Shuttle: Mountain Road, Pulpit Rock, Long/Powder Ridges, Whare Flat

Pulpit Rock – Information and Trips Library

3. 13/2/2019. Trampers. Mountain Road to the Silverstream. Hard. Bus. Leaders: Arthur and Eleanor.

The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky as Bob the Busman (no, not Bob the Builder) transported 16 eager Trampers to Mountain Road for the day’s adventure.

The tramp started at 9.35 a.m., with the first objective being Pulpit Rock.

Afters 30 minutes, morning tea was partaken of trackside – in the shade, as the heat was building.

A brief rest stop was taken at Green Hut (site), and then again, briefly, after the short stiff climb just after.

Past Green Hill, and then up the steep climb towards Pulpit Rock. Puffs of a lovely cool nor-east breeze were very welcome assistance here, although the group got well spread out anyway.

G.2nd--Heading to Pulpit rock-SteepP1050472c — Heading to Pulpit rock – Steep. (Gordon pic and caption.)

G.3rd--Not long nowP1050473c — Not long now. (Gordon pic and caption.)

Eventually we made it to the top, several going to the summit of Pulpit Rock (760 metres – we had started the day at 400 metres.)

G.4th--The few who conqured the Rockc — The few who conqured the Rock. (Gordon pic and caption.)

The others were content to wait and rest on the track below, and all had earned a good rest.

G.3rd--The group before starting down Long Ridge trackc — The group before starting down Long Ridge track. (Gordon pic and caption.)

At 11.55 a.m. we began the descent down onto Long Ridge. Altitude is lost quickly at first, and the track had been well cleared here.

The walk down Long Ridge was most enjoyable, although it was through knee high grass mostly. The lunch stop was called at 12.30, when a suitable shady spot was found. A very enjoyable half hour was spent here.

At 1.25 we had climbed up off Long Ridge onto the highest knob of Powder Ridge (586 metres) and taken a last view of the Pulpit. The cloud was building now on the windward side of the Silverpeaks and Swampy, with its pleasant cooling breeze accompanying us.

The final leg of our tramp was now down Powder Ridge, and a new rope was a great assistance going down the first brief steep bit.

The track undulates, always trending down, but with some brief climbs up a knob before descending once more. It is a beautiful track, and the N.E. breeze was filtering through the trees to help cool us.

Rest and regrouping stops were made at 2pm and 3pm. It is a long way down Powder Ridge, but the time eventually came for the final steeper descent to the bottom of the track.

Easy going now, we crossed the Silverstream at the old weir,

G.4th--The last obstacleP1050486c — The last obstacle. (Gordon pic and caption.)

and onward, arriving at the car park at 4.20 – tramp complete (at 100 metres altitude). The distance metres stated 19 km -what a great effort by the group. Congratulations to all for completing it.

A special tramp indeed!

And thanks to Eleanore for helping organise the day so ably. And also to Gordon, Dave, Alan, and Art. for getting up early to position the cars at the Pumphouse, so that we could all return to Mosgiel.

What a great day it was.

Thanks to all the group. – Art.

2. 15/10/2003. Trampers. Semple Road to Whare Flat. Hard. Shuttle. Leaders: Lex, Wendy J, Evelyn C.

1. 25/2/1998. Semple Road to Pulpit Rock, Long Ridge, Whare Flat. Bus fare to be arranged. Leaders: Jack R, Nelson, Claude.

Share this:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply