Mt. Brown (Hill)
More pics...!
After leaving for Arthur's Pass on Saturday morning, we hiked up and over Binser Saddle, then planned to follow the McArthur Gorge up to Bull Creek Hut. The “brave” boys went to test the river, took about 4 steps before they were already waist deep, and turned back! On to Plan B....
We continued walking in the pouring rain to Casey Hut, where we would stay the night and see what the weather was like on Sunday. Claudia cooked dinner #1, Julian provided the mulled wine, I cooked dinner #2, and Jonno provided the hip flask with some whisky…it was a fun evening!
Amazingly we woke up to clear blue skies and gorgeous sunshine, so we decided to attempt climbing Brown Hill (of course it had to be done simply because of the great name!). There was no track to follow, so we “bush-bashed” our way up about 600m, and then climbed about another 600m above the bushline.
It was actually a lot of fun, and not nearly as difficult as we anticipated. We had lunch on the summit, and then followed the ridge line down the South Side of the “mountain”. The views were fantastic all around, there is definitely something special about being on the top of a ridge. Once we reached the bushline again, we bulldozed our way through about 800 vertical metres of vegetation once more, before reaching Hallelujah Flats (worth their name at this point) and joining the Casey Track back along to Andrews Shelter where the car was parked.
The overview...
Jonno, Claudia, Julian & I left on Saturday morning after a bit of debate what route to take. The weather wasn’t looking great for Arthur's Pass but we had a couple of options incase it looked like one of the rivers might flood the area.
We hiked over Binser Saddle in the pouring rain, and after changing plans to follow the McArthur Gorge (the river looked like it might flood meaning we would be stuck the next day!) we continued on to Casey Hut. The arrival time seemed very civilized time in comparison to last weekend's adventure.
On Sunday the weather was perfect, and hiking up Brown's Hill seemed more than appropriate...but we renamed it Mt. Brown, because it was definitely more than just a hill. There was no marked track, so we "bush-bashed" our way up through the forest and then continued to climb steeply up the ridge. The views were fantastic from the tops - there is definitely something special about being on a ridge. After lunch in the sun we scrambled down to the bushline, and then bulldozed our way through 800m trees and vegetation to Hallelujah Flats. There, we rejoined the Casey Track and followed it back to the car.
It was a fun couple of days, with much better weather than was forecast for the area, and we all enjoyed the hike. Springfield pub wasn’t too bad either, and suitably the Simpsons were playing in the background.
After leaving for Arthur's Pass on Saturday morning, we hiked up and over Binser Saddle, then planned to follow the McArthur Gorge up to Bull Creek Hut. The “brave” boys went to test the river, took about 4 steps before they were already waist deep, and turned back! On to Plan B....
We continued walking in the pouring rain to Casey Hut, where we would stay the night and see what the weather was like on Sunday. Claudia cooked dinner #1, Julian provided the mulled wine, I cooked dinner #2, and Jonno provided the hip flask with some whisky…it was a fun evening!
Amazingly we woke up to clear blue skies and gorgeous sunshine, so we decided to attempt climbing Brown Hill (of course it had to be done simply because of the great name!). There was no track to follow, so we “bush-bashed” our way up about 600m, and then climbed about another 600m above the bushline.
It was actually a lot of fun, and not nearly as difficult as we anticipated. We had lunch on the summit, and then followed the ridge line down the South Side of the “mountain”. The views were fantastic all around, there is definitely something special about being on the top of a ridge. Once we reached the bushline again, we bulldozed our way through about 800 vertical metres of vegetation once more, before reaching Hallelujah Flats (worth their name at this point) and joining the Casey Track back along to Andrews Shelter where the car was parked.
The overview...
Jonno, Claudia, Julian & I left on Saturday morning after a bit of debate what route to take. The weather wasn’t looking great for Arthur's Pass but we had a couple of options incase it looked like one of the rivers might flood the area.
We hiked over Binser Saddle in the pouring rain, and after changing plans to follow the McArthur Gorge (the river looked like it might flood meaning we would be stuck the next day!) we continued on to Casey Hut. The arrival time seemed very civilized time in comparison to last weekend's adventure.
On Sunday the weather was perfect, and hiking up Brown's Hill seemed more than appropriate...but we renamed it Mt. Brown, because it was definitely more than just a hill. There was no marked track, so we "bush-bashed" our way up through the forest and then continued to climb steeply up the ridge. The views were fantastic from the tops - there is definitely something special about being on a ridge. After lunch in the sun we scrambled down to the bushline, and then bulldozed our way through 800m trees and vegetation to Hallelujah Flats. There, we rejoined the Casey Track and followed it back to the car.
It was a fun couple of days, with much better weather than was forecast for the area, and we all enjoyed the hike. Springfield pub wasn’t too bad either, and suitably the Simpsons were playing in the background.
posted by Mhairi
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