Duke of Edinburgh Goat Pass Expedition
By Richard Roe | Posted: Thursday May 18, 2023
Trying unsuccessfully to juggle demands of everything else happening at the moment, it was a depleted group of 6 Duke of Edinburgh participants who set off early on Sunday morning for their latest epic expedition.
Missing Mother’s Day (bit of making up to do there – me included!) and 3 days of lessons, the group headed off to the largely untracked route up the Mingha River, over Goat Pass and down the Deception River, with a couple of side trips thrown in for good measure. This route in the reverse direction is the scene of the mountain run for the annual Coast-to-Coast race.
After 6 hours on the road, it was a relief to set out walking. Just 5 minutes in however, the first of many river crossings was required to get over the Bealey River, then multiple crossings of the Mingha River as we made our way up the valley to Goat Pass. The weather deteriorated to a light drizzle as the afternoon progressed and we just made it to Goat Pass Hut without needing to bring out the headtorches. With no log burner in the hut (not much to burn at over 1000m above sea level), it was a cold night as a light dusting of fresh snow accumulated on the hills around us.
Monday morning dawned clear and frosty, so we had an extremely degenerate late start before setting out on our side trip up to the exquisite Lake Mavis positioned another 500 vertical metres above us. Picking our way up steep scree and tussock slopes we made it to the lake after about 90 minutes hard work. Nestled under the surrounding mountains, with snow down to the water’s edge on the sheltered sides, this pristine lake was definitely worth the effort required to reach it. We spent at least a couple of hours up there, enjoying the sun and views. Four hardy souls even chose to go for a bracing dip – mad! The return journey to Goat Pass was enjoyable for those who opted for the scree slope, a little longer and more painful for those who scrub-bashed. Goat Pass Hut was deep in the shadow of the hills by the time we reached it, and it was another chilly night at the hut.
Despite an even crisper frost on Tuesday morning we were up early as we knew it would be a long day down the Deception Valley. Departing at 8am, we’d only gone 20 metres before the apt expression “goat track” from which the pass apparently earned its name, became crystal clear. A steep, rocky stream bed with the occasional orange marker was what passed as a track in this area, made even more interesting by a liberal coating of ice over any rock that wasn’t covered by water or overhanging scrub. The sun finally made it into the narrow valley at 10:15am, by which time the boulders had got slightly smaller, the steepness of the descent slightly less, and the morale of the troops lifted as feeling started to return to numb fingers and toes. Along the route we were fortunate to have two separate sightings of the endangered blue duck (whio), along with rock wrens, and a flock (curiosity) of kea. After wading the Deception River too many times to count on our journey down-valley, it was almost 4pm by the time we crossed the Morrison footbridge over the Otira River to meet up with our arranged transport to relocate us back to our van. Accommodation for the final night was the campsite at Klondyke Corner. The convenience of a great cooking shelter at the campsite was unfortunately off-set by its proximity to SH73 with heavy vehicles regularly interrupting sleep during the night.
To finish off an energetic trip we explored up the Bealey Spur track on Wednesday morning. Carrying just day packs the boys raced off up the track with some even making it right up to Bealey Hut and back in just over the stated time for the one-way trip. Then it was back in the van for the long drive home, pausing to support the takeaway businesses of Geraldine en-route.
Our two new-comers to the group, Cameron and Sam, coped well with the demands of the trip and picked up a lot of new skills along the way, while the older hands continue to develop their navigation and route-finding. Another memorable expedition with a great bunch of lads.
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