Saturday 12th August 2023
This route is right on our doorstep, but in the 2 years i’ve been in Hokitika I’d never thought to walk it. This trip was organised by Karen Jordan as part of her club leadership course. The tramline follows an old logging route from SH6 just outside Hokitika to Woodstock Rimu Road, we opted to take two cars and leave one at each end so it could be walked one way although you could just as easily walk back to your car which is what Karen & Shelly did.
The terrain is flat, so makes for an easy walk in rain or shine; in-fact we came across someone with a kids stroller walking it along with a couple of cyclists. It does form part of the Wilderness Trail and so cyclists will be a common sight. Karen said that when the lake rises the boardwalks can get flooded so maybe just check the weather for heavy rainfall in the run up to heading out. After the board walk it turns into a gravel laid cycle trail working towards the historic logging site. This area was commercially logged before being grazed for a short time. It then became an experimental forestry station and was logged again in the 1970s.
The tramline leaves the scenic reserve and crosses a creek into Mahinapua Forest and soon you reach a sign for Picnic Point. The track to Picnic Point is a side trip to a small pebbly beach on the edge of Lake Mahinapua which is about 15 minute walk from the turn-off. After this 30 minute detour we were back on the tramline and Joy and I were gabbing about our dogs and shock collars while the others walked briskly ahead towards our exit point and debating what their were going to bring as a dish for the upcoming social event.
All in all a nice little bit of exercise in advance of the Pot Luck social dinner we were all heading to later that night.
Euan Mackenzie (Member)