WILD TRIPS
OFTEN we approach tramping like it’s a training schedule, a fitness programme or a ‘tick-the-box’ of completing another track. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it needn’t be that way. In the 1930s, ambitious speed trampers were dubbed ‘hissers’ by those enjoying a more sedate pace. The choice remains: tramp or toddle? Grunt or gambol? Stride or saunter? Hiss or hike?
On a trip into Marlborough’s Goulter Valley, Kathy Ombler and I chose to gambol – enjoying long lunches and a slow pace.
Storm damage scuppered plans to tramp the Paparoa Track, so we scoured maps to find tracks that might have escaped damage and where the weather might be reasonable. Perusing the ‘Patriarch’ map that covers the Richmond Range, I found a possible B-plan centred around the Goulter Valley and Lake Chalice. So, from a car park on Staircase Road, we planned to follow the vehicle track towards Mt Patriarch then the track
