Thursday 07.12.23. Sunny, breezy morning, rain showery afternoon, Mt Somers vicinity. I drove 110km from Pleasant Point via Geraldine, Mayfield, Mt Somers, Ashburton Gorge to Lake Clearwater in Hakatere Conservation Park to climb Mt Guy, 1319m, overlooking Lake Clearwater & surrounded by Alpine peaks.
My climb stats: From Lake Clearwater carpark, 11km, 7h return. 600 vertical metres climb. (5.5km, 3.5h ascent to summit cairn. 5.5km, 3.5 descent back to carpark). Excl in stats, half hour lunch & pic break by the summit cairn. A full day's hike.
The DOC pole-marked track had various DOC signs enroute. The farm track from the carpark skirted SE end of Lake Clearwater to a Pringle memorial bench near a footbridge at the lake outlet. NE end of Lake Clearwater, beyond the footbridge, the track led to a stile from where the climb began through tussock, becoming steeper through matagouri scrub beside a rocky gully. About halfway up, the track became very steep sidling up & over rocky outcrops to ease over summit tussock with grand Alpine & lake views from the summit cairn.
Anticlockwise, Some lakes & mountains seen enroute: Lake Clearwater, Lake Camp, Harper Range, Lake Emma, Mt Peel, Coal Hill, Moorhouse Range, Trinity Hill, Ashburton Gorge, distant Canterbury Plains, Mt Barrosa, Clent Hills, Mt Somers Range, Winterslow Range, Taylor Range, Dogs Range, hidden tarns in tussocklands at mt bases, The Pyramid, Mt Potts, Mt Sunday (Edoras, Lord of the Rings fame), snowy D'Archiac, The Thumbs, snowy Main Divide, Two Thumbs Range, Rangitata River headwaters, Ben McLeod Range...
Fauna seen: Black swans in Lake Clearwater; 1 pipit, I imitated its whistle keeping it company a while; 1 butterfly; skinks; grasshoppers, flies.
Flora: Tussock grassland; matagouri; small, white flowering celmisias; bigger celmisias; speargrass; yellow flowering bulbinella; creamy flowering snowberries; white flowering pentachondra pumila, some red berries trackside; yellow flowering buttercups; pale blue flowering wahlenbergias; broom; scleranthus; drachophyllum; craspedias; scabweeds... Also yellow flowering hieracium hawkweed, seen from lakeside to mt top, thanks to past stockfarming.
As on previous hikes over the years I found DOC signs wishful thinking regarding walk times & distances. DOC didn't reckon on lengthy zig-zagging needed to avoid plant, mud, rock & scree obstacles. An example, DOC sign by the stile below Mt Guy: Mt Guy Summit 2 km / 1 hour 15 min.
My reckoning from stile to summit, as per 2 fitness apps on my Cell: 3km / 2h 45 min. (Same for ascent & descent climbs).
Patchy Cell coverage: Midday, I texted & phoned my wife from Mt Guy summit, no problems. But enroute texts I sent from Lake Clearwater carpark & half way up Mt Guy were undelivered.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
