Hiking Tails
Adventures on the trail (mostly) with Shanti dog
Camping on the Dogs Range
Shanti repeats the walk to Mystery Lake - but with a pack on - and then Mum takes him even further (but thankfully not as far as she had planned) for an overnight camp in snow on the Dog Range
Cloudy Hill
Inspired by the views from our trip up Mt Lyndon and the cars parked at the turnoff to Porters Ski Field and trying to guess where the occupants had headed, Shant’s Mum decided to take him for a walk up Cloudy Hill.
Mt Lyndon revisted
Shanti revisits Mt Lyndon with his friends - and is pleased to find less snow on this trip.
Slogging up Mt Fyffe
Shanti enjoys a snowy walk on Mt Fyffe but thinks it was an awfully long drive for a day walk.
A look at Mt Harper
Shanti discovers spikey Spaniards and prickly matagouri on a recce trip to Mt Harper and discovers (again) that hikes with Mum are over-rated.
Last outing before lockdown
Shanti’s last trip to the mountains before a Level 4 lockdown curtails his trips up hills and to rivers.
Hogs Back again
Shanti enjoys a short Sunday stroll on the Hogs Back Track, but starts to suspect that at least part of the reason for this walk was to scope out other (harder) walks.
Boundary Creek Hut
Shanti and his dog friends go on an overnight trip to Boundary Creek Hut in the Hakatere Conservation Area. Shanti gets to carry a pack with his own food and treats while Maisy and Scruff run about pack free. Shanti was possibly not too impressed about that part, or the sleeping in the tent part (again).
Hamilton Peak
Shanti heads off for a trip up to Camp Saddle at just under 1500m but ends up on Hamilton Peak at 1922m. It turned out to be a much harder walk than his Mum had promised at the start of the day.
Broken River Ski Field
Shanti explores the road up to Broken River Ski Field and gets most of the way up Nervous Knob for a lunch stop with a view.
Leith Hill - unifinished business
It was supposed to be a hot and windy day so our team planned a walk on the Leith Hill Loop Track. It sure was windy, but it wasn’t in the high 20s, so we tried to get to the top of Leith Hill. Will nasty gusts and spillover rain coming in we retreated, with some unfinished business on Leith Hill. We will be back.
Tent camping
Shanti goes on an overnight tramp and sleeps in a tent for the first time. He explores the route to Lake Emily and onto Manuka Hut, carries his own backpack, sleeps in the wild - and he thinks he might just like it.
Fit for a Prince too
Shanti goes on his first 4x4 drive, followed by an off-route walk to Princess Bath in the St James Conservation Area. He has declared the bath fit for a prince too and suggested a name change to Prince/ss Bath.
Leith Hill Loop
Shanti gets an unexpected second adventure for the day on the Leith Hill Loop and Thomas River Track at Castle Hill Village.
Avoca Homestead (almost)
Shanti endures a long drive for a short walk to Avoca Homestead (almost - he’s not allowed into, or across, the river). A trail tail in which no balls (or pine cones) were thrown.
A walk in the swamp
A planned walk around Lake Emma and an unplanned swamp adventure
Coal Pit Spur Track
The Coal Pit Spur track is an easy walk and great for a dogs-included walk on those tricky, hot summer days when you need shade and water. It’s a shared mountain bike trail so watch out for cyclists.
Camp Saddle to Lyndon Saddle (again)
Liz and I completed this trip about a month earlier when Mirjam and Scruff weren’t available - so we were due for a revisit for a full team tick.
Rabbit Hill (again)
We headed out to revisit Rabbit Hill. This is now part of the Mountain Dog Challenge run by Further Faster, but our original tick for the challenge was Double Hill.
Mystery Lake
We started at the Potts River car park. The route follows the river for a short while before climbing up the bank, and the views just get better and better.