Canyon Creek Trip
May 11- 12
An on time departure from the clubrooms saw five of us (increased to six
at Waitati, where Liz joined us) speeding away in a spacious van, minus
trailer, to North Otago and the Ahuriri Valley. After rendezvousing with
Alan Thomson's group at the Hampden tea stop, we continued to convoy to
the access road at the start of the valley, to reach Birchwood Station
homestead where the key to the locked gate (allowing vehicular entry to
the upper valley) was obtained. Pausing every couple of minutes to allow
Ken Powell to open and shut a succession of gates, we eventually reached
Ahuriri Base Hut, easily spotted from a distance by a startlingly
intense light emanating from within. On closer inspection the source of
this light proved to be ... yes; what else, an electric light bulb.
(We'd wondered why there'd been a cable laid out on the road all the way
from Benmore Dam). We made a quick social call on the inhabitants (Alan
'Sparky' Perry and party) and acquired Phil as another member of our
party (he'd complained about the light) This turned out to be quite
fortuitous, as the following morning yours truly discovered he'd
forgotten bring half of the main course for the following night, and his
breakfasts, but Phil had some extra food. Another 20 minutes saw us
reach the entrance to Canyon Creek, our final destination We made quick
work of erecting the fly, just in time to avoid the rain. A sip of Liz's
port and we were settled in for the night, only slightly disconcerted by
Ann's talk of taking her 'passion pills'
In the morning the rain was gone, but - it was overcast and a bit claggy around the tops. I despaired of ever seeing what the peaks around here
looked like. Several of us had been on the same trip the previous year,
and the weather had been pretty much the same, but we were stymied from
doing our intended round trip up Canyon Creek and over into the main
Ahuriri Valley because mustering was being carried out. This time
mustering operations were on again but we still hoped to do a circuit by
going up Canyon Creek and traversing the tops, which divide the two
valleys, and then dropping back down into Canyon Creek below the lower
cirque. We set off and followed the well defined track up a bit of a
climb where it avoids an impressive gorge, through bush and then down
again to the river, and from there it was reasonably easy travel
alongside it and then over a boulder field to arrive at the foot of the
lower cirque. This barrier had caused us a few headaches last year when
we missed the track turn off where it heads up the hill to the side, and
did it the hard way over an old sometimes precarious route up through
shrub and rock to meet the 'official' track at the top. This time we
knew where to go, and in no time at all were at the top of the cirque, a
reminder of the area's glacial origins. There we had lunch in the
tussock, and were soon joined by Alan Thomson's party, who were doing a
day trip from the hut, before going over into the Dingle the following
day. Parting company from them again, we continued on our way to the
head of the valley, ending up at a wonderful large rock bivvy, where we
decided we'd stop for the night. Splitting up, Liz, Ann and Phil took
off for a look at the upper basin, while Robyn, Matt and I did a reccy
of a possible route for the next day, or at the very least try and get a
glimpse of the Ahuriri, in case it wasn't possible on Sunday. After a
fairly steep climb through tussock and then scree, and noting the
presence of a few tarns, we were on the tops and taking in the glorious
(but somewhat truncated) views of the upper basin of Canyon Creek, with
the scarred and imposing cirque the main draw card, crowned by
Thurneyson glacier and the half hidden Mt. Barth. Turning around, we
looked down into the Ahuriri far below, and Watson Stream, one of the
main feeder streams, almost opposite on the other side. A thick stand of
beech started at this point in the Ahuriri and continued as far up
valley as the eye could see. Robyn collected some lichen samples, and
then it was back down to the bivvy to cook tea, and have an early night.
The morning dawned clear and bright, and we finally got an uninterrupted
view of the peaks. It was worth waiting for. We took a less direct but
more comfortable route up the hill this morning, and were almost at the
top when we became bathed in sunlight. Amazing how that seems to inject
you with renewed energy! At the top we did the photo thing and then
started weaving our way through large craggy rocks to try and reach the
high point of the area, which we did in quick time. More photos, and
much admiring of the views. From this vantage point you could see quite
a distance up and down the Ahuriri; a wonderful valley. Mt. Barth was
fully visible now, not quite as majestic as you had earlier imagined it
might be, but still pretty impressive. Along the way we couldn't help
noticing the rather steep drop off on the Ahuriri side of the hill. We
were happy to stay on the Canyon Creek side. After a morning of
reasonably straightforward travel we stopped for lunch on a terrace
above a scree slope, which we hoped to descend to Canyon creek.
Lunchtime chatter consisted of a discussion about the declining rate of
male fertility, and a description of an interesting method of birth
control. Armed with all this newfound wisdom, we began the descent. The
scree turned out to be not quite as runnable as we had thought, and a
little steeper than we really wanted. The presence of large loose rocks
meant we had to stick together, and pick our way tentatively down so as
to keep our footing, and avoid setting off rock slides. It was hard
work!
Two hours later we rejoiced as the bottom of the incline was reached A
quick drink from the river and we continued on down stream, retracing
our steps of the previous day. Since our difficult descent had put us
behind time. Matt shot of ahead to get to the van and tell Alan
Thomson's party what we were up to. Despite the rigours of that scree,
on arriving at tile van we nevertheless felt we had a really satisfying
weekend. Hopefully the club can schedule the next trip into this area in
the summer, so that a fuller exploration can be carried out, and that
crossover trip might be completed yet! After meeting up once again with
Alan's party (Alan P. had gone out earlier, rolling up his cable as he
went) we rolled off back down the lengthy four wheel drive track to
emerge on the main highway. A stop at the Omarama pub for fish 'n chips,
where we rejoiced on hearing the result of the Highlanders latest match,
then onwards through rain to reach home at a late hour. Grant Burnard on
behalf of Robyn Bridges, Liz Clark, Ann Burton, Phil Keene and Matt
Corbett - thanks for their company and humour, and Alan Thomson for
organising the trip
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