Mid Hill & Jordan Saddle

An hour's tramp from the Cora Lyn car park and we broke out of the pine forest.

The fantastic scene sparkled in dazzling sunshine. I took photos more to remind myself I'd been there. A camera couldn't really capture the scene we saw and felt.

Gareth, Cyril, Honora and I had driven up to Arthurs Pass village the night before and stayed at the Christchurch Tramping Club house. We needed an early start for the long day it would take traversing the Mid Hill ridge from Lagoon Saddle to Amphitheatre Creek in the Avoca River.

The track around the flank of Mt Bruce to Lagoon Saddle is very wet and muddy.

For the enjoyment of the groups that are tramping the ever more popular Cass - Lagoon track, it really does need boardwalking for the full 2km+ distance.

The waters resting in the gentle fold of Lagoon Saddle are one of the scenic gems of the Arthurs Pass area.

Beyond them our restful walk came to an end. The ground rose, gradually at first but increasingly steep in a 600 metre climb to the end of the Mid Hill ridge. I admit 600 metres is not much of a climb in itself for a fit group, but we'd already gained the same height in the walk up from Cora Lyn.

The final climb to the crest of the ridge needed hands as well as feet. However our worthy summit was nameless so Gareth dubbed it End Hill.

We had magnificent views from here right round 270 degrees. The look of the ridge onward wasn't so inspiring though.

The ridge along to Mid Hill looked jagged and cut by numerous notches. It would be slow travel.

Honora led from the front and probed for a way through. In the end we decided to save time and bypassed the section by traversing under it on snow slopes on the south side.

We summitted directly onto the real Mid Hill 1831m and exchanged congratulations.

From here the ridge stretched away for 2 km rising and falling only gradually around the 1800 m contour. It was easy travel the whole way over shattered boulders .

The magnificent views were a continuous distraction.

At the end of the Mid Hill ridge a spur ran down to a saddle at the head of Amphitheatre Creek. We discovered we still had boundless energy and ran down it too.

We slowed to pass close by a NZ Falcon sitting on a rock studying us unperturbed.

Fine scree led us down into the head of Amphitheatre Creek. The gully here is a giant earthquake rupture in the side of the mountain. Vast scree slopes shimmered in the sun high above us. Below late afternoon shadows spread a hazy gloom.

Muddy water ran through the small stones in the gully and fine gravel rained continuously from above. Afternoon convection currents swirled dusty wind about us.

We hurried on. The team were raising dust to get down to the valley.

Amphitheatre Creek spilled into the Avoca. We paced down river to the Basin Creek hut as dusk settled the day to rest.

Rain spots blew over the range as we left in the morning. It was good to be having an easy day of it.

We walked back up the valley and turned up Galilee Creek to Jordan Saddle. The sun shone out again as we descended the pleasant staircase of Jordan Stream.