| Leader | Mentor | Understudy | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Dave R | Chris | Brent | Janice |
| Alternates | Ray | Norma | Ali | Moira |
Distance 14.4km; duration 5hrs 30min (approx); vertical ascent 577m
Now before anyone gets the idea that this was an easy little toddle on the Port Hills, you should know the Sugarloaf in question is not the Christchurch one with a tower on it. It’s not the one near Motueka, nor the Otago one either. Sugarloaf just happens to be a popular name for many nice rounded hills. No, this tramp was a bit tougher than the Port Hills one, and far more interesting too.
Our two groups totalling 45 trampers including visitor Mijung, set off from Benmore Station carpark just before 10am. Let’s be honest, that farm track towards the hills seems to go on forever. At least the stream crossings were a bit more fun – especially when one of the Standards bounced over the surface like a skimming stone, before the inevitable ‘plop’ of going down (I heard an Alternate had a bit of a splash too).
It was getting warmish as we made our grunting-grumbling way up the steep Annavale track, which made stopping for a late morning tea with glorious 360 degree views all the more appreciated. When we got to the signposted junction it was good to know we weren’t taking the track up Sugarloaf, but rather the one on the right towards our goal, Benmore Hut. A shorter distance, and through rather nice bush, but with its own challenges. Especially the really steep downhill bits just before lunch – these were best negotiated with a low centre of gravity, whilst hanging onto handy little trees growing close to the track.
The best thing about the Benmore Hut is that you can’t miss it when you’re getting close. Whoever decided this rustic, easy to find hut should be painted in almost-fluoro orange must have had a good sense of humour. It is certainly located in a lovely spot, with plenty of shade perfect for cooling down as we ate our hard-earned lunch (no pesky wasps or Over 40s trampers this time!).
Downhill after lunch – sounds ideal if not idyllic. And the track through the beech forest offered lovely dappled light, a little birdsong … and lots of mud. It was interesting to see the many predator traps, including the new really high-tech ones. Even better was seeing that there was a very dead black possum caught in one of the older traps.
How many heads got bumped on the low hanging branches? Only two that I observed, but there were most likely others (not me this week, tee hee!). Then there were all the tree trunks lying across the track which had to be climbed over (going under was fun too). And how many people slipped over when we constantly had to cross over the stream? – a few.
As for the return journey on that terribly long farm track we had traversed in the morning? Well, it seemed twice as long on the way back to the bus. It was 3.30pm when the weary Standards made it to our flash bus waiting back at the farm carpark, along with our driver James. By then the 17 Alternates had been waiting for an hour and a half. They too had had their fair share of steep uphill farm track walking, steep downhill farm track walking, rough tracks through beech forest, as well as lots of stream crossings (I did hear that they had also enjoyed two morning tea breaks, but that’s just a rumour).
After being undertaken three times by our club now, this tramp has likely earned its place on our yearly calendar, with its varied route and just enough challenges to stop us feeling we’ve easily mastered it.
Text by Shirls
