Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Scott's Saddle

The end of May was looming rapidly and featuring a distinct lack of outdoor adventures.  So we decided to grasp the last weekend with both hands and set off into the wilderness for a weekend tramp.  Only the weather didn't get the memo, with a last minute check of the forecast on Saturday morning sporting a giant red blob of nastiness descending over the South Island.  

So we ditched the heavy overnight packs and set off for a day walk that would hopefully stay dry long enough to allow May to be crossed off the list.  A quick search on the internet identified the Scott's Saddle track near Mount Hutt as a good candidate.


After a few geographically-challenged detours, we made it to the start of the track and zig-zagged our way steeply up through beech and rata forest before popping out on to the Mount Hutt skifield road at the saddle.  It was a bit of a grunt and my legs paid the price.


There wasn't much snow for skiing (oh how things will have changed - I currently have 15cm on the front lawn) but the views out over the Canterbury plains were pretty.


The pizza lunch was tasty and the company pretty good.



The norwester was starting to blow, so we hightailed it down the hill, stopping briefly to poke a huhu grub.  Luckily for him, we were all pretty full from lunch! 

 

May: done.  Just, by the skin of my teeth!  And June too.  But that's a different story.