Elliot has been asking to go tramping for a while, so let’s get some tramping out of his system by taking him to Woolshed Hill tarn. He only just turned 4 years, but he seemed quite motivated. Oh well, let’s see.
We parked at Hawdon Shelter and, after providing the local sandflies with a decent breakfast, we set off. The track starts off fairly flat through open beech forest but soon becomes steeper, continuing that way until the bushline. At the bushline, we took a decent break, and Elliot finally got the views he’d been excited about.
From there, the track follows the open, fairly flat ridge all the way to Woolshed Hill. During the final ascent, Elliot started to run out of steam, so I helped him out by carrying him for a couple of minutes here and there. The summit offers extensive views across the Hawdon River Valley, Savannah Range, and Waimakariri River. Elliot got a second wind at the top, and we all continued towards pt1420, where we picked up a vague track leading down to a tarn. It was a pretty epic spot, but we moved up from the actual tarn to a more private spot closer to the forest.
Elliot spent the rest of the day playing in the tarn and exploring the forest, and the next day, we retraced our steps back. He was pretty tired by the end – understandably so! We’ll need to pick something easier next time. A great weekend with the fam!
Stats: 5.7 km, 4 h 35 min, 900 m ascent (on the way up)
Tramped on 27-28th December 2024.
Photos
Map – IN
Max elevation: 1422 m
Min elevation: 562 m
Map – OUT
Max elevation: 1422 m
Min elevation: 570 m
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