#56 of 100 trips for 100 years - McNally Track 14 May 2023

 

Nine people keen to see the sights of the McNally Track weren't put off by the threatening rain or the ominous start of leaving from a cemetery. After climbing over a stile and heading up through farm paddocks, the slope is reasonably gentle for the first 100m of climbing.  Following the markers, we hugged the fence line and scared only a few sheep to the other side of the paddock.   With lush green grass, the ground was dry underfoot and we made good time, passing through a number of gates along the way. 

After a half hour of this easy travel, we crossed through a gate and onto a four wheel drive track for a short distance before we needed to make our first decision of the trip. There are a couple of loops on the McNally Track and as we reached the first loop track, we opted to take the 'high route' which took us up a short, steep incline to a great view overlooking the township of Milton and the surrounding countryside.

We continued climbing up the hill, sticking close to the fence to dodge all the small pine trees that have recently been planted on the farm land.  It is disappointing to see how much of the surrounding farmland has now been converted to forestry as in a few years the views that we were enjoying will be hidden behind the trees.

At about the halfway point we came to our second loop track and our second decision of which way to go. The decision was to continue up the hill and take the nature walk through the bush.  This involved following the fence line until crossing a stile over the fence and into a stand of native bush.  The well benched track through the bush traverses the contour line where we were followed by a friendly piwakawaka who flitted along beside us, darting in and out catching the bugs that we stirred up as we passed.  After emerging from the native bush, it is a short but steep climb up the final 100m to reach the hill top where we were rewarded with views encompassing the Taieri plains, Tokomariro River and inland to the Blue Mountains. 

It was here that we made the unanimous decision for an early lunch so that we could take our time to admire the fantastic views that stretched out in front of us.  The only downside to this idyllic spot are the pine trees that have been planted to just below the summit of the hill, meaning that these wonderful views will be gone in a few years time.

From this great vantage point we could see storm clouds gathering to the south so we wasted no time in packing up after lunch and heading down the hill back to the cars.  We took the main track, down through the paddocks that are now full of small pine trees and were able to enjoy the views as we descended 140m  steeply down the ridge. 

We met up with the track again at the junction to the bush walk and once we had regrouped, we continued down the hill.  Unfortunately we weren't quite fast enough as the rain caught us about halfway down and we sheltered under some trees to don parkas before continuing down the lush green farm paddocks, scaling the stiles as we went.  As we reached the final fence and the cars were within sight, the light rain eased off and we made it back to the cemetery in good spirits.  A shorter trip of only 8.1km and 300m of climbing that took us around 3 hours.