Otekaieke Hill – 15 June 2025

01-Our-destination-for-the-day
02-Morning-tea-stop
03-Ben-Lomond-1049m-to-the-right-and-Lower-Ben-Lomond-993m-to-the-left
04-Coming-along-the-main-ridge
05-Trig-on-summit
06-Mt-David-1412m
07-Cone-1563m-to-the-left-and-Grayson-Peak-1660m-to-the-right
08-Mt-Domett-1942-to-the-left-and-Little-Domett-1860-to-the-right-and-Kohurau-2009-in-the-distance-to-the-right
09-Hakataramea-valley-in-the-distance
10-Looking-down-to-the-coast-and-where-we-started
11-Group-photo-on-the-summit

[Show slideshow]

Seven of us left town, picking one more up on the way, making a party of eight for the day.

After all the crap weather we had had during the week we were all hoping for a nice winter’s day, which the weather gods gave us. We headed up the Waitaki Valley, turning off into Special School Rd past the old Campbell Park School and up into Kenmore Station, to park up by some yards up a farm track.

The plan for the day was going to be to climb Otekaieke Hill, then drop off the south side into Jackson Creek and come back along the Bridle Track. But once we looked at all the water from the rain earlier in the week coming down the Otekaieke River, we knew the Bridle Track would be out. So it was decided to go up Otekaieke Hill and return the same way.

We started off along the Bridle Track until we crossed over Bushy Creek, and then found the 4WD track heading up. The 4WD track was a good track and not too bad an elevation. After about an hour, we found a nice rocky point to have a break and take in some views.

From here it was all up for another 1½ hours until we reached point 1010m, and where we started to get the big views of the snowy peaks of the St Marys Range. At this point, one of our party members who was carrying a bit of an injury stopped there for lunch before heading back down, while the rest of us carried on for another 2km along the main ridge line to be all on Otekaieke Hill by 12.30pm.

We sat there having lunch with grand views of Mt David 1412m, Cone Peak 1563m, Grayson Peak 1660m, Mt Domett 1942m, Little Domett 1860m, and in the distance Kohurau 2009m, and also Dansey Pass Rd, Hakataramea Valley and right down to the coast.

It was such a nice day up there with no wind – it was hard to get going again and come back down. Three members decided to take a different way down, which came back onto the main track further down. The rest of us went back down the same way we came up, hoping to meet up with our member who we left behind.

After about an hour, we met back up with our three members that took a different way down from the top, but we still hadn’t met back up with our other member. We all had radios, so after calling him up we found he had taken a different track down. As we got down a wee bit, we could see the farmer bring the stock off the hill and our other member had caught up with him – so he became a shepherd bringing the sheep down.

Not far from the bottom, we all met up together before coming back down onto the Bridle Track and heading back to the cars.

All up we had hiked about 17km and a 900m climb over 6½ hours, so if we had done the original plan it would have been a bit longer – we might keep that for a summer trip when the days are longer.

Thanks to: Julian, Lynette, David, Lorena, Heather, Geoff and Mary for their company for the day – none of them had ever been up there before.

Thanks also to Kenmore Station for letting us on to their farm.

Neville