The cache is hidden at the beginning of the Road near Horopito. It is a 200ml sistema container with a log strip, several small items for swapping. you will need to take your own pen or pencil. The area can be covered in snow which could make the task more of a challenge. Please hide carefully and see that it is covered .
Because Horopito is about 500 feet higher than Ohakune, it is easier to walk or ride downhill from Horopito to Ohakune.
The walk from Horopito to Ohakune, including a lunch break, takes about five hours. It will take about 2 hours 20 minutes to cycle.
Look out for the concrete bridge piers, the steel lattice Taonui Railway Viaduct, expansive views across the Waimarino Plains.
Magnificent Rimu trees, native falcons screaming through the air, pigeons flying between the tree tops, the curved steel lattice Hapuawhenua Viaduct alongside the 1987 concrete Hapuawhenua Viaduct and of course, the old railway tunnel.
The historic Ohakune to Horopito Coach Road is a 10 km long road with about 8.5 kms covered with cobblestones.
The road was ready for heavy traffic in December 1906. Along this road, drays and carts carried supplies and materials for railway construction and coaches ferried railway passengers between the steadily advancing railheads.
In the 1880's a bridle trail through the Ohakune area ran from the river port at Pipiriki via Raetihi to Ohakune, and from Ohakune the trail went north through the Horopito area to Taumarunui, and east from Ohakune to Waiouru and Taihape.
The first coaches ran between Raurimu and Waiouru. As the railway tracks were laid between the railheads the gap reduced, and by May 1908 the coaches were running between Ohakune and Makatote.
Once the railway tracks were connected and daily trains began running in November 1908, there was no need for the railway coach service along the Ohakune to Horopito Road.