One of my favourite areas to do SOTA is the Ashburton Lakes/Hakatere Conservation Park area. There are some very nice summits around there for a wide range of abilities. I recently read a trip report in the NZ Wilderness magazine that described an overnight excursion to the tarn below Staces Hill and realised that it was a SOTA summit. This one is on private land - Lake Heron Station so I made contact with the owner to seek permission for a day trip on Labour Weekend and held my breath. It was granted :-) Really impressed with this as high country stations rely heavily on tourist income now and Lake Heron is no exception. North Island or Australian readers considering a South Island SOTA expedition would do well to consider basing yourself here for a while, there are many SOTA summits on the 19,600 ha property and, of course, in the adjacent Hakatere Conservation Park.
A southerly front had swept up the South Island on the Thursday preceding the weekend leaving a fresh dump of spring snow around. Upon arrival at Mt Somers Domain Camping Ground on the Friday evening, the nip in the air was noticeable (and impressive snow on Mt Somers itself for this time of year!).
Saturday morning dawned fine and clear, -1 Deg C when we set off at 7am. The road to the start point is mostly shingle but in good condition - we made good time and were tying on our boots and walking just after 8am.
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| Staces Hill from the road. Peak behind and to the right is Middle Hill CB-418, a future target |
The first thing to do is cross the Cameron river, we decided to stay in our boots/gaiters as it wasn't too deep. Both got a bit of water over the top but not too bad. Rather than lug them all the way, we stashed our reef shoes in a Matagouri bush and marked a GPS waypoint for the return. Scrambling up the bank out of the river valley is the steepest part of the trip and needs care, especially in cold, icy conditions.
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| One of the many Tarns seen from the ridge |
We made the summit after 2-1/2 hours and set up right on top to maximise our (slim) chances on VHF. Equipment of the day was KX2 and EFHW (with switchable 60/30/17m loading coil) for HF and Dave's brand new FT-5DR and vertical coax dipole for 2m.
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| Hood on for sun protection. EFHW matching transformer/winder suspended on walking poles |
As is our practice, Dave stayed out of the activation zone and waited until I was within and worked me for the first contact. He who talks to the owner/researches the trip gets the FA credit! Once we were set up and on air, contacts flowed freely with excellent NZ support on 40m the length of the country. Many operators out doing Parks, Lakes and Island activations - thanks guys! We managed one VHF contact with Rick ZL3RIK who had driven down to Tinwald to assist if we needed help spotting (to our surprise we had weak but effective cell coverage). Australia and more NZ on 20m and then up to 15m where I worked two USA stations and two JA's, one Summit to Summit. Pushing my luck, I tried 10m and was called by WB6POT in California. Dave had good fun on SSB too, working ZL and VK on 40/20m and New Caledonia and Japan on 15m.
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| Lake Heron and at least 6 SOTA summits in this shot! |
The wind was coming up so we decided to pack up and head back down to one of the tarns for lunch. It was nice and sheltered in there, a great place to stop.
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| The Tarn where they camped in the Wilderness Magazine article and our lunch spot. Beautiful. |
An uneventful descent back to the river where we decided to change into reef shoes so we didn't end up with wet boots for tomorrow. The snow-fed river was certainly bracing with no boots or gaiters on!
Back to camp, debrief with Francie and Julie (who'd spent an enjoyable day in Geraldine), showered and changed and dinner out at the Stronechrubie Bistro - a great way to finish the day.
Permission: Private property - permission is required from Lake Heron Station. Contact details are on the website www.lakeheron.co.nz Make sure you request access a few days prior to when you want to activate. This is a working station, certain times of the year access may not be given due lambing/calving etc.
Getting there: Take the Hakatere-Heron Road and turn left immediately after the gravel pit (approx 3km from the road end). Go through one gate and park at the end near the DOC signage for the Cameron Hut route.
Time: It took us 2-1/2 hours with a few stops to empty boots, take photos etc.
Distance: 5.5km and 773m vertical gain. GPX track is on the SOTAMaps site
Trig: - none. The summit is obvious but take your GPS!
Photos: Thanks to Dave ZL3DRN for the great set of photos - you outdid yourself on this trip.
