The Old Ghost Road Overnighter

Lyell to Seddonville, West Coast · New Zealand

Challenging2 daysOceania~£300 est.

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Overview

The Old Ghost Road is New Zealand's longest continuous singletrack: 85km through the empty quartz-and-beech country between the Lyell (Upper Buller Gorge) and Seddonville on the West Coast, resurrecting a miners' road surveyed in the 1870s gold rush and never finished. Ridden over two days with a night at Ghost Lake Hut — perched at 1,200m above a sea of cloud — it is as close as mountain biking gets to the romance of an alpine hut trip. Day one climbs 26km from the Lyell's mossy graveyard to the tops, where the trail tiptoes along exposed ridgeline and the Skyline Steps force a short carry. Day two plunges through the earthquake-scarred Boneyard into Stern Valley, then follows the Mokihinui gorge on a bench blasted above the river, swingbridge after swingbridge, to Seddonville's pub. Huts must be booked well ahead — Ghost Lake sells out months out for summer weekends — and there is no resupply, phone signal or bail-out between the ends. Weather is the trap: the tops are genuinely alpine and storms close the exposed section. Base in Westport, arrange the shuttle back, and budget around £300 for hut bunks, shuttle and beers. Grade 4 riding: solid technical skills required.