Little Mt Peel
21st May 2017
The stars were still out when 9 keen trampers arrived at the car park by 7.am. With a 2 hour drive we didn’t linger and were on the road shortly after 7am.
When we arrived at the Blandswood carpark it was very cool but was a beautiful day and stayed that way all day.
We were soon on our way up the road listening to the birds singing in the bush. We soon left the road and headed up Deer spur which we followed all the way to the top. The track is well worn and marked by poles. Care had to be taken on the track as there were patches of ice and snow. Some of the board walks were very slippery and we chose to walk in the scrub.
A late smoko or early lunch was had in the sun on the track about 11 ish. We were on the top by 12.15am. We had the most wonderful 360 views of Mt Somers, Mt Hutt and across the Canterbury plains to the coast and to the west the snow capped Mts. After a photo session we headed down to the Tristam Harper Memorial shelter for our second lunch ! There was a cool breeze and we soon cooled down so every one was keen to head back down.
Not knowing the condition of the South Ridge Track we returned the way we came up. The trip down, especially the top section was slow because of the icy conditions. We arrived back at the cars at 4.00pm.
After a quick change we headed to Geraldine for icecreams and then home.
A great day was had by all. Thanks to Phyllis,Maurice,Anna,Neville,Bill,John,Sylvia, Uwe and Bron.
