Sunday, 17 May 2020
Location: Bridge Road, Birchville, Upper Hutt (it‘s sign posted)
We began this walk from the car park in Birchville and went around anti-clockwise, that way we had all the climbing first which worked well with the kids.
Initially the track takes you across a swing bridge and through lush native bush. You then arrive at a beautiful reservoir and from there you have a reasonably steep but relatively short climb to a lookout.
Once at the top we followed a wide gravel road along the ridge line, passing through a pine forest with a number of fantastic views of Upper Hutt and the northern end of the Remutaka ranges.
After we reached the Trig we made our way back down the hill. From here you can choose from a longer bush track or a direct access road to the bottom of the hill, we opted for the road. Once down on the flat again we wrapped back around Totara Park until we arrived at the car.
All the access roads are easy to meander along, the track up was well maintained, but step and with a few stairs so for that reason this one is not buggy friendly, but buggy possible to the suitably determined.
Age of Kids: Miss 5 and Master 7
Walking Time: A reasonable 3 hours, with the access road short cut.
Length: Ours was about 8km, the track is about 8km with the bush walk down.
Difficulty: Moderate because of the climb.
Wet Feet: No.
Amenities: Totara Park of course has everything you'd need, but there isn't much else on the track.
Dogs: Officially no because of the farmland, however when we got around there were quite a few on leads.
Cellphone Reception: Cell phone reception only drops a couple of times at the top of the ridge.