| Leader | Mentor | Understudy | Tail Ender | |
| Standards | Tony | Chris S | Janne | Sally |
| Alternates | Les G | Norma | Ali M | Ray |
Stats (approx ): Distance 15km; elevation gain 500m; time walking 4hr
The closer bus driver Alan got to our Prebble Hill destination the bluer the sky became. Piling off the bus at Castle Hill Station 49 trampers including visitors Mark, Megan and Graham soon learned from Alan H following his communications with the Station that the access bridge had washed out last winter and the river was up. The sky may have been blue but the air temperature was wintry and the prospect of a day’s walking in wet boots was not a happy one. The day’s tramp was changed to Hogs Back Track. We all piled back on the bus.
Hogs Back Track is the result of at least six years consultation between the Castle Hill community and the Department of Conservation. Most of the track’s construction was carried out by a series of community work parties over the summer of 2010/2011. The track is approximately 8km long and provides access to the backcountry for trampers, mountain bikers and skiers.
The club (both groups follow the same route) had done this tramp a couple of months earlier. While the toadstools seen in March had gone, the bellbird/korimako and tūī were still in full voice and on occasions very close to the track. It’s a scenic walk alternating between patches of beech forest with a sweet smell of honeydew, tussocky flats and stream crossings.
Morning tea conversation at the Lightning Tree turned to photo opportunities, Instagram, other trees and disasters. And hypothetically, what would we do first – take the photo or rescue someone? We talked of the perils of crocodiles in Florida chomping idly dangling hands, to pythons in trees in Australia descending on and swallowing wallabies sitting below, which prompted someone to ask, “Do I look like a wallaby?” We assured them that they did not.
As the day wore on it got markedly chillier. There were some exposed zigzags from where we could see the Alternates lunching on the flat in the sun. The wind on the zigzags was keen enough to blow away words, destabilise footing and contemplate the need for ballast (a large rock?) in the packs of lighter trampers. Some of the Standard group stopped for lunch at the foot of the Hogs Back ridge, others scrambled to the top and took in views of places we’d walked – Camp Saddle, Lyndon Saddle and Helicopter Hill – and ate lunch in what one described as “the teeth of the gale”.
It got colder by the minute, clouds were swirling about the snowy Craigieburn peaks. Most added hats and gloves and extra layers for the return walk. It was a brisk, warming, outward walk. The birds were still singing and all were invigorated by the time the Standards rejoined the Alternates who had been waiting twenty minutes at the bus. Another very welcome day out of the city.
Text by Jen C
