A climb of Peak Hill lying on the south-western side of Lake Coleridge rewards one with sweeping views in every direction especially when the day is fine and sunny as it was on Saturday the 12th September. It is worth the two hour drive from Timaru to get to the track that starts from Algidus Road.
The track begins on a marked easement over private land, crosses a stile and continues for a short distance on an easy gradient .
Soon it becomes a steady, steep and in places, a gravelly and slippery climb to the main ridge where there is an informative “Footprints through the Centuries” signboard part of which is shown below. At this point we took a short rest before continuing up beside a fenceline.
As we climbed there were great views over Lake Coleridge and mountains beyond, the Rakaia River and to the coast. Some of us identified other peaks like Red Hill (upper left in this photo) that we had climbed previously.
When we reached a narrow, almost flat section of the track we had our first glimpses of the upper Rakaia River with the snowy Southern Alps behind. From here we still had another 300 metres to climb to reach the top of Peak Hill.
The summit, marked by a large cairn, affords views that are unsurpassed. Looking to the west Lake Coleridge, and the Wilberforce River are seen on one side and the Rakaia and Mathias Rivers on the other.
The Mathias (upper right) and Rakaia Rivers merge while the Wilberforce (lower right) also joins the Rakaia.
We chose a view overlooking the Rakaia River with Mt Hutt behind as our lunchspot.
Rather than returning via a loop track we returned the same way allowing us to continue to enjoy the best views.
Writing about Peak Hill in the February 2018 issue of Wilderness magazine Pat Barrett says that he considers the panoramic views from this peak to be “the most outstanding of any foothill in Canterbury”. Judging by its popularity (Mark counted 13 cars at the carpark at one point while we were making the climb) I think most would agree.
Those who joined Barry who kindly organised this trip were Tim, Mcleay, Mark, Heather, Hazel and reporter, Dorothy. We were well rewarded for our efforts.