New Zealand Kahurangi National Park: putting Sam Owen on Mt Owen

The classic Mt Owen photograph

A long gravel road to the trail head, a thousand metre ascent approach and a fantastic hut perched in between giant limestone outcrops. I don't think anyone could throw together a kiwi tramp as classic as Mt Owen, even if they floated a kiwi bird and a half pint of Speights in.

Although Mt Owen is well known by caving circle's, trampers, Lord Of The Rings fans and the fact it's the highest hill in the Kahurangi NP. Our push to the summit had a more ironic twist than most other trampers. Our goal was to put an Owen on Mt Owen.

Standing at 1875m, Mt Owen isn't actually one of the big guns of NZ's South Island. It is however, surrounded by a lot smaller hills and stands over farm land, Nelson bay and the West Coast, giving it a similar feeling of other higher hills.

Having Read about the danger and almost, certain chance of death from the Department Of Conservation's (DOC) brochure. We had come to understand that this was again a back country route, that required good weather to enjoy.

Fortunate for us, we had two days left of fine weather before a slow moving weather front made its way up the country.

Whether its the dopamine high after previous trips, my brain blocking bad memories or something else. I seem to always forget how hard and unpleasant hiking up hill can be. I must have spent days worth of time dragging my body uphill in NZ. Yet every time it comes to the first hill of a trip, my body and sometimes my mind feels like I've just jumped into my first boxing fight against a semi pro. This was no different. A long, sun kissed ridge made a hot, thirsty ascent to a valley that is hidden from the start. This is probably where the dopamine set in and I will forget all that hard work and remember my first view of Mt Owen. Obscured by cloud, the summit plateau sat high above the fantastically carved limestone valley, drawing a colourful contrast between the forest green and rocky greys.

First view of Mt Owen

The knowledge of Mt Owen being a classic tramp must have been around for a while as on our way up we spoke to seven folks, who had been up Mt Owen the day before and ended up spending the night with five others in the the twelve bed hut. And luckily we decided to head down late after our summit day, as we met fifteen people heading for a long weekend up Mt Owen. I guess that's the price of a quality tramp, popularity.

Due to DOC labelling the non marked (but incredibly well travelled) route above the hut to the summit as, almost certainly going to kill you. I was a little undecided and cautious to what laid above the hut. A short conversation with a Dutch couple on their way out confirmed my suspicious side, the track was well trodden, cairned and even had little bit of pink ribbon tied to small rocks. It looked like the certain death was postponed.

After the trip, the three of us categorised the sections into; hardest, lesser and easiest legs. The hardest was the walk into the hut, lesser was the ascent of Mt Owen and easiest was the walk out.

Sunrise on the range

Having been awhile since we spent some time above the bush line, the open snow grass covered hills and limestone peaks was a welcomed change. Soon after leaving the hut we were filled with nostalgia of walking in the Yorkshire Dales, just these hill's were on steroid's. The snow grass soon gave way to limestone pavements, outcrops and sinkholes that could swallow a car. This terrain gave some very pleasant scrambling, which seemed to pass the time very quickly.

Typical terrain above the hut

Looking up at Mt Owen and it's bluff's

Walking across the summit plateau of Mt Owen was like topping out on a 2000m peak due to the land around. The rush of joy, excitement, pride and wonder, striking everyone of us into wide eyed tourist, who stare out onto the view, trying to take it all in.

I have no idea how long we spent on the summit. During the ascent a local kiwi caught us up and we had a good old chat, sharing stories, tips and places to visit. Maybe it was fate that during the ironic ascent of Mt Owen, we meet a kiwi who has also climbed Poland's iconic Mt Giewont. It got me thinking, maybe there's a Mt Sulowluski, waiting for an ascent too.

Looking south from summit

Looking north from summit

On the way back down, the cracks and crevasses in the rock seemed to be much bigger, especially when walking down hill and looking straight down into them. We soon found ourselves back on the grass though and before we knew it back at the hut five hours after we left, not bad for a 7-8 hour time frame given by DOC.

Not spending a second night in the hut, as we had originally planned because of an increasing number of people turning up and Amy preferring not to walk out on her birthday. Happened to be a lucky break. The new Granity Pass hut is very nice, but even eight people made the cosy one room hut feel busy, and I'm glad we swapped a late walk out for a crowded hut. We defiantly felt lucky to only share with five others on this seemingly popular tramp.

Heading back a long the summit plateau

Having spent the last two weeks wrapped up in the touristy Great Walks in the area. Mt Owen has rekindled the beauty of the lesser well known walks that are hidden in all corners of NZ. Showing us that we really don't have to travel far to find rewarding back country trips and friendly kiwi hospitality. Although I might give DOC a hard time on over playing certain danger's, the track up Mt Owen has got some serious danger's. Deep cracks, crevasses and sinkholes litter the hill. It's home to a 54k cave system which happens to be the largest cave in the southern hemisphere. Mt Owen in bad weather or snow covered ground maybe wouldn't be the best choice for a relaxing weekend tramp. But with challenge and danger comes reward and fulfilment, this is a classic tramp which needs common sense when planning.

A big thank you goes out to Al who offered accommodation which we unfortunately didn't take up as we came down so late, and Dick for leaving some trail magic in the form of dehydrated hummus labelled 'for team YORKSHIRE'. Legend's! 

New Zealands Heaphy track: my experience with the most varied great walk

Heaphy a long the West Coast

At 78.5 kilometres long, the Heaphy track is the longest of New Zealand's great walks. With one end starting in the foot hills of Golden bay and the other on the wild West Coast. This great walk is said to pack the most variety of NZ environments into one enjoyable tramp. Even though this is our last great walk to complete on south island, it still had a handful of first experiences to throw at us.

460 kilometres of road separate the two trail heads. This, in itself can be a logistical nightmare. To solve this nightmare, a handful of companies offer services from one road end to the other; four connecting buses, car relocation, helicopters, plane's and the old fashioned hitchhiking. Lucky for us, cheap back flights and good weather favoured our very first light aircraft flight!

Golden bay take off

20 minutes in clear blue skies and we had flown the track that would be our home for the next three days. Our pilot pointed out the local highlights; farewell spit, a gold mining dam, Mt Perry, most of the Heaphy huts and the long, slithering Heaphy track below us. Even with Lucy as 'co-pilot' (as she put it), the plane journey easily lowered us into a sight seeing tourist mode and we had to reality check ourselves back with the 17k of wild West Coast track.

West Coast

Heaphy river

Lucy in 'copilot' seat

Landed!

Immersing ourselves into the first of the environments. We hit the Nikau palm tree forests, which gave a very tropical feel to the surf battered coast. The track naturally splits itself up with Crayfish Point. At just under half way and the only point that gets covered by high tide, the headland reaches far enough out into the Tasman sea to give great views down the coast. With the sun beating down and a haze blown in off the sea, the West Coast wouldn't look out of place in any of the Jurassic Park films. Coupled with the scattered shells of giant carnivorous land snail's, the environment really does create a wild place.

Snail shell's

We were glad to finally arrive at the newly built Heaphy hut. 26 beds perched by the mouth of the Heaphy river, with cracking views up the valley and out to sea.

Sunset from the hut

Not the best night shot but there's some stars..

Our first 30k+ day of the trip soon had us heading uphill and out of the tropical feeling palm trees. Steadily climbing from the coast the palms gave way to beech tree forests where the climb never seemed to end. We obviously weren't the only ones feeling the strain of the hill and the desperate messages scratched into the dirt asking how far the hut was gave us a giggle or two.

Reaching the new James McKay hut marked the start of the Gouland Downs. This was the third environment for us to pass through. Starting with dwindling beech tree patches and opening up to grassy moorland, this plateau of land gave a very Scottish highland feel to our trip. The older Saxon hut was our home for the second night. With only two other people to share it with, this rustic hut had a very cosy feel and thankfully didn't smell of bug spray.

One of the wire bridge's

Rainbow

Whether it's a primordial brain function, social normality or something else, thunder and lightning gets the blood pumping. Waking in the middle of the night to a light and sound display, might even get the odd bit of adrenaline going too. All I can say is, ' thank God we decided not to camp!'. The short lived storm passed in ten minutes, but rattled the Spanish couple enough for them to move from the top bunk to a lower one...

We had spotted the shell's of the giant carnivorous land snail already, but none with a living snail inside. So, I had already concluded that these creatures would probably look more like a dragons head poking out of the shell. With horn's as antenna and big sharp dinosaur like teeth, ready to devour any and all flesh that stood in its way. Of course, all of this was based on the single fact that it was carnivorous.

As we set of for our last and second 30k+ day, the dream of this magical snail was destroyed. It just so happens, they look like almost all other snail's... just slightly bigger.

Carnivorous land snail...

This day was always going to be a wash out, as the weather had predicted rain all day. We managed however, to duck and dodge the rain until we arrived at another new hut at Perry Saddle. This was the fourth and final environment to experience on the track. The sub alpine shrubs gave a nice open view, which on a clear day would have been spectacular. For us, the hut gave a welcome lunch spot and the final rest stop before the end. At this point, the posts that mark one kilometre to the huts had become beacons of hope. These popped up out of the forests and informed us that there would only be ten more minutes or so to the hut. I've never liked little green wooden posts as much as those posts that appeared out of the rain beaming hope and warmth.  

Beacon of warmth and joy!

Damp

Four hours later, and three very wet bodies arrived at the Brown hut at the end of the track. I always found walking in the rain to be very therapeutic, but after the second hour, my therapy was done and the end couldn't have come soon enough. Luckily, folk's had already got a fire going and ushered us in and next to the warmth in the rustic hut.

All in all, the track gave a very nice end for us to the South Island great walks. Being one of the two great walks to make it into the lonely planets top 20 things to do, I was expecting the experience to be on par with the other South Island walks. The Heaphy however, has completely different landscapes than the others and because of that I personally don't think they can be compared side by side. I love the mountains, glacier's and deep cut valleys, so I would always side towards those environments of the mountainous regions, but the Heaphy, has something different. It has differing environments every 20k, a combination of rustic and state of the art huts. It has numerous limestone caves, arches and rock formations to explore, unique giant snails and of course it has the wild West Coast.

The Heaphy, simply put has four walks stacked on top of each and offers a fantastic trip through some of New Zealand's unique environments and wildlife. Another must do.