Ben Nevis – Mt Richmond Forest Park

Saturday 7 May 2022

It was a clear, cool morning when eleven keen trampers (eight club members and three visitors) met at Badminton Hall for the drive up to the beginning of the Ben Nevis track. The drive up through the Wairoa Gorge was a little bit rough in places, and we were very glad that we had managed to find enough 4WD cars. We met up with the Wakefield group of four at the beginning of the track about 9am to bring the total group to 15.

The beginning of the track is a very steep section up an open slope that had recently been logged. Then into the forest and up to a clearing where we stopped for morning tea. The next section was over a steep rocky area where a bit of negotiating was required to try and follow the best route. We arrived at the top at to see the amazing views in all directions. We were able to see Gordons Knob, the Red Hills (which were looking very red), Purple Top, Mt Rintoul, and back towards Nelson we could see Rabbit Island and the Boulder Bank. We were very lucky that it was so clear; the cloud started to roll in while we were having lunch and by the time we began our descent we were in the cloud.

On the way down we saw a lot of other trampers - we were really surprised at how many people were up there, in fact when we got back to the carpark there were an impressive ten vehicles parked up in the small space at the beginning of the track. It was a quick trip, with us all completing the return trip in about 6 hours.

Participants: Liz (leader & scribe), Maria, Rob, Sue, Jenny, Marian, Chris, Lynda, Christine, Paula, Jeanne, Tony and guests Shari, Pauline and Julie.