amazing views of the west coast for the next half hour.
at the T intersection at the end of Pukerewa road you’ll be facing a stone quarry. You can take a quick side trip 2km to right for Nikau Caves Cafe if you need caffiene and body fuel (no bike fuel). After morning tea double back from Nikau cafe and go past the Pukerewa road-end following Port Waikato-Waikaretu Road past the stone quarry – stay on Port Waikato-Waikaretu road the rest of the way up the coast until you come into Port Waikato township. there’s fuel and pies at P/Waikato wharf dairy, suggest you get some!.
Leaving P/Waikato heading east toward Tuakau, Klondyke road will come up on your right after about 6km. turn right into Kylondyke. at the end of Klondyke turn right onto Wairamarama-Onewhero road, follow this south until you come to a X roads immediately after a 1-lane bridge, turn right here onto Ponganui road. follow Ponganui which will magically become Brien road part way along.
At the end of Brien road is a T intersection that is not signposted, turn RIGHT, which will be Wairamarama-Onewhero road. continue on this (dont turn into baker road). turning right eventually onto Waikaretu-Wairamarama road, which is through forestry and is really cool, at the end at T intersection turn right onto sealed Waikaretu Valley main road. after Waikaretu village Turn left onto Richardson road (unless you choose to go straight a few more km and revisit Nikau Cave Cafe for more body fuel).
at the end of Richardson road turn right then Immediately Left, onto Dixon road. At the end of Dixon road turn right onto Waimai Valley road, this is an absolute peach (and is a stage of WRC NZ Rally, as is Te Akau Coast). at the end of Waimai valley you’ll be at a T intersection with Te Akau road, turn left, and stick on Te Akau right to the end where it meets SH22. turn right onto SH22 and ten minutes of tarseal later you’ll be at the Waingaro hot springs pub – where a cold beer awaits you. enjoy.
from Waingaro hot springs pub its a simple case of going North to Ngaruawahia and SH1 or South back to Te Uku/Whatawhata SH23, depending where home is.
I rode Klondyke Rd this morning. It is being logged at the moment (Oct 16) but doesn’t seem too badly cut up. Fortunately there were no logging trucks today but it could get hairy otherwise. I started at the Port Waikato end so the steep bits are up hill. It makes a nice leg of a Tuakau/SH22/Waikaretu Valley/Limestone Downs to Port Waikato and back to Tuakau loop.
Very scenic ride. just take caution for logging activities. I rode through on a Wednesday and had quite a few “oh sh*t” moments. Fantastic views over the Waikato and if you like you can continue with Ponganui Rd and then Baker Rd and quite a few other gravel roads. Attached is a video of the route
We rode Klondyke starting from the inland end on the 31st of July on the way to Raglan. Views were excellent with the forest mostly harvested. The condition of the road was also excellent except for about 3km of muddy surface where the foresters have been working. More of a hazard was some of the tarseal on the way in. There are a number of shaded wet corners where the chip has gone leaving our favourite black slip and slide surface.
Klondyke road is currently closed there has been a slip thats blocking the road near the junction with Daff road, the road guys recon its unlikely to be cleared before Christmas
The road is currently closed about 3 km from the Port Waikato end, at the intersection with Daff Road. The road surface has improved since the previous post, so some work has been done.
With the current bad weather there’s been a decent slip on Klondyke Road.
That’s a shame almost exactly a year since the last slip to close this road
The road was open and clear yesterday 22/02/23
Nice., Where’s Klondyke Road?
Near Port Waikato, cool road; did a couple weeks ago. Have a Track file for it if you like Ed?
Would love it. Email it to adventureridingnz@gmail.com if you could and a few words about whether there’s stream crossings etc like is on the other tracks on yhe site and I’ll load it up.
Here’s a topo map clip of Klondyke Road (assuming my techno geekery is up to attching it cortrectly)
Ah, I really need a GPS tracklog.
A picture’s worth a thousand tracklogs
Finally got my log done, had to edit oy the rest of my ride… I’m very new to the GPS stuff.
I’ll actually email the track file and pics not enough room here
Track name:
Description:
Track type: (Gravel road)
Track composition (bumpy,steep)
Would the track be particularly slippery when wet e.g. due to papa clay? (No)
Suitable for <650cc? (intermediate)
Suitable for >650cc? (beginner)
Are there river crossings on the track? (No)
I’ve just created a page for Klondyke Road, thanks for sending the GPS tracklog through OneBlackFlag.
Klondyke Road
I rode past it couple of weeks ago, saw it and thought to myself; ” Self! That looks an interesting road” but due to time constraints, carried on. Bugger ! Don’t know when I’ll next get down there.
Discovered Klondyke Road a few months ago while bimbling around the port. Saw the sign and thought – wonder where that goes. Attached a photo of the view back as the road tracks up the hills and another of the view towards the Waikato river.
Thanks for letting us know about this road. Looks like a beauty. I road South from Port Waikato to the Nikau Cafe last week and the scenery was stunning. According to Ann who runs the Nikau Cafe there were some scenes of Lord of the Rings filmed in this area. I then carried on South ending up at the end of Te Akau Wharf Road overlooking Raglan. What a magic spot. Highly recommended. And then if you live in Auckland you can have a nice sealed twisty road blast (legal limit of course) up SH22!
For a beginner, which direction would be more suitable? West to East or East to West? What I mean, is it easier to go uphill or downhill? I am on a DR650 with semi road on rear and knobbly on front.
Cheers
Hi @Kit Tyler, welcome to the site.
I’ve only ridden it once and that was West to East. No matter which way you go you get to go up and downhill. On the day we did it it was raining and a huge tracked tree felling machine had just driven up the east side and ripped it to pieces and it was pretty slippery as it had exposed a lot of clay. I would say the West side is a bit more twisty with sharper corners though so I’d prefer to go up the west side and down the East I think.
Sweet thanks for that! Will attempt it this weekend if the weather is nice 🙂 Pics look awesome!
Went through east to west yesterday and road surface as you would expect on a logging road … some big gravel used in road repairs.
Just did Klondyke from East to West today before work, awesome road, really torn up from the trucks but quite manageable for a beginner. Just have to be extra careful on corners as I passed 4 logging trucks on my ride. Will def be trying this again the other direction soon!
For a stumper of a ride that blows you out of your socks….
Starting off just a few km further south (coming from Tuakau, keep going south past the Klondyke Rd. turnoff, into the valley) the turnoff into Ponganui Rd. is on the valley floor just past the bridge.
Ponganui Rd. becomes Brien Rd. along the way, just keep following the endless rollercoaster which gets narrower and narrower.
Stay on the ridges, using the Wairamarama-Onewhero Rd. the views turn from awesome to sublime.
Once more, continue on the ridges via the Waikaretu-Wairamarama Rd…..or dip towards the coast on Baker Rd. (which looked awesome from above!!) which links up with the coastal road from/ to Port Waikato.
We stayed “up top” into Kaawa and some more gravel/ backroads into Hamilton.
http://goo.gl/maps/ZCqBk
Maitakitaki Rd. is a little eastern “feeder” to the ridges and WELL worth a look…we only rode down it a few k’s before returning to the “spine” track.
Pretty easy riding…we were used to the prolific amount of pre-Xmas gravel through the bends and steeper bits by then. 🙂 Little to no corrugation (which didn’t stop the posties in their merry dance of 1/2″ suspension travel hehe)
Forgot…it’s all gravel except the first km of the northern end of Ponganui Rd.
Thanks @glitch_oz, sounds like I’ll need to check it out next time I am up that way.
FYI, I’ve tracked Klondyke Rd for the NZOGPS maps, and from map release 20150523 onwards the road is correctly shown as gravel and more accurately mirrors reality in layout.
Klondyke is a great road and is in good condition – have ridden it a couple of times lately (each time heading west>east).
For Hamilton/cambridge/TA riders makes a great day loop starting from Whatawhata. Head on the Raglan road, before Te Uku turn right toward Waingaro on Ohautira road. after 15km or so on this road turn LEFT onto Ruakiwi Road, at the end of Ruakiwi go left onto Te Akau rd, on Te Akau rd a T intersection comes up bear RIGHT onto Te Akau Coast road heading north (this is an absolute GEM of a road with amazing views pancake rock formations and a great riding surface. bear LEFT to stay on Te Akau Coast Road when an unsigned turn to the right comes up. after a short descent down a twisty road you arrive at a 2-way intersection which isn’t well signed, look left you should see a blacksand dune over a narrow bridge, turn that way (LEFT) onto Pukerewa road, you should cross the narrow bridge then haul ass along a fast straight which climbs up onto the ridge and gives amazing views of the west coast for the next half hour.
at the T intersection at the end of Pukerewa road you’ll be facing a stone quarry. You can take a quick side trip 2km to right for Nikau Caves Cafe if you need caffiene and body fuel (no bike fuel). After morning tea double back from Nikau cafe and go past the Pukerewa road-end following Port Waikato-Waikaretu Road past the stone quarry – stay on Port Waikato-Waikaretu road the rest of the way up the coast until you come into Port Waikato township. there’s fuel and pies at P/Waikato wharf dairy, suggest you get some!.
Leaving P/Waikato heading east toward Tuakau, Klondyke road will come up on your right after about 6km. turn right into Kylondyke. at the end of Klondyke turn right onto Wairamarama-Onewhero road, follow this south until you come to a X roads immediately after a 1-lane bridge, turn right here onto Ponganui road. follow Ponganui which will magically become Brien road part way along.
At the end of Brien road is a T intersection that is not signposted, turn RIGHT, which will be Wairamarama-Onewhero road. continue on this (dont turn into baker road). turning right eventually onto Waikaretu-Wairamarama road, which is through forestry and is really cool, at the end at T intersection turn right onto sealed Waikaretu Valley main road. after Waikaretu village Turn left onto Richardson road (unless you choose to go straight a few more km and revisit Nikau Cave Cafe for more body fuel).
at the end of Richardson road turn right then Immediately Left, onto Dixon road. At the end of Dixon road turn right onto Waimai Valley road, this is an absolute peach (and is a stage of WRC NZ Rally, as is Te Akau Coast). at the end of Waimai valley you’ll be at a T intersection with Te Akau road, turn left, and stick on Te Akau right to the end where it meets SH22. turn right onto SH22 and ten minutes of tarseal later you’ll be at the Waingaro hot springs pub – where a cold beer awaits you. enjoy.
from Waingaro hot springs pub its a simple case of going North to Ngaruawahia and SH1 or South back to Te Uku/Whatawhata SH23, depending where home is.
Hey,
I rode Klondyke Rd this morning. It is being logged at the moment (Oct 16) but doesn’t seem too badly cut up. Fortunately there were no logging trucks today but it could get hairy otherwise. I started at the Port Waikato end so the steep bits are up hill. It makes a nice leg of a Tuakau/SH22/Waikaretu Valley/Limestone Downs to Port Waikato and back to Tuakau loop.
Cheers,
Just rode through this today (2nd October) from West to East. Easy ride, no traffic at all.
There’s a tree across Klondyke Road at the moment but it should be gone in a day or so.
Very scenic ride. just take caution for logging activities. I rode through on a Wednesday and had quite a few “oh sh*t” moments. Fantastic views over the Waikato and if you like you can continue with Ponganui Rd and then Baker Rd and quite a few other gravel roads. Attached is a video of the route
https://youtu.be/d0Lj7MqvFXI
Rode this with a mate for the first time on April 24th. Was a bit slippery as a digger had chewed it up a bit. Nice views were worth it though.
We rode Klondyke starting from the inland end on the 31st of July on the way to Raglan. Views were excellent with the forest mostly harvested. The condition of the road was also excellent except for about 3km of muddy surface where the foresters have been working. More of a hazard was some of the tarseal on the way in. There are a number of shaded wet corners where the chip has gone leaving our favourite black slip and slide surface.
Klondyke road is currently closed there has been a slip thats blocking the road near the junction with Daff road, the road guys recon its unlikely to be cleared before Christmas
The road is currently closed about 3 km from the Port Waikato end, at the intersection with Daff Road. The road surface has improved since the previous post, so some work has been done.
Klondyke road is now open again and regraded plenty of loose metal
Was a no-go through Klondyke Road on Jan 29th.