Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Distance: 4.1 km
Start: 22 Morgan's Valley Road
Finish: Same place - it's a loop
Date: Friday 15th March, 2024
Warning: All the tracks in the Morgan's Valley have been technically closed since the Christchurch 2011 Earthquakes
Because of rockfall danger from the bluffs above, the network of tracks tucked away in Morgan's Valley, have been technicallly closed since the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. But locals have continued to maintain and use them, and they have also creatively named them. Today we were attempting the Morgan Baa Baa Loop, as verbosely described on the Wild Things website by "trail legend", Tony Sharpe.
Despite the forecast, it was a beautiful sunny morning. We parked on Morgan's Valley Road outside number 22 and walked up to the cluster of letterboxes at the top - numbers 38 - 54 (I think). Recessed into a wooden retaining wall, we eventually spotted the stairs and the easy-to-miss Tree Hut Track sign. A few meters along this track we veered right as per Tony's description. But something was amiss and I don't know what. We never found "the turnstile" or the "tree hut". We came to the Field of Dreams Track and took a left turn onto it. Perhaps we could have gone a bit higher above the pine trees somewhere here. It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and the track sidled pleasantly, direction north, below the pine trees.
We wandered along for awhile on the Field of Dreams Track until shortly after the "Tī tree corridor" (planted there by the locals for the birds), we stopped to check out an olive tree. Zhanna was keen to try the green dangling fruits, and I would have been a goer too if Nicole had not had a vague recollection that raw olives are toxic. We Googled it later and, sure enough, they contain a bitter compound called oleuropien which causes "gastro-intestinal discomfort" so we had dodged a bullet.
Further on, we did sample the rosehips (high in Vitamin C), carefully avoiding the prickly pips. I can vouch that they are not particularly yummy, but apparently you can make them into a syryp or even just take a tablet. There were other berry trees which may or may not have been hawthornes [Ed's note: yes they were]. Apparently you can eat those berries (called haws) too but we didn't want to risk it. My mum and her friend Maggie used to eat haws when they were kids and they called it "cheese-bread".
We bypassed the Beer Bum Track turn-off then dropped down to a munted gate. Massive rocks lie dotted about the Morgan's Valley tracks. They are the earthquake displaced boulders that rained down from the bluffs above. All was quiet today so, unperturbed, we continued on until the path zig-zagged down to Morgan's Track and a second gate (intact). The plan was to take a small side trip to the Heathcote Quarry Reserve. Once through the gate, the path narrowed amidst a towering fennel jungle. We squeezed ourselves along and got fabulously brushed and seasoned.
We returned to the gate and, heading direction south, followed Morgan's Track which ran parallel (but much lower down) to the Field of Dreams Track. A piwakawaka/fantail fluttered about our heads and then landed on the wire fence directly in front of us, letting out a stream of consciousness. We listened - spellbound - I think it was all positive - or perhaps it was just a rant. It flew off and we went on our way. At the junction, not far from the munted gate, we took the grassy corridor back down to Morgan's Valley Road. Someone's front garden was sporting a spectacular maple tree, bedecked in all the colours of autumn.
It was a short drive to Upshot Coffee Cafe and Roastery on Bridle Path Road which has lovely home baked savoury muffins with cream cheese. We sat outside in the sun, next to the stables, inhaling wafts of frying sun flower seeds and horse poo. And fennel too. An interesting - and not altogether unpleasant - olfactory experience.
