Rapaki Track

     The only hikes I've tackled around Christchurch have managed to be up so much hill.  Chicago got me real soft when it comes to elevation changes.

I went from a flat residential neighborhood to climbing through a thin line of shady pines which shunted me out onto a sunny, unprotected hillside that just kept going up and up and up.  And up.

Signs warned me as soon as I was on the trail proper not to mess with lambs.   I really wish the sign read Danger: Sheep.

The smaller text just warns you not to pick up and try to carry off the lambs.  Like any baby seal left on a beach, picking up an unknown baby animal is likely to bring more trouble than good into their life.

The text is awfully to the point.  "DO NOT PICK ME UP, as your smell will stay on me so my mum won't want me back and I could die."  And then the Mama Sheep says "I can hear my lamb, I will be back soon.  PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH MY LAMB."

You don't have to tell me twice.

There wasn't much shade, so many of the sheep I passed were just hunkered down under the few scrubby bushes that were on offer.  I can see wool hanging from the branches of the bush, showing that this is quite the popular shade bush during the sunny parts of the day.

In the distance and down the hill towards the bay, Te Wharau.

Look at how dry the grass is.  It has rained twice since I got here over a month ago.  The grass was tall enough that it made the wind a visible thing, undulating as golden waves that I could watch over long distances.

The red arrow I have drawn points to Mt Vernon, which is the end of the Rapaki track, and the highest point of my hike.  I saw one crazy person trail running down that slope.  Once I was closer I could see all of the uneven boulder teeth sticking off of it.  Trail running doesn't have to be about hating your ankles, but for some people it does.

Ian Pullall 
1921

The lichen partially obscures the signature carved into the rock.  Usually where there is one there are many, but this was the only name I could find.

Mt Vernon is the mid-point where I could either turn this hike into a 2 hour loop, or turn back and for a 2 hour in-and-back.  Not much of a choice, I'd always like to see a thing I haven't seen before, but I'd eaten my snacks and was starting to get hungry, so the climb up up up that hill was rough.  From the topographical map it went from 1148 ft to 1516, and the climb of over 350ft that suddenly is something I can only tackle a good 20 feet at a time.  Luckily there are rocks I can squat on the whole way up, so I have lots of places to rest.

Only halfway up the hill, I've probably faffed about for a good 20 minutes on this climb already.  Huffpuff.

The view from Mt. Vernon was stunning, after I got to the pinnacle I saw this vista, which would have been breathtaking if I hadn't already been breathless from the climb.  I kicked myself once I realized there was a path that skirted the base of the knob, I could have avoided that last climb entirely.  Oof.  All's well though, because it was literally all down hill after this.  I had to climb over multiple turnstiles, and there were more sheep on my way down because I was now off Rapaki and on the aptly named Farm Trail.  A farmer was out in a farm truck, checking water troughs.  

Christchurch was the Wild West full of miners and lumberjacks and rough farmers in the 1880s,  This is the only evidence from that time that I found on the track from that era, and just par for the tragic course of history.

There were sheep droppings on the trail the whole way down, but all the sheep I passed were too busy chewing their cuds to respond when I called "Baaaa" at them.

I found a vegan cafe right before closing when I got back down from the hills and got a "chicken" curry pot pie with a side of pickled onion mustard sauce, and a chocolate milkshake as a tramping reward.