Chinamans Cave
3 December 2017
After having a great spell of weather six of us met at the car park for a day out in what was going to be another hot day. We headed down to Trotters Gorge camping reserve to where we were going to start the day out. It was on with the day packs with plenty of water on board and up past the Otago University Hut following Trotters creek for an hour till we came to Vickers Hut where we had a snack before the climb out of the Valley.
It was about a 200m climb on a good 4WD track up under Trig L and by this time the day was warming up so a bit of sweat was lost. We hiked along the tops following a 4wd track at times and a bit of cross country in the heat for about an hour till we came to the saddle. There we dropped down to the valley below and the creek where we would find the cave.
It is a bit of a steep drop down to the valley and Maurice was the first to get there, but he was having a bit of a problem locating the cave. If you haven’t been there before it is a bit of problem locating the cave because it is up a bit of rock fall and in behind some trees, but I soon had Maurice and everyone it the right place.
The cave itself is quite a big cave that is about 20m deep with a few side tunnels in it that go about another 10m. After exploring the cave a bit and signing the visitor’s book lunch was taking at the entrance by the trees in the cool shade.
After lunch we took an old track back up to the saddle and dropped down the other side into the head waters of Trotters Creek. It was over open farmland for a start and then following a good farm track for about 1km till the track ran out and the creek went into the gorge.
We could have climbed back out over the gorge but since it was a nice day and the creek was low we took to the creek. It was great splashing our way down the creek and the gorge in and out of the bush a bit for about 2km till we came back out at Vickers Hut. We then followed Trotters Creek back down the way we had come in the morning to the vehicles, about 7and a half hours after leaving them in the morning. It was another great day out with great weather and great company.
Thanks to the farmers for permission to go on their farms and explore this area and the organising club member that made it a great day out.
John, Mike, Bron, Maurice and Phyllis – Neville
