After 99 completed trips, today marked a significant milestone in the #100 trips for 100 years with the completion of the 100th trip. The trip had originally been touted as 5 summits in 5 hours with 25 people so we arrived at the start of the trip with high hopes and were pleasantly surprised to find that there were indeed 25 people keen to experience the Cedar Creek Farm area and reach the summit of 5 peaks in 5 hours. Starting up the four wheel drive track it is a steep 1km walk, gaining 100m in height to the reservoir where we regrouped for some brief instructions on where we were headed.
After the discussion about not following the trapping tracks we headed off into the pine plantation towards Mt. Martin which was the first, and lowest of the five peaks at 478m. We only had a modest 60m in height to gain to reach the summit of Mt. Cutten which involved a stroll through the trees. Walking was easy as there is little/no undergrowth under the pine trees and the ground is a carpet of soft pine needles with the odd fallen branch to step over. It is hard to know when you are at the top of Mt. Martin as it is covered in trees and the only view is glimpsed through the branches. The only way we knew we were at the top was because there was no more uphill to go and so it was also the place to take our first summit picture - always a little difficult to take a team photo with so many people.
From Mt. Martin, we headed off towards our next summit- Mt. Cutten which is a little higher at 538m. We dropped off the summit of Mt Martin slightly and followed the contour until we reached a turnoff at the edge of the pine trees. This lead to a short but steep climb to the broad summit of Mt. Cutten from which we were able to get great views looking down onto the township of Port Chalmers and further down the harbour towards the city.
We carried on from the summit of Mt. Cutten for another five minutes to the Len Lye sculpture where we stopped for a short snack break and also our second summit photo which was even more difficult than the first as there isn't a lot of space for so many people.
After replenishing the energy levels we headed for our third summit - Mt. Kettle at 545m. While Mt. Kettle is not a lot higher, it involves a 140m descent down Mt. Cutten and then a160m climb up Mt. Kettle. First though we had to retrace our steps down the steep climb then through the pine trees, crossing below the reservoir before a sharp ascent that involved using trees and brute force to pull oneself up the steep incline to the summit of Mt Kettle. During this ascent, a shower of rain came over making most in the group stop to put on their jackets with a hardy few carrying on regardless. By the time we reached the top of Mt. Kettle the shower of rain had passed and we were able to enjoy the views from the top along with a short break for lunch.
From Mt. Kettle we could look back towards the two lower summits that we had already climbed and also towards our next summit - Mt Chalmers at just over 450m. We headed along the ridge of Mt. Kettle before dropping down into the pine trees again, crossing the forestry road and climbing up out of the trees, onto a scrubby flat. As there is no track to Mt. Chalmers, we had to detour from the track once we got close, briefly bash through the bush then a scramble up to the rocky summit of Mt. Chalmers.
The views in all directions were stunning and made the awkward scramble to the summit worthwhile. This being trip #100, it was fitting to look in all directions and pick out natural landmarks that had been part of the #100 trips and remember some of the many trips we had been on over the past year.
We could have spent much longer on top of Mt. Chalmers but after taking the summit photo, it was time to head towards our final summit - Mihiwaka.
At 561m, Mihiwaka is the highest summit in the Cedar Creek Farm area and is also a popular rock climbing area. While the climb to the broad summit of Mihiwaka is straight forward with an easy track, the rock climbers prefer the steep, rocky sides lower down. Having completed all five summits with 25 people, we took some time to celebrate the milestone of completing #100 trips, even more meaningful for the five people who had been on the
trip #1.
To complete the trip, we headed off down the side of Mihiwaka, dropping 200m down a very steep track that involved quite a lot of clambering down tree roots, hanging onto branches and generally trying to stay upright by clinging to trees before finally arriving slightly disheveled at the road. All up, it had been a fantastic day with 8.2km of walking by 25 people completing 5 summits in 5 hours - a fitting way to complete the #100 trips. Our mission 365 days ago was for the Otago Tramping & Mountaineering Club to complete 100 trips in a year and we were ecstatic to have completed all 100 trips, albeit with a couple of destination changes due to weather. Certainly an achievement to be proud of and for myself personally, I have completed 84 trips out of the 100.
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