PTC - 2025 Mt Arthur Tablelands

Mt Arthur Tablelands

14-18 February 2025

This Kahurangi National Park trip morphed into two separate expeditions, with Chris Leaver leading the longer Leslie - Karamea River route, while four of us opted to do the shorter, yet scenic saunter around the Mt Arthur Tablelands area, taking in the sights from Mt Arthur and Mt Peel in stunning weather, and then heading out before the forecast rain arrived - which it did.

On our way to the Flora car park, we deviated to the start of the Wangapeka Track to collect a car left by Chris’s party at the start of their trip, to re-position it to the Flora car park, where we were all to finish about the same date. From the Flora car park, it was a 1½hr, 4km walk up a well-graded track to Mt Arthur Hut, which was empty of other occupants. Several people walked or ran past in their keenness to be somewhere else, but we were happy to enjoy the call of unseen keas and keep our eye on the marauding weka that hovered around our gear. A brilliant moonrise and no sandflies were a good omen for the coming days.

A stunning, near-cloudless morning saw us on the track towards Mt Arthur. Ditching our packs near the junction with the Pyramid Ridge, we trod more lightly up the poled route to the 1795m summit of Mt Arthur where we had an uninterrupted 360-degree view of Kahurangi National Park, even catching glimpses of Mt Taranaki in the far distance to the north. As we descended, there was a steady stream of walkers heading towards the summit. After retrieving our packs and having a leisurely lunch, it was time to do the hard yards and traverse the ups and downs of the Pyramid Ridge, before dropping down through the bush towards Salisbury Lodge. There is not a lot of water along the way, so we all arrived at Salisbury Lodge keen to rehydrate from the available water supply. There were a few people at Salisbury but, still, plenty of room for us. John and Calum elected to pitch their tents outside. We’d had a memorable day, covering 14km while gaining 1000m and losing 1200m to finish up about 180m in elevation lower than when we started.

Mt Arthur

Sunday saw us doing a short trek through bush and then onto the Tablelands to Balloon Hut, which was agreeably deserted, so we made ourselves at home for an early lunch before contemplating the next step. With clouds coming and going, we set off towards Mt Peel in the hope of at least seeing Lake Peel. There was a keen breeze, but as we progressed up the track towards Lake Peel, we decided to take an obvious route up towards 1654m Mt Peel - well worth the trek, as we had amazing views, down towards Lake Peel and beyond to the Cobb Reservoir, while admiring potential future walking options. An easy stroll took us back to Balloon Hut where we were joined in the early evening by a group of three hunters who had come in from the Cobb area. Our day covered some 14km with a net gain of about 100m for the day, having gained 700m and lost 600m in the process.

With the weather forecast predicting heavy rain on Tuesday, we opted to come out a day early, so we departed Balloon Hut on the Monday, taking the bypass track along Starvation Ridge and checking out some rock shelters along the way. The Growler Rock Shelter proved a suitable morning tea stop and the Grid Iron Rock Shelter became the designated lunch stop. A short distance beyond and up a steep 50m track revealed a small 3-bed hut, Upper Gridiron Hut, cunningly positioned below a rock overhang and complete with a swing couch outside. Once we had left the Tablelands, the rest of the day was spent descending through bush along a well-graded track towards Flora Hut and then a rather unwelcome short climb back up to Flora Saddle and down to the Flora car park. We’d walked some 17km with a net loss of 330m for the day. There were far fewer cars there than when we arrived, but at least Derek’s car was still there, as was the vehicle we had repositioned for Chris’s party, due out the next day. Because we had come out a day early, we had to reorganise our overnight accommodation in the area, which we achieved at Tapawera, where we were able to able to indulge in one of Calum’s ‘lager sandwiches’ ™ and pizza under the campground veranda, while listening to the rain steadily falling outside.

Next morning, Tuesday, we drove back through passing showers to Christchurch, stopping off for breakfast at Murchison and lunch at Culverden. A great little trip. Thanks, Derek, for all the driving and all three for the great conversations along the way.

We were: Calum McIntosh, Derek Gane, John Cook and Mike Bourke. MB.

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