An early December 2021 tramping club trip was rescheduled due to weather, it went from plan A to plan D in the space of about a week, I wasn't too worried as I was eager to get out and it didn't really bother me where we were going.
The trip that eventually went ahead was leaving Ashburton on Friday walking in to Wharfedale Hut for the night via the Mt Oxford Route. Saturday taking the Townshend and Black Hill Tracks to Black Hill Hut for the night, and Sunday returning to the car park at View Hill via the Fosters Ridge and Wharfedale Tracks.
Further inland the forecast was showing wind and showers, we were hoping that by sticking with the foothills we would avoid the worst of the weather and maybe just have a few spill over showers. We ended up with a great weekend of weather and quite high humidity.
Friday was a pleasant day as we left Ashburton, when we arrived at the View Hill car park we were the only vehicle. It's always nice turning up to a trail head and being the only vehicle as it means you have a pretty good chance of getting a mattress in the hut rather than having to tent out.
The track is wide and well graded and after about 20 minutes we reached the junction with the Mt Oxford Route. From here the track climbs steeply for about 400 metres until the 1000 metre mark, then easing off to reach point 1130 and the junction with the Mt Oxford Summit Track. We did spend a bit of time here trying to decide if we would drop our packs and head for the summit or simply carry on down to the hut, eventually the hut beckoned because we had all been to the summit on previous trips.
The track drops about 500 metres over roughly 3 kilometres to the hut, with the steepest section in the last kilometre. The hut sits in a lovely clearing just above Dobson Stream, beware of the voracious sandflies that surround the hut and will also attack as you venture to the long drop and down to the stream for water. The hut itself is full of little quirks and seems like it was once a camping shelter that was converted into a hut. There are no opening windows, just Perspex to let in the light. The sleeping platforms have 4 mats top and bottom, but as the top platform is short and poles in the centre of the bottom platform the matts don't fit like they should. It would certainly be interesting to see the hut when full.
We woke on Saturday morning to another pleasant day with little wind, no rain and some high cloud overhead, this was going to make the climb to Black Hill Hut very enjoyable. After packing up we headed along the Townshend Track to the bridge and the site of the old Townshend Hut. The track along here is once again wide and well graded which makes for an easy introduction to the day. Across the bridge, there was one vehicle and little remnants of the hut that once stood at this site.
We carried on up the Black Hill Track which gains 700 metres to the hut. Climbing steadily along the ridge we were in beautiful beech forest the whole way, occasionally getting glimpses of the surrounding hills. After a couple of hours we reached the junction with Fosters Ridge Track and a welcome sign telling us we only had half an hour to go until Black Hill Hut.
The hut sits just on the bush edge about 100 metre below the summit of Black Hill, it is a cozy 6 bunker with some pleasant views from the windows to the Canterbury Plains below.
The following day we woke to a cool breeze and overcast skies, which meant we had some extra layers on as we departed the hut. By the time we reached the junction with Fosters Ridge Track, the extra layers were coming off as the humidity rose and the clouds made way to clear skies and sunshine.
The ridge track drops about 500 metres to eventually join the Wharfedale Track, where we enjoyed morning tea. We carried on along the track, eventually reaching the saddle, if it wasn't for the sign you would have easily waked over it without noticing. This track is dual use, for trampers and mountain bikers it is wide and well graded the whole way, making for a really pleasant walk out.
Back at the View Hill car park we were no longer the only vehicle, there would have easily been 15 vehicles there all enjoying the forest on a beautiful Summers day.
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