Party: Anna, Lesley
Map:
Distance: 11km
Elevation: 0-350 + 100-270 = 520 total
Time: Just over 4 hours, but we had an instagram stop (!) AND a longer lunch break than usual to watch the abseilers.
Notes: We are feeling the hot breath of Moss Pass in Nelson Lakes (March 2016) on our backs, so our first walks of the year are focused on elevation. Hills, and more hills. And lots of steps, just to mix it up. We discovered that the elevation difference between Blue Lake Hut and Moss Pass is about 600m (Moss Pass is 1785m high, Blue Lakes Hut is at 1190m, and it's about 1.7 km to the peak), so we are trying to make sure that we have a sense of how high and far it is, to consolidate our confidence. No paranoia here....
This is one of those walks you could recommend to someone else with a clear conscience. It has everything, and can be shortened or lengthened depending on what you want to do. The view from the lookout is amazing - we could see Te Toiokawharu in the distance and the west coast beaches stretching off to the right, with Piha directly in front of us. Hard to believe it had only taken a short while to get so far from where we had parked. We ran into Black Rock Dam on Centennial Track, which was in great shape - the water really clear and the remnants of the dam clearly visible in the structure. We wanted to have lunch at the falls, and joined the crowds of people (yes, crowds) soaking in the pools or canyoning or lounging on the rocks. What a novelty to come across anyone else! And as we walked down, we came across plenty of others headed up for a dip. The day was incredibly hot - late 20s - so that water looked pretty inviting. We loved the abseilers - one minute there was a sedate group of children splashing around, next there was a succession of people whizzing (or not) down the side of the falls. The instructor came down the ropes in the picture in about 3 seconds. We had coffee and gingerella (ok, and ginger crunch) at the Piha Cafe, which was really busy too - obviously we have never been to Piha in the summer! A great start to the tramping and walking year. Man, have we got plans!!
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| Gingerella |
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| Steps up from the Dam |
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| Kitekite Falls as we have never seen them before! |
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| Black Rock Dam |
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| Moss |
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| So graceful! |
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| Boulder Blonde |
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| Upstream |
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| Scribbles! |
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| Found washed up on a log... |
