Buckland Peak

overnight trip to Buckland Peak

Christmas was over, the weather was splendid and the forecast didn't look too bad either. We had spent enough time eating too much food and hanging out at the beach. Time to get back into the mountains. Christmas in the summer is weird, I've never really had real Xmas feelings, it was a pleasure though to walk around in shorts and t-shirts and going for swim in the ocean, while my relatives are freezing on the other side of the world.

The 1300m high Buckland Peak near Westport had always been recommended to me, I could just not do it earlier due to rainy and cloudy weather.

We took quite a few pictures for such a short trip.

Our helpx host drove us to the car-park and we had some boring 6km to the trail-head in front of us. There weren't too many cars parked and it looked like we would have the trail for us.

There are no river crossings and spare water has to be carried till the hut is reached. The access to the actual trail crosses farmland, which is quite common in New Zealand, and one has to walk or bicycle to get there. It was a muggy day and the sun was intense.This is one of the rare walks on the Westcoast where it is essential to carry enough water, unless one wants to ascend 1000 meter with a heat stroke. Autumn and early Winter are said to be the best times to go up here.

vast and boring farmland had to be crossed first

Once we got to the first steep part of the trail, we were walking trough Manuka trees. It didn't get that much colder as we hoped and a steep climb didn't made it easier. We sweated buckets. The other helpx I took with me couldn't believe how much she sweated. It was her first real backcountry trip. The flora was really interesting and changed constantly. 

the only flat spot during the ascend

I was back in the rain forest. The sky wasn't looking so good and I didn't expect to be able to climb up to the actual top. The tops are dangerous in bad weather, the visibility can be drastically impaired and the weather can change fast as well. We had to take a few breaks every now and then and reached the bush line after about 3 hours. The clouds were still low, but the wind got stronger and slowly pushed them away. It was still muggy, though.

first glimpse of the area, the clouds were slowly disappearing

We were still making good time and the weather improved so much that we decided to keep going and ascend right to the tops and not to stop at the hut. Buckland Peak Hut had been updated or rather said been rebuild a few years ago. For some reason one has to climb up and then descend for approx. 100 meter to reach it. We didn't want to ascend and descend the same steep bit twice. Besides it was just 5pm and we still had daylight for another 4.5 hours.

the hut in the middle, one has to climb even higher and then drop down to get there

The views were just spectacular and we soon left the small trees behind us. A beautiful alpine area was now in front of us: amazing bushes, moss, flowers and boulders and craggy cliffs and mountain tops. The pictures really don't do justice to the breathtaking views. The weather was just perfect. Almost all clouds were gone and we walked all the way up to the highest tops to enjoy the vistas of Westport, the Paparoa Mountain Range, Stockton and Karamea in the far distance:

must be vegetable sheep

peaks in the Paparoa National Park

Buller River and Westport, would make an amazing camp spot

the logged area in the upper middle are open carst coal mines, Karamea on the far left side

Such a beautiful part, this walk is definitely great. It is close to Westport and can be done in 1 or 2 days. There are no river crossings and the hut offers good shelter. We descended down to the hut, some clouds were coming back in, and we arrived right before sunset. The last glimpse of alpenglow was caught and we enjoyed our well deserved dinner.

We slept in the next morning and took our time to walk back to the road end. It was a easy stroll compared to yesterday. The forecast predicted rain, but we were lucky and got back to the road to catch a ride out.