Lake Clearwater Base 

16-18 May 2025

After anxiously monitoring the weather forecast, we decided to move the camp forward to the Friday morning to avoid incoming bad weather. Our initial start was not so flash as we discovered when picking up the third person out of the four, that there was no room left in Graeme’s car, as it already had a large gas bottle and a box plus sack of firewood on-board. A hasty swap to a slightly larger car helped. Five minutes down the road one of our people wondered where their boots were. After a roadside search, we were back to my car, where the boots were found on the back seat. “Take three”, and we were off again. We arrived at Merv’s place, where he was waiting anxiously on his berm. The gear wouldn’t fit in this car either, so we swapped the gas bottle for a smaller one and tied some stuff onto the roof rack. “Take four” and we were away.

Arriving at the deer stalkers cottage, Lake Clearwater, we were pleasantly surprised by how classy the accommodation was: four bunk-rooms, battery-powered lighting, log burner. Fully equipped!

After a quick unpack we joined Kevin and Heather who had already arrived at the previously agreed time. We headed up Mt Guy, overlooking the lake. The route was well-marked and followed the spur up the face. About ¾ of the way up, the route became fairly rocky, then more tussocky. Although the NW wind was building up, the top was not as windy as we expected. We took 2½ hours to the top and travelled along the tops in tussock before dropping to the Te Araroa pathway near a small tarn. From there we followed the fence-line to the river terrace to pick up the Eastern Track, which followed a stream to the lake outlet and foot-bridge.