Buckland Hut - 16-17 Febuary 2008

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No.69

Buckland Hut - 16-17 February 2008

This weekend was supposed to be a Club trip to Sawcut Gorge but the weather forecast during the week was for plentiful rain in the aforementioned location and due to the river levels being of critical importance to the success of that trip, the leader pulled the plug on Thursday night. This resulted in a flurry of emails between the rest of the group, who all desperately wanted to do something this weekend. Buckland Peaks and the attendant Hut became our destination of mutual consent. I was especially pleased at this, as this destination had been on my to do list for many a year. Therefor 6 trampers headed west on a balmy Saturday morning to arriving at our destination at around Midday. After leaving the car we first got to experience a 6km slog along a 4WD track before we get to the start of a very good track through very attractive bush. The hut sits at just above 1100M, so after a climb of around 1000M and 4 or so hours from the car we ascend into the basin where the hut is located. After claiming bunks and making a cuppa we settled down for a short rest before heading up to have a look at the tops. One of the more experienced members of the group must have been feeling fairly lethargic at this time and suggested waiting until the morrow to tackle the tops after we left the hut. Obviously none of us took any notice of the many stories in the hut book of parties that didn't make the summit due to the weather conditions. Some of us did go for a wander around the closer ridge overlooking the hut and then settled in for a pleasant evening of socialising and sleep.

 Of course the morning dawned with thick clag and light rain obscuring all visibility and after a prolonged breakfast and packing, hoping things would clear, the leader decided to cut out losses and head back to the cars.

Uncle Roddus took off at a great rate of knots and didn't stop until the clearing on the track signposted "Halfway House"(its not) whereupon he stopped for refreshments and for the others to catch up. Two of the others soon arrived and informed Uncle Roddus that due to the break in the cloud, three of the group had headed back up to hopefully get a glimpse of the tops, we didn't share their optimism and already being so far down the hill, were reluctant to slog all the way back up. A wise choice as the clag didn't clear of the tops.

We arrived back at the cars soon after midday and made it back home by tea time, the others who went back up to be disappointed by still not getting any views, didn't get back till after 10pm.

Half Way House.

Westport.