10/06/2026. Flagstaff. Grade 3. Hikers. Leaders: Phil Keene and Barbara Shackell.
Such a lovely morning. We were all away from the meet n greet sharpish and organised at the Bullring where 16 hikers were away up the Pineapple/Flagstaff track at 9.45am on the dot.
A few stops to turn around and enjoy the views, firstly to the coast and south to the Saddle, then as we ascended into the Strath Taieri and beyond. A spattering of snow on the Rock n Pillar. We poked our noses into Speirs Track freshly cut by the Green Hut Group (and later also Davies Track) before arriving at the lookout/monument for morning tea. This spot is always a meeting place of runners/walkers/dogs et al making for some good craic.
After morning tea, we continued on down to the junction, (pointing out Davies Track), where Barbara got chatting to a relative, as you do.
We headed west to the Swampy intersection, do we turn right or left, a few getting mildly confused.
We turned left and sou’west and shambled up the rise to the turn off right at noon down to the Ben Rudd shelter for lunch, a few of us thinking we’ll have to come back up this after lunch!
The sun was shining in at the right angle into the shelter making for a very pleasant half hour lunch. An entry was made into the logbook thanking the Ben Rudd Trust and OTMC for this facility.
After leaving the shelter we took a few minutes at the panorama board and seat to enjoy the views and identify and match the distant landmarks.
From here we finished the climb before descending the firebreak to the cars, stopping regularly to enjoy the panorama. The clay/rocky conditions underfoot were more sticky than slippery, not a bad thing.
At 1.45pm 14 of us headed over to the Roslyn Fire Station to continue a very convivial day out, finished off with tea, coffee and a choffee – ask Barbara about that! Thanks, Barbara, for being patient and cheerful along the way. Probably about 3 hours moving time and a smidgeon under 8km. Paradise (on a nice day) right on our back door. Phil
Link to background information and earlier tramps and hikes in the same area.