#1 of 100 trips for 100 years

The Otago Tramping & Mountaineering Club is celebrating it's centenary by running 100 tramping trips over one year starting in October 2022 and finishing at Labour weekend 2023.  I am going to use this blog to record all of the tramping trips that I do as part of the the 100 trips which will, hopefully, involve going tramping with the OTMC every weekend there is a tramping trip. 

The first trip to start the 100 trips was  001 Mt Allan Ridge Silver Peaks  on  Sunday, 16 October to Mount Allan Ridge in the Silver Peaks.  The Silver Peaks is about a 30 minute drive from Dunedin and has been the most visited area of the OTMC during it's 99 year history.  The trip to Mt Allan Ridge was chosen as the first trip as it was during a tramping trip to the area in December 1922 by a group of local trampers that the decision to form the Otago Tramping Club was made.  

It has been about six years that we have been talking about the 100 trips for 100 years so it was heartening to finally make a start with the first trip of the 100 trips on Sunday, 16 October.  Fifteen people turned up at 8am for the first trip and after carpooling to the Silver Peaks, we enjoyed the warm sunshine as we headed up the track from the car park on Mountain Road.  The pace was brisk but not overly fast and I was able to think about how the Silver Peaks have changed over the 35+ years that I have been tramping in the area  Back when I first visited the Silver Peaks it had been used for grazing and the vegetation was low so that you could wander the ridges at will.  Today the Silver Peaks is a reserve with no stock is allowed, although there is plenty of sign of wild pigs, the vegetation has grown and the views are limited on Green Ridge to only a few places.  Now it is very much stick to the tracks as the vegetation is thick and difficult to push through.

Above Green Hut Site, heading towards Pulpit Rock

Once at Green Hut Site we had a short morning tea break before the real up hill started.  We each found our own pace and headed up the 200m climb to Pulpit Rock.  As we climbed out of the bush the views began to really open up which gave a good excuse for regular stops as we climbed higher.  The short push to the top of Pulpit Rock was a compulsory stop and we spent some time here enjoy the 360 degree views picking out Mt Cargill, Mt Charles, Mt Watkin, Rock and Pillar Range, Maungatua and over the Taieri Plains. 

The group at the top of Pulpit Rock

Once rested we headed down Pulpit Rock to the track and followed it around onto Mt Allan Ridge, which was easy going on an old four wheel drive track although there were a few places that we needed to push through the gorse.  This part of the Silver Peaks was new to me and I enjoyed the views of Pulpit Rock and the The Painted Forest from a different angle.  We stopped for lunch in the sun just before the track dropped down the ridge to the edge of the Silver Peaks/Weneta Forest boundary. We were spoilt for choice of views at lunchtime as, depending on where you sat you could look towards Saddle Hill and Mosgiel, contemplating all the people living there were missing out on such a rare calm day in the Silver Peaks, or look atThe Painted Forest and thinking about how the forest got it's name.  I had not realised how big The Painted Forest is as I had only ever seen it from the ridge leading to the top of the Devil's Staircase where you only see a small part of it, or towards Pulpit Rock and watch, from a distance the groups of trampers making their way along the ridges.  Needless to say we had an extended lunch stop enjoying the sun and lying in the tussock.  

Walking along Mt Allan Ridge, lunch stop is knob in the middle of the picture

After lunch we retraced our steps back along Mt Allan Ridge to Pulpit Rock.  Despite the forecast afternoon rain the sky remained clear and calm which made the descent to Green Hut Site enjoyable.  A regroup at Green Hut Site and then it was a fast walk along Green Ridge back to the Mountain Road car park.  All up the trip was around 15km and took us about 6 hours including a lengthy lunch stop and with a perfect weather for walking it was a good start to the 100 trips for 100 years.

 

The team of 15 on trip 001 of the 100 trips for 100 years