Old Ghost Road: Do this track before it’s too popular

COLUMN: At 85km, The Old Ghost Road is NZ’s longest continuous walk or mountain bike track and having just done it, I think it’s one of our great walks, even if not yet so designated.

Four members of our Blenheim walking group had been thinking about doing it for a year. It’s five days of walking in the mountains behind Westport on a track built by volunteers.

We left bookings until the weather forecast was fine; when we reached Murchison and saw the snow covering the looming Lyell range there was a collective ‘oh dear’ moment.

As it turns out, we had the most memorable tramp any of us can remember – and three of us have done some of the 10 official Great Walks.

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Leaving our vehicle at the Lyell car park off the Buller Gorge for collection by the HikenBike Shuttle people, we started the 18km climb to the Lyell Saddle hut.

The track here was formed in the 1880s to support a goldmining community based at Lyell which even had its own newspaper. Up the track there were various settlements including Gibbstown, about 8 km in. The mining past dots the track – old boots, bits of heavy equipment, kettles and broken bottles.

En route, we passed two guys working on the track at a place called The Big Slips caused by the 1929 Murchison earthquake. They were removing fallen rocks along a narrow section which has very welcome netting and wire/pole barriers. They are paid but the track itself was reinstated or formed 10+ years ago by a group of local volunteers. Their inspiration was an old map from the 1880s which included a suggested link between mining communities at either end.

Pest trapping occurs in parts of the track and you see lots of birds particularly South Island Robin which almost come to your hand if you stop to eat or drink.

We reached the Lyell Saddle hut late afternoon. Again, it’s purpose built by the volunteers.

The track workers had gone past us on motorbikes and had the fire roaring.

This is only an 8-bunk hut as the mountain bikers, who are more common on the track than walkers, usually head to the next hut.

We set off at 9am for the Ghost Lake Hut with only 12 km in front of us. It was a gradual climb with beautiful views back to the Glasgow Range. There was snow around but not much on the well-formed track, though snow melt did drip from the canopy; mostly it’s birch but pockets of young rimu and totara dot the track. There’s a shelter near the track’s highest point Rocky Tor (1456m).

We stopped here for lunch and a bit of cell reception before reaching Ghost Lake hut mid-afternoon. It’s a 16-berther; the other bunks were all soon taken by mountain bikers. The hut toilets are all outside; you toss in wood shavings after use. At this time of year at least there is no smell.

After a magnificent sunrise somewhere to the east of Murchison we descended down past Ghost Lake, then up and a ridgeline until reaching the Skylight Steps – all 400 of them. These are fine for a walker but difficult for those on bikes especially heavier E-bikes. A track around this is being cut and is due to open by summer.

We made the smaller Stern Valley hut by late afternoon and had it to ourselves. I collect a small stone from each major tramp and found one on the nearby Stern Creek bed.

The following day was our longest – 27km – so we set off at 7.30am. There’s a bit of uphill around the rocky Boneyard and Solemn Saddle but mostly its gently downhill.

We lunched about halfway near the old but brightly painted DOC Goat Creek hut. This is where you first see the mighty Mohikinui River south stem. It joins the north stem at the Mohikinui Forks where there is another DOC hut. Around here we met a Coromandel mountain biker who we’d seen that morning. He’d set off from Lyell at 3am and was now on his way back to the start! This was training for the Great Tour Divide, where 200 cycle 5,00km from Canada to Mexico – 20 of them Kiwis. We soon met a couple and he’d previously done it.

They had just cycled the officially closed Heaphy Track and were doing Old Ghost Road before the Paparoa Track. And we thought we were having a few big days.

We reached Specimen Point hut by late afternoon.

A couple of Christchurch mountain bikers had the fire going. As usual we played some cards before crashing at 8pm.

Our final day was a mere 17km down the Mohikinui including across the three separate Suicide Slip bridges with the river far below.

By 1.30pm we were back in the car park near Seddonville collecting our car from the Rough n Tumble lodge which regrettably for us had just closed for winter. It’s beautifully sited above the Mohikinui and offers spacious dining and rooms.

The Seddonville pub was also closed so we pressed onto to Westport’s Denniston Dog and had the best beer (and fish and chips) I can remember.

Among the four of us the only negative was one minor blister. If Great Walks were decided by a vote, our hands would go up for The Old Ghost Road. Do it before it becomes too well known.