Trip 059 - Pine Hill Road - Leith Valley Road (via Cowan Road, Three Peaks, Cloud Forest Track)

 

DATE: May 28, 2023 (Sunday)
LEADER: Antony Pettinger (03 473 7924)
TRIP GRADE: Moderate (5-7 Hours)
MEET: Woodhaugh, 9am

The first Otago Tramping Club to Mt Cargill was held on the 4th weekend of club activity in September 1923.

Since then, over 170 trips have visited My Cargill from many different directions. This trip is recognising possible routes that may have been used in earlier times. Many trips are listed as tramping from the Leith Saddle to Mt Cargill.

Unless there was a track in the vicinity of the current day Cloud Forest of Leith track, these trips most likely utilise the farmland that would have existed before the current exotic forestry blocks. Patmos Ave from Leith Valley was used for at least four trips between 1931 and 1951.

Aside from the diversion across the Dunedin – Waitati State Highway, this route will be largely unchanged over the years.

This trip is a circuit comprising local roads and tracks and can be used for a training circuit without having to travel too far.