Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary:Tramp No 100
Buckland Peak 19-20th February 2011
Buckland peak is a 1300M hill overlooking Westport and sitting beside the Buller River on the West Coast.
This was my second visit after an impromptu trip there three years ago after another club trip was canned due to weather. The main reason for a revisit was to get up onto the tops this time as on the last trip we didn't bother as the tops were covered in cloud. Brendon and myself left the car at 11:40am on an overcast but very warm and muggy day. I had noticed a slight tickle developing in the back of my throat on the trip over and wasn't feeling 100% by the time we started of on the first leg of the trip, which is a 5.5Km slog along a very uninteresting 4 wheel drive track. After an hour or so we got to the start of the climb and the lower reaches of the forest, this first section being skinny Manuka trees. With the high humidity and heat as well as me feeling a bit drained, we sweated our way up through ever changing bush, being followed by fantails, and enjoying the beautiful diversity of flora around us. This piece of forest is stunning. We had noticed that the tops were shrouded in cloud as we were approaching the mountain along the access road and this was still the case as we dropped down into the top of a gully where the hut was. We didn't see the hut at all until we were almost right on top of it. Almost resigned to the fact that I might not get onto the tops again, with the forecast for the morrow not to inspiring, we settled into the hut with a cuppa and waited to see what might happen later in the day, we did have good daylight till about 9pm. Looking through the hut book I first noticed that it was almost exactly 3 years since my last visit, being 3 days difference to put it on the equivalent weekend. There were plenty of names of people I knew who had been up there and almost all of them reported the same thing, tops all covered with cloud, and so they didn't bother heading up.
Later on the clag around the hut cleared and just before 6pm I ventured out for a look and found that the cloud had also cleared off the tops above us, but as i couldn't actually see Buckland peak from here, wasn't sure what was the conditions up there. I was feeling a little better after our rest and drinks and we decided to head up to the ridge and have a look at the tops. With ultra light packs now, we made quick time to the ridge and got out first clear view of the peaks. The mist was hanging around lower down the valleys but a light breeze had pushed them off the tops and after some observation and deliberation it was decided to have a go for the tops and if the mist rolled back up the hill we would make a hasty retreat. Our luck held and we managed to do a quick reconnaissance of the tops and got to enjoy the fantastic views of the Paparoas and other surrounding mountains as well as enjoying the cool rock formations of the peaks. The views and the tops themselves well surpassed my expectations. With daylight fading we enacted a hasty retreat back to the hut, arriving just as it was getting dark. After a late tea I had a restless night with what ever illness was infecting me.
The morning dawned with us again shrouded in mist and we set off about 8:30am for the trip back out the way we came. Again I felt the effects of this bug and although we still made good time out I was really feeling it. The last 5.5 km along the access road were the longest and hardest of my tramping career.
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| A view of the hill from the access road with wisps of cloud sitting on the tops, bugger! |
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| The Early part of the climb |
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| And there were a few trees. |
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| An a few more trees |
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| This fella as just sitting there in the middle of the track, lucky we didn't stand on him. |
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| I just love these twisted specimens. |
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| The very tidy 6 bunk Buckland Hut |
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| Looking over to the Buckland Peaks from the ridge above the hut. |
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| The mist in the valley below, will it come back up before we get to the tops. |
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| Another shot looking along the Paparoas. |
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| These shots(as good as they are) really don't do justice to the magnificence of the views we got to enjoy. |
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| I wasn't expecting the tops to be like this, it was a pleasant surprise |
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| Just breathtaking. |
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| One of the rocky outcrops on the Buckland tops. |
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| Beautiful vistas |
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| Made it. |
Great to see pictures of the peaks without snow. Those rock formations are indeed very lovely. Well done in spite of your feeling so unwell. Hope you've recovered.
ReplyDeleteThanks Honora, i did see your name in the hut book and saw you were there in the middle of winter. So you did get to the tops then, many others haven't or have but didn't get the views because of clag. we got lucky. it was awesome. Still not 100% yet but better go to work tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. Bucklands is one of the few West Coast tramps where essential to take enuff water. It's a thirsty climb and after dry spells you have to go well off track to find a damp spot. First time I struggled with only 300mls and a heat headache!
ReplyDeleteMy second trip up I also got onto the awesome tops. Next time I want to camp up there. Autumn and early winter are said to be the best.
Thanks for the sharing.
Hope you and yours are all safe.
Hi Jo, we are all well here.
ReplyDeleteYes our trip up was on a very warm and muggy day and I drank nearly 2L of water getting up to the hut.
I too would like to camp up on the tops, it was magnificant and plenty of good spots.
I'll give you a holler when we might be doing that, may be you woulod like to come too if timing convienient.