Beyond Towns End (Canterbury) Staircase, South Island, New Zealand
By Royal_Wulff on 15-Sep-08. Waypoint GC1GA34

Thanks, Coll walk out. Staying overnight in the hut.

Walked in from View Hill and stayed at the hut over night. Just me, my son and two bikers, they tented outside. Where o where do the sandflies hide when there are no humans around. Found after ambling around GZ for a few minutes.

Found others stashes, and rubbish, and swampy ground, but nothing resembling a geocache.

Not many people get this one. Only half a dozen or so since my friend in 2014!
Went up to black hill hut, day trip to salmon creek biv now back to view hill via wharfedale hut. Great trip.

Having completed the walk in to the Wharfedale Hut, I went to see if I could pick up this cache. Took a few moments to locate the right bush! Was beginning to think that after 20 months since it was last found, it was no longer there. However it was! The logbook was a fraction damp, but not too surprising considering the circumstances. Glad to have found it! #4340. TFTC.

Came into Warfedale yesterday thinking there were no caches near the hut.
Camped in the area in an idyllic campsite and this morning checked saved caches to see what the return trip may involve.
Very surprised to see a green dot behind the blue one on the screen.
Cache was an easy find 6m from our tent!

Out for a ride on the Wharfedale track today. Started at View Hill and will head out to Lees Valley via Black Hill Hut. Left the bike at the Wharfedale Hut, crossed the stream and soon had the cache in hand. No visitors to this cache since 2016 and still in perfect condition. Signed log and headed onwards .

All good here - TFTC Royal_Wulff

We spent the night at Wharfdale hut but somehow it wasn't until we were out of cellphone coverage that I realised that when I loaded the geocaches onto my GPSr this one somehow got missed. So even though I did my best to remember any vital information that might help me find it it wasn't to be this time.
I hope to get back in here again and have a proper look for this cache.

Did a night walk in to Wharfedale Hut nice quick find before heading to Black Hill. TFTC.

05/06/2016 9:11:00 AM
7006
We were coming to do a bit of hiking over queens b day - plan was to get to wharfdale for the night, via Mt Oxford. But far out hiking is getting trickier by the day!! 24 weeks pregnant, and they sure weren't lying when they said about the losing your balance and all!! But I got hubby to take the big overnight pack, and stocked it up food and all, while I just took a daypack with my spare clothes, snacks, and water.

Morning after sleeping in the hut, and far out it was chilly!! The hunters we shared the hut with didn't seem to quite understand how to keep a hut warm all night long, and so we wok up with ice on the inside of the windows - the grass was covered in such thick ice, it looked completely like it had snowed! And all the bushes too!!

So when I saw that we needed to cross the stream to get the cache... I wasn't keen!! Not for at least another hour anyways!!

But wow I have a wonderful husband! The best ever!! He crossed the stream, found the cache and signed the log all for me because I didn't want my toes to freeze given my shoes were still wet from day before!

Best husband ever

Consec caching day # 1309

TFTC!!

Found easily after staying at the hut overnight. We tramped in from Lees Valley, and out the same way. 2-2.5 hours? - it took us 3.5 but we were carrying quite a load and it was hot. Mainly mountain bikers coming and going from the hut, using it for a quick lunch stop then heading back to View Hill. One other young couple of trampers at the hut, who slept in their tent. If you go in from Lees Valley check out the big trout at the bridge!
TN
+ Macdonalds collectible figure
+ pirate coin
+ small rubber hamburger

An easy find after my lunch stop at the hut. A lovely spot today, not even too many sandflies or wasps this time. A wasp down the top of my boot on an earlier trip was the push I needed to invest in some gaiters.

Found while enjoying an overnight tramp in the area. Came in from View Hill Carpark and stayed at the Wharfedale hut. Great weekend away. TFTC

A quick cache after lunch at the Wharfedale hut.
TFGC

Back in again and had a look at it with my mate. All is safe and well.

Nice hide I see people have been camping right next to the cache but all was well and nice and dry inside, TFTH

I needed some mountainbiking exercise in preparation for the MTB Orienteering next week in Otago, and I'd been eyeing up this cache for a while so I took the opportunity to give it a go by bike. It was a lot tougher than I expected. (I thought it would all be like the first km which I was familiar with!) It took me 2.5 hours to get to the hut (including 45 minutes from the sadddle), lots of stopping and walking, but some good riding stretches. Easily found the cache and then headed back the way I'd come. (65 minutes back to the saddle pushing the bike most of the way, and another 1 hr 30 back to the car). Had the track to myself most of the way - passed 2 groups of runners and 2 mountain bikers in the space of 5 minutes near the highest point. Great to be out in the bush. TFTC.

#679: Wharfedale the Hut


Rediguana and I decided to head out to do the caches in this area today. We got an early start (6:30am), and were on the trail by about 7:15. This was our third find of the day, after a good trek up to Mt. Oxford from the View Hill car park.

We walked from there to here along the Mt. Oxford Route, which started out pretty easy, but near the end, it turned really steep, and we were SO glad we were going down instead of up. The signs say 1.5 hours on the way down, and 2.5 on the way up.

We arrived at the Hut, and walked past to find the cache, came back to the Hut for a lunch stop, then headed down the Wharfedale Track to the car park, for a total travel distance of about 30km on foot. We arrived back at the car at around 4:15pm. We met several mountain bikers up here -- one group of three arrived while we were eating lunch. On the way down, neither of us could believe that mountain biking here would be much fun, as there are so many creeks to ford, trees to block your path, and extreme uphills from stopping you from really getting time in the saddle. Some backpackers passed us too on the way out.

We took the View Hill-Mt. Oxford Track to the peak of Mt. Oxford, then back tracked to the junction with the Mt. Oxford Route, and took that to the hut. Then we took the Wharfedale Track back to the car park. The Hut is almost exactly the halfway point (15km) of the loop if you do it this way. We were both dead when we got back to the car, but happy we did the extra bit to get the Beyond Towns End cache. It was a long, but happy day!


SL/TFTC!

Did this one on a whim Parked at View Hill, with the intent of knocking off Mt Oxford only. Got to the top not long after 10am, so we decided we'd attempt this one as well. Came down via the Mt Oxford route - sooooo glad we weren't coming up that way, it would be quite a grunter. We did have a kea shadow us in the trees for a bit as we walked along the route ridge. Made it down to the hut, short stream crossing, and before long we had the cache in hand. Had lunch at the hut, met up with some MTBers that had biked in, and then we headed back out via the Wharfedale. We managed to keep up with the MTBers for nearly the first half, as they were dismounting so frequently! Ended up being a solid 30km hike and we agreed we did the loop in the right direction. Felt it a little the next day - but loads of fun! Cheers Gav [10262]

Nice spot for cache. TFTC

Stayed the night here. Was so hot we slept outside under the stars.

Cycled in from Lees Valley with Smoothhound. Quite an adventure when you elect to follow the words of poet Robert Frost in his poem "The Road Not Taken" and take the road less travelled. It was an interesting 1.7 km journey. . Abandoned the bikes just past the footbridge and hiked the last kilometre. Cache was in good condition. Lovely ride back to the Lees Valley road. TNLN T4TC.

Mountain bike - check. GPS - check. Food and equipment - check. Map - no need to READ carefully as we have GPS... After getting onto the, "Path less travelled", the words of poet Robert Frost's, "The Road Not Taken", became more significant. All about personal choice followed by later rationalising the decision. Our excuse was that the GPS suggested following the other side of river. Pushing MTB through scrub, matagouri, long grass and no track makes for excellent exercise. Time to read the map. Doh! Down a steep rocky bank and into the river again. Hid the bikes and walked for the last kilometre or so. Cut a long story short. The map was right... Anyway, after spending a "little" more time than planned found the cache, took some photos, walked back to MTBs and cruised back the way we came. You will get wet boots no matter what.

This entry was edited by Smoothhound on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 at 15:17:00.

Came in from View Hill carpark and stayed the night at the hut. Party of ten all up so some camped in tents. Little did they know they were 5m from the cache. Easy find and all intact. Had planned Mt Oxford on the way out but too many wimps in the group which could not be split. A great walk which took 3.00 hours walking in and 3.05 hours out (plus breaks). Well worth the trip but take some citronella candles or other sandfly repellent! TFTC.

Lunch at the hut (which seems to be in a different place from last visit many years ago) then a long walk back to the car at View Hill.

Quick find. TNLN. Walked in from View Hill carpark via track up west ridge of Mt Oxford and down to hut, then out via Wharfedale Track. 22km, took just over 7 hours.

Found this one while staying the night at Wharfdale hut. Sandflies made for a short log entry. TNLN TFTC!

We escaped for the night, we didn't start walking in the lees valley until 4pm and we cruzed in and arrived at the Wharfedale Hut by 7.30pm, only 2 others in the hut and we had a nice relaxing night.
We checked the cache, all is good but the travel bugs have been in there since i placed the cache so time to move them along i thought. We had a nice relaxed walk back out today but it was very hot.
For those of you who have a 4x4 you can actually drive to within about 30 minutes walk of the cache, you can drive as far as the old townsend hut site which would be a a great place to camp for the night, there are about 2 river crossings on the way up but during summer the river is very low, to get a key for the gate contact mt pember station a week in advance and please don't phone them after 8pm.
I just thought i would mention this info because i can't believe this cache has only had 2 visitors since september, come on people escape for the day or even the night, it's great country out there, cheers, chris.

Which Bush? Garmin kept indicating the wrong one. A 10 minute search one at the waypoint. All the more satisfying to find the cache. Nice day fro a return MTB Veiw Hill to here & back. TNLN TFTC

What!! Two months and nobody else has been there??? What are you all waiting for - it's a lovely walk. Even better if you plan on staying the night in the hut - an idyllic spot for all.
Where are you?
Grandalf

Yeah good call Grandalf, we were actually up in the lees valley on sunday and we had a great day, it was an action packed day, with a Hare swimming across the river and a NZ Falcon protecting it's nest from a couple of seagulls and also a friendly lamb which we just walked upto and patted him on the head.

It is an awesome valley up there!!!!!!!!!! a great place to escape to and o so close to chch.

It was a longish walk, but it was well worth it. We left the car at the proper carpark in Lees Valley, and walked up the Townshend River to find that the old Townshend Huts are no longer there!! But further up the track is the Wharfedale Shelter - and the cache is not at the Shelter!! However it was soon found - another FTF for my list!! Discovered the two TBs and left them for others. Then we sat eating lunch in glorious weather, and walked back out again. All in all, even with our lunchbreak, it took us only six hours from carpark back to carpark. A lovely walk - and even the cows were cooperative!!
On the route up the valley, you need to cross the main river at least twice, so wet boots are guaranteed, but that is fine on a warm day like today. Many thanks to Royal-Wulff (who I hear was having a day out up at Tarn Hut today). Cheers from Grandalf(1372)

Published

I placed these trackables in the cache too, the jeep wanted to go off road !!!

Placed this one in the cache as well.