• Sadly, strong winds, drizzles and heavy clouds forced me to cancel my X attempt to do Traverse Peak to Trovatore. On the other hand, it allowed me to come up with an alternative that I haven’t done: Mt Herbert and Packhorse Hut from Orton Bradley.
• There were 9 CTCers who started at Orton Bradley carpark from where a good bushy track led us up towards Mt Herbert. I was quite impressed by both the regenerative and original bush that surrounds the track and this has quickly become my favourite track to both Mt Herbert and Packhorse Hut.
• The top of Mt Herbert was quite windy and chased us down to have our lunch at Herbert shelter. Along the track to Packhorse hut, we spotted two surprisingly big pine trees that would deserve to be cut down. I really need to take my hand saw next time, though it’ll be a mission to cut them down.
• We had our second lunch at Packhorse and continued along Faulkner’s Track that goes around the northern slopes of Mt Bradley. There are some surprisingly steep sections, perhaps not very kids’ friendly but fun for a group of CTCers. The track led us to a paddock from where we found that there was no escape. We had to cross a few fences to get back on track – both literally and figuratively (I’m a new dad so I’m allowed 1 dad joke per 1 report).
• The last bit was back in the beautiful Orton Bradley bush. Considering the Sunday forecast, it was a pretty good trip and a decent exercise.

Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, GPX, photos, scribe), Vanessa Smith, John Kerkhofs, Daniel Gillies, Ivan Andrews, Trudi Cameron, Sheryle Wootton, Saskia Wohlgemuth, Louise Petrie, Mark Nicholls

Rough stats: 22 km, 1100 m up, 7:30 h

Tramped on 1st May 2022

Photos

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Maps

Download file: GPX-hikingisgood-com-nz-2022-Mt-Herbert-from-Orton-Bradley.gpx