Why this ride
The climbs: near Kingston and Scenic stretch near Te Anau. It tops out at about 1,150 m.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
The climbs: near Kingston and Scenic stretch near Te Anau. It tops out at about 1,150 m.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 68 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Haast Pass West Coast is where the day begins. Next is High point near Kingston.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Te Anau.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Haast Pass West Coast photo pull-off.
Look at the map and this point lands deep in Fiordland, on the wet western side of the Southern Alps, nowhere near the Haast Pass road the ride is named for. No road reaches it. It sits in the rainforest and rock between the Hollyford and the Darran Mountains, in some of the wettest country on earth, where Milford Sound collects around six metres of rain in a typical year. Waterfalls appear on every cliff after a downpour and vanish the day after.
Read the complete Haast Pass West Coast photo pull-off write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Haast Pass West Coast photo pull-off closes the day.
Fuel stop near Kingston → High point near Kingston is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Kingston → Scenic stretch near Te Anau is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Te Anau → Haast Pass West Coast photo pull-off is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.