Time: 4 hours and 50 mins (2.5 hours carpark to hut; 1 hour and 50 minutes hut to car park)
Distance: 12.5 km
Start: Car park (of sorts) on the corner of Cloudsley Road and State Highway 73, just below Bealey Village
Finish: Same place (it's there and back)
Date: Friday 12th September 2025
The Bealey Spur Track is one of the many iconic hikes in the stunningly beautiful Arthur's Pass National Park. A mere 2.5 hours drive from Christchurch/Ĺtautahi, it is best walked on a bluebird winters day - and ideally just after a dumping of snow (i.e. today). The Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai, rates the track as "easy" and it is a wonderful sub-alpine experience - a fairly steady climb along a spur to the aptly named Bealey Spur Hut.
We parked the car in the rough-and-ready "visitors car park" (just a pot-holey side road really) and wandered up Cloudsley Road through the tiny settlement of Bealey Village, past the quaint old baches until we were at the DOC signage and the official start of the track. Here you enter the beech forest and soon leave the sound of the State Highway 73 traffic behind.
I have always thought there is something magical about beech forests and today was no exception. The sunlight was streaming through the canopy, lighting up the greeny hues of the mosses. Somehow, you feel the presence of those trees. All connected via the underground mycelium network. There was a sprinkling of snow here and there to add to the enchantment.
After about an hour and 10 minutes of steady climbing, the trees began to thin and, at some point, we were out in the open with blue skies overhead and glimpses of the braided silvery Waimakariri awa in the broad valley below us. We stopped in the sun for grand vistas and snacks.
Underway again, the snow lay on the ground around our feet and we were crunching through it. There was a board-walk and some small tarns where Nicole practised her upside-down photography technique. Then there was a huge tarn that could be viewed better as we climbed higher and looked down upon it.
The views were just superb. To the north we could see State Highway 73 snaking towards Arthur's Pass Village, with the Mingha Valley branching off to right. To the east, Woolshed Hill is prominent in the distance and to the south, the Cass - Lagoon track is somewhere there. But the grandest vista of them all is the crumpled snowy main divide to the west - the Southern Alps/ Ka Tiritiri o Te Moana. A magnificient panorama.
We were about to re-enter the trees of Fanghorn Forest. By now the snow was all about us. One wouldn't be too suprised to see Gandalf whistling for Shadowfax. The tree line was near and the beech trees were becoming stunted - somewhat resembling bonsai. Tree fungus hung from branches like whispy beards. For some reason I thought of Japan - or perhaps this association comes about because we are currently watching Midnight Diner on Netflix (highly recommended).
We arrived at the corrugated-iron Bealey Spur Hut (a.k.a Musterer's Hut, Top Hut and Top Horse Hut). Inside were bunks and graffiti and signs that a fire may have recently been lit in the fireplace. The hut was built in 1925 for the sheep musterers of nearby Cora Lynn Station. The hut was painted green "by persons unknown" in the 1990's (I like that). Many moons ago, me and my hoa rangatira and our two kids stayed the night and, although it looks fairly rough-and-ready, my memories recall it being very cosy indeed.
