Mt Oxford to Ryde Falls

I decided to put a trip up on Thursday. The weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t great, so it was a big surprise when another 15 trampers signed up. We started off at Cooper’s Creek. The ascent was uneventful, just a classic trudge through a lot of mud. We took a break at the bushline, and that’s when I realized I had forgotten the gloves and beanie for David, our only prospective member. Oh boy. Fortunately, I had a spare pair of gloves that suited him well. It was pretty cold at this point. We had lunch at the summit and then continued towards pt1300 and pt984. We were quite slow; bush-bashing there was slow, especially with a group of 16 people. The bush was wet and muddy, and we were all slipping and falling on our bums regularly. Jane got stung by a wasp, but luckily it was just one sting, and nobody else got stung. It took us quite a long time to get down to Ryde Falls. 

At Ryde Falls, we only took a short break because it was becoming clear that we might not finish before dark. From Ryde Falls, we picked up the pace, but it still took us about 1.5 hours due to the deep, deep deep mud. By the time we reached the cars, some folks had to use their torches. We stopped at the Oxford Hotel, which is now called The West Oxford Hotel. It’s a pretty good pub and one of my favorite Canterbury pubs. Prices are reasonable and they make amazing kumara chips.

Stats: 19 km, 8h 30min, 1300m ascent

Participants: Michal Klajban (leader, scribe, GPX, photos), Shana Dooley, Chris McGimpsey, Sam Meeks, Elena Stevens, Justin Loh, Bryce Williamson, Jim Schofield, James Schofield, Mark Nicholls, Phillip Wallis, Rachel Hunt, Jane McMecking, Bernhard Parawa, Jonathan Carr, David Gendy


Tramped on 21st May 2023.

Photos

Map

Total distance: 20871 m
Max elevation: 1358 m
Min elevation: 352 m
Download file: GPX-hikingisgood-com-nz-2023-Mt-Oxford-Ryde-Falls.gpx

About the Author

Michal
I lived a pretty ordinary life for a while. I did my studies, my second studies, my third studies, my first job, my second job, and my third job. I wasn’t really sure what’s going on so, in 2014, I left my home country (Czechia) to learn about the world. I’m still not sure what’s going on but I enjoy it much more. I lived in a few countries before settling in New Zealand.

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