In reality, there are two distinct parts to the Bluff Hill trails. There is the main loop starting at the Pearce Street car park, and there's the Motupohue downhill track starting at the top of the hill...
The main loop is comprised of a several named trails that join together. They are: the access walkway, Motorhead, Soundgarden, Green Day, Weezer, Dire Straits, Led Zep, dDub, Genesis. Those names are on the nice map you can get from the i-site and bike shops but they are no help because you won't find them on any signs on the hill!!! There are signs showing the grade of the trail but not it's name (!!!) so you get no real help finding your way to the top and back down again. It's easy to take the wrong turn on the many tracks - 4wd and singletrack.... It's not a visitor friendly place! Unless of course you have the singletracks GPS trace...
The climbing singletrack is excellent. It gives you respite here and there and keeps you distracted from the leg work. Once at the top you are very close to the Flagstaff Road and there is a short steep track that allows you to exit out onto the sealed road and the summit where the Motupohue downhill starts and where there is a really nice lookout with interpretive panels on heritage, geology, ecology and extinctions. You are at the very south of the South Island here in Bluff - the end of the line - the start of Highway One...
The ride down is fantastic with some rock garden action, some fast flowing sections with swooping bermed corners; some little jumps, drops, rollers; a few tight corners and a couple of wooden structures.
Now a few words about the downhill trail called Motupohue. You can start at the very top of the hill beside a cellphone tower to take in a short grade 6 section. If you prefer not to risk being maimed you can start just a few hundred metres down Flagstaff Road for the rest of the trail which is grade 5. The Motupohue Trail finished on Flagstaff Road opposite Pearce Street.
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