SOBO Trip Report
The 6 attendees split up into two groups; a bit like TA, a SOBO and a NOBO. The NOBOs led by David took 1.5hrs driving to reach the Canvastown road end by which time the temperature had warmed to 2oC and there was a good frost at the car park. 7hrs was the DOC track time but the sign at the car park said 8 hrs. By the time we got to the next sign it said 9 hours. We were in for a long day!
On the way up to Devils Creek Hut we met 3 Canadians who had spent the night there due to an overflowing Fosters Hut. Yet the area seemed deserted – no cars were seen at either track-end carpark nor trampers on the track – apart from NTC members, of course. After Devils Creek the track goes uphill for 800m but was well graded, so it didn’t seem strenuous, in fact the whole way was a walking pleasure along a well-maintained old miners’ pack track. We had lunch at point 1066. It was quite cold in the still winter air.
Sidling under Mt Baldy we met and exchanged car keys with the NOBO group, and then a gently climbing track took us back up to Fosters clearing at 1070m ASL. Here we had a stop in the sun and were inspected by a large robin – there seemed few birds, not even a weka.
Then it was downhill for an hour to the carpark and a total track time of 7 hrs. There is a well signed and maintained forestry road out using Bartletts Creek Rd to emerge onto North Bank Rd. For the record, Strava says 21.66km, 1383m of elevation gain and a moving time of 5hr44m. TopoGPS says 20.4km, 1969m of climbing. Overall, it was a long but worthwhile day out. A fair bit of driving but a very good crossover track. On the map it looks possible to do the same via Mt Royal – perhaps as a summer trip?
Participants: David (Leader), Astrid and Luke (visitor)
NOBO Trip Report
It was just over an hour’s extra drive from Canvastown to the Kiwi Road carpark for the NOBO walkers. Access via Barletts Creek was quite straight-forward with three shallow fords to cross plus a well-maintained public access via a Forestry Road. (Not as big a challenge as the DOC maps had implied!)
The carpark is at 600m. With a 10 am start and the well-graded miners trail in two hours we were at Fosters Clearing (1130m), where we stopped for an early lunch. The track was quite busy with a family of trampers who had stayed overnight at Fosters Hut, plus a couple of bikers. Later we met a lone Canadian who had overnighted at Devils Creek Hut with three mates. She was walking out to pick up the car to then meet the others at the Canvastown end (a much shorter walk for them!).
After the lunch break, we moved quickly as we were starting to descend. In 45 minutes we met the SOBO group at around the half-way mark. We had expected to meet them much earlier as they had started walking an hour before us. Their excuse was the long climb up to PT 1066. We would be descending, so we expected to be much quicker. But NO!
After speaking well of the gold miners good sense in building a well-graded track, we quickly changed our minds! Why go up and over such a high point? Was this still the miners track? Small rock retaining walls confirmed that it was indeed still the “old” track. We decided that they must have been drinking some of the whisky they were carrying with them to the gold fields! It was still reasonably well graded with lots of switchbacks but …….. then came the descent from PT1066. We immediately could see why the SOBO’s were slower but we couldn’t go any faster. It was tough on the knees!
It took us three hours from Fosters Clearing to Devils Hut. The descent was some 830 m over 3 kms of short zig zags. We were glad to finally arrive at the Hut which was then in shadow. After a short snack and drinks break we were on our way, optimistically expecting to beat the SOBOs back to Nelson. But our optimism seemed to fade as the long slog past the Doom Creek Loop and back to the carpark took another hour and a half. We arrived at the car at 5.30pm in fading light.
Once we had a signal, we found that the SOBO group were also on the road back to Nelson. We arrived back 10-15 minutes apart.
Stats: 20.6 km. Total Gain 970m; Descent 1460m. Time Elapsed 7.5hrs [6.10 walking]
Participants: Mike, Era and Graeme