Autumn 2023: Local rider and volunteer trail builder Lance Te Koeti asked Charlie, the Operations Manager at the time, “Can we build a trail in the area under the Pick'n'Mix cluster?”
Charlie replied, “Grab some marking tape and map out a line. I’ll take a look, and if it’s good, you can start digging.”
Keen to scratch in a new line, Lance asked me (Hamish Pretty) if I wanted to help—of course I did—so we headed in to scope out a route. An old skid line looked like it could work, so we used that as the base. After tying up some marking tape, we let Charlie know it was ready for approval. He was busy, so while we waited, we limbed trees and even benched the odd section to make it partially rideable.
When Charlie finally arrived, we were feeling fairly proud—right up until he took one look and said, “No no no, you can’t just build a skid line straight down the hill. You need to take the trail across the hill, use the elevation, explore, and work with the natural features.”
Disappointed but understanding, we realised this project had just changed completely. What we thought might be a two-week build suddenly became something more like a two-and-a-half-year mission.
We went back, explored the area properly, found some awesome natural terrain, and marked a completely new line. That one got the green light—and off we went.
The area is full of rock, supposedly leftovers from blasting bedrock when Dyers Pass Road was built. That made rock the obvious choice for retaining, giving the trail a unique building style unlike anything else in the park. There isn’t a single waratah or piece of timber retaining here—it’s built entirely from natural materials. There was plenty of rock near the top and loads in the stream at the bottom, but the mid-section was a challenge. We dragged several massive rocks hundreds of metres up or down the hill to get them into place.
Along the way, we had some gut-wrenching setbacks. More than once, we discovered the trail had been poached and vandalised. Rocks were ripped out of berms and rolled downhill, the water tank was pushed down the hill, and our tools were taken and used to dig amateur skid lines. Some tools eventually turned up; others didn’t.
This trail sits somewhere between a volunteer build and a CAP build. It began as a vollie mission, and a few months later I joined CAP as Maintenance Coordinator, Groundskeeper, and general handyman—not trail crew—but if I’m up to date with village work, I can spend a few hours digging each week. The AVC (Alternative Vollie Collective) helped a couple of times, but with differing ideas about how the trail should develop, most of the work ended up being done by Lance and me. CAP’s trail crew stepped in when needed for essentials like drainage and tree removal.
We started with just one rake, one pick, and one spade. “Gizza go on the rake” or “Gizza go on the pick” became regular sayings—and eventually, that turned into the trail’s name.
Now that the trail is complete, it’s clear Charlie was right. The version of Gizza Go that’s open today is miles better than that original skid line would ever have been. It makes great use of the elevation and squeezes in 17 features, keeping the ride lively from top to bottom. It includes a drop off what’s soon to be an iconic rock and wraps up with a 28-foot gap jump, with the features growing in size as you go. The trail then feeds straight into Rake'n'Bake, making for a cracking hot lap.
A huge amount of time and effort has gone into this trail. We really hope the vandalism days are behind us and that the trail is treated with respect so everyone can enjoy it. While we assess how it handles higher traffic, it may need the occasional closure for maintenance and adjustments. Please respect any closures.
Can’t wait to see you out there sending it and sharing the stoke.
