Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes (includes weeding) (1 hour and 15 minutes from car park to Helicopter Hill summit)
Distance: 7.8 km
Start: Car park and shelter on Broken River Ski Field Road, just off State Highway 73
Finish: Same place (it's a loop)
Altitude gain: 480 m
Date: Friday 8th March 2024
The Craigieburn Forest Park, is a 44,600 hectare - mostly mountainous area - whose borders include, Arthur's Pass National Park, State Highway 73, the Waimakariri and Wilberforce Rivers. Only a 1.5 hour drive from Christchurch, the park is right on our doorstep, and has a multitude of tracks to explore - many of them are described on the community website: Craigieburn Trails. Today we were making a loop and summit of Helicopter Hill.
We turned off State Highway 73 onto Broken River Ski Field Road and parked at the shelter and information panel. The bellbirds/korimako were singing mightily, and about 20 mountain bikers from the Wairarapa were sorting out their gear getting ready for a ride up to the skifield. We set off on Mistletoe Track. Apparently the native red mistletoe/pikirangi grows in this area but we did not see any today.
The Mistletoe Track climbed steadily up through the beautiful beech forest. Steep enough to sweat - but not excessively so. We crossed an old slip and, as we climbed, the blue skies above us and the surrounding mountains came into view. The Department of Conservation track time from the car park to Lyndon Saddle is 1.5 hours but we got there in less than an hour at a pleasant pace.
From Lyndon Saddle it is only 15-20 minutes to the top via a sub-alpine gravelly ridge path. Sup-alpine ridge travel is my favourite. Clusters of dead wilding pines were around us, the result of Environment Canterbury's
wilding pine pest control programme. We were soon standing on the summit of Helicopter Hill (1256 m) admiring the gorgeous 360 degree views.
We headed back to the saddle, reminiscing about student days and the weird antics of engineering students (think helicopters and pelicans). They are probably all CEOs now. The aim was to complete the loop, so we turned right onto the Craigieburn Edge Track and meandered around the hill. Back in the beech forest (pleasantly dappled in sunlight), we stopped to chat to a couple of tomtits/miromiro. One must have been merely a chick. Just a ball of fluff really with a couple of sticks for legs.
We walked down the Craigieburn Skifield Road to the car park and then turned onto the
Sidle 73 Track which is aptly named because it sidles along State Highway 73. On the Department of Conservation website, walkers are asked to pull out wilding pine seedlings in this area. We soon came upon a fine young specimen, about 1.5 meters high with lush green needles. A perfect Christmas tree. But it's roots were deep and, try as we might, we could not pull it out. In the end we stripped some needles and broke some stems and tied the top bits in a knot. We basically tortured that tree and left it to die a slow and painful death. I felt sick to the stomach, because I am currently reading
"The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben where he pretty much says that trees have feelings.
We found a few more smaller seedlings and managed to pull them out properly - thereby doing our part for the environment. Back at the car, we had parked next to an old apple tree (not invasive) and I harvested a non-infested, albeit shrivelled apple. I munched as we drove to the
Taste of Kiwi Cafe in Springfield for coffees. A sandfly had entered the car just as I closed the boot and it must have eventually found my bare shins, because now, as I write this a couple of days later, I am trying hard to abide by the three rules of sandfly bites. Rule 1: DON'T ITCH. Rule 2: DON'T ITCH. Rule 3: DON'T ITCH.
