Helm's Deep 4x4 (Canterbury) Lake Clearwater, South Island, New Zealand
By bl@de on 19-Sep-04. Waypoint GCKP9J

What a journey from Edoras to Helm's Deep...

We crossed the Dead Marshes, Anduin a several times and parts of the dead land of Mordor. We had to hide from the Nazgul on winged beasts and Orcs on wargs, but we finally made it!

After almost 4 years without a find the container is perfectly dry and in a really good condition.

I'm not overacting when I say, that this was the most special, the greatest geochaching-adventure we ever had! For me as a LOTR fan in particular

Thank you sooo much for this cache! Thank you wiemax for telling me, that there was a cache at Helm's Deep

There and back again with helnel123.
I had this cache on my bucketlist since i saw it 1 week ago. But it is too far away right?
We decided no! We slept a night at mount sunday (edoras) and in the morning we where going on an Adventure. It was a tough hike cause we had to cross nearly 35 smaller and bigger rivers. But the weather was good and after 3 hours and 11km we had the cache in our hands. After nearly 4 years of the last found we thought it is in a bad condition. Or not here anymore... But that wasn't the case. Logbook is dry,pen is writing and container good. We enjoyed Helms deep a lot and had awesome views to the mountains. At all we hiked 22km and 7 hours for this special cache. This was the longest ever but it was worth it. Thanks for the cache!!!

I'd heard it mentioned at several events that Kotuku SI & purdiepurdie were trying to get a group together to with appropriate 4x4's to try and breach Helm's Deep and I thought it would be a fantastic trip. I managed to sneak into the group at the last minute and so glad I did! We baptised Peter 007 as a geocacher at Peel Forest so it would be okay for him to drive one of the vehicles up the river! The drive/bounce up the river was fun but the rising river levels had us backtracking to enable us to scramble up the hill and meet the track to hike the rest of the way. Really not disappointed that we ended up walking, it was just a pity that Margaret was not able to get to the cache end with us. The rest of us managed the challenges of the hike with the hot temperatures, the strong nor'wester blowing, the never ending hill and landslides that had taken the track away - it gave us a real sense of achievement when Kotuku SI held the cache aloft and were able to toast the achievement with a mini bottle of bubbly. The larger bottle of bubbles from Kotuku SI and cuppa from purdiepurdie with more scroggin and chockie biscuits on returning to the 4x4's also made a great celebration especially as Margaret was able to be included. The scenery was magnificent, the achievement was a buzz, the tiny butterflies and giant dragonflies were a photographers challenge, the company and trip organisation fantastic - an all round great day!

Congratulations to all the group who made it to the cache and back to the cars.Unfortunatly only half of our team managed to get there and back. "Me" got to the top of the hill (mountain) and gave up and sat in the sun till the others got back. Thanks to bl@de for setting up the cache and special thanks to all who helped organizing the trip. TFTC

Sometime before Christmas an event was held to garner interest in vising this outback cache. Many cachers attended and expressed an interest to remove this cache from their unfound list in the new year. Earlier this week, it was decided that today would be THE DAY.

I had noted at 8pm last night at that the river level had been steadily dropping all week and was down to 62 cumecs, so our chance of success of driving all the way looked quite promising. However, when I got up this morning at 4.30am I was horrified to note the level had commenced to rise steeply at about 9pm and that the reading was now 92 cumecs and rising. 30 mins later and the reading was 97 cumecs and just as I was picked up at 5.30am it was up to 99 cumecs!

9 cachers rendezvoused at the Mt Peel General Store and proceeded on to Mesopotamia Station, to have 'a look' at the river anyway.

At Mesopotamia, as the cachers were arranged themselves in two 4WD's with the intention of driving up river as far as possible towards GZ, the manager (?) of Mesopotamia arrived on scene. He expressed some amazement at how fast the river level had risen and a discussion was held as to the possibility of success of the driving task. The manager advised us to take it easy, be careful, and you should be alright.

So, after passing the regular car park, we bumped our way down the 4WD track and over the gravel and a few small braids for 10kms. Here, we reached one of the main river channels, and which, if we were to proceed any further by vehicle, would have to crossed. A further crossing of this channel would be required later on to exit the riverbed near the Black Mountain Hut. But the river water was discoloured and flowing very fast. It was too dangerous to attempt either a vehicle or a foot crossing. So we switched to Plan B.

Plan B: Drive back down the river a couple of hundred metres, park the vehicles, and proceed the rest of the way on foot, via the farm track on the hillside above us. After parking at approx S43 33.800 E170 50.900 it was just a short clamber up onto the track and hike the remaining 4.1km (kea distance) to the cache. The cachers then began the steady uphill climb to the track highpoint (760m) in the face of an increasing strong northwesterly wind. One cacher dropped out at this point and the remainder then began the steady descent, each at their own pace in the hot 30C conditions, towards the Black Mountain Hut and then across the paddocks the final 900m to the cache.

After all had re-grouped at a convenient resting rock just 110m from GZ the final assault was made and the goal quickly achieved. A short 'bubbles' celebration was held and then the slow return trek, uphill, but with the assistance of a hot, gusty tailwind, was started. At the track highpoint the 'missing' party member joined us and we all trooped back down the track to the vehicles. Our vehicle to vehicle time was 4 hours. After another short 'bubbles' celebration it was back into the 4WDs for the 10km return to Mesopotamia and then onward to Sinclair's Grave.

For me it was a very satisfying 15 hour caching adventure. I'm glad to be able to at last tick this cache out of my Unfound Caches list. Thanks Purdiepurdie & kotukuSI for providing the incentive to get us all up there. Thanks also to the vehicle owners (Wombles-bbt and Peter007) and the other cachers (meandpedro, rogowiz,macpacmum) for your company too.


This entry was edited by BaldEd on Sunday, 18 January 2015 at 22:00:52 UTC.

When this Caching Trip was first mentioned,to me by Kotuku at the begining of last Year,I said Yep I'l be a starter.After a meeting on Thursday Night,9 keen Cachers arranged to meet at the Peel Forest Store at 8am today.I took along BaldEd,and Me&Pedro.Two Trucks drove in on the very Dusty and Bumpy Road.
Arrived at a Braided part of the River,and found it was running far to swift to safely cross,so we parked the Two Trucks and Walked in for 2Hrs to GZ,battling a Hot Norwester Wind.
MacPac Mum,brought out the Wine,to celebrate our Find..
Once we all signed it,then it was a another Hot 2Hr walk back,picking up the other half of Me&Pedro on the way back to the Trucks.
A B I G Thank you to Kotuku and Purdie Purdie for a fabulous day out.And I'm so pleased to have gone on this Trip..
Cheers Terry..

For some reason this cache / destination has fascinated me for a long time - and i'm not really sure why.
It wasn't a DT hole (The Riders of Rohan GCKYMN was D2T5, my first solo 4WD expedition). I think it caught my fancy when I drove up the other side of the Rangitata River past Lake Clearwater and realised that although this cache wasn't very far away from there, it was so much more isolated & infrequently found.

Anyway - we tossed the idea around at an event in 2/2014 and found a few keen cachers.
Purdiepurdie and I tossed some more - and the culmination was an amazing expedition.
This is not a journey to be undertaken lightly; nor should any attempts to drive on the riverbed be undertaken with only a single vehicle. It is not a drive for the "Sunday variety" of 4WD vehicles.
I estimate that the riverbed part of the journey started about 10km from the cache (as the kea flies).

Thanks to Ro Vista for his advice re the Ecan website for river levels - it would have been great to have driven all the way to GZ in style (!) but it was obvious when we arrived at the main braid of the river that a safe crossing wasn't on the cards. As BaldEd has said, the river had risen rapidly overnight, which seemed to be the geocaching variety of Sod's Law.
We drove back to a safe parking spot from which we could easily access the High Track and then the trek began. A disparate bunch indeed! Age range mid40s to mid70s, varying levels of fitness. The uphill walk to the summit of the track was steeper than the downhill glide; a few stops for refreshments etc and we were off the hill, with only about 900m to GZ.
Macpacmum had carried a small bottle of bubbles all the way & we each had a mouthful to celebrate before starting the return trek!
I was pleased I had marked a few WP on the way in, especially the summit of the track. Also pleased to have the NW wind at our backs, it seemed to greatly help the uphill hike.
Back at the trucks we had a full bottle of bubbles to celebrate this great occasion and returned home, claiming a few more caches on the way.

Thanks, fellow travellers, for sharing this amazing experience; a HUGE thank you to Peter 007 and Terry of Wombles BBT for their vehicles and driving expertise - of course, this wouldn't have been possible without them.
This is another example of a place I wouldn't have visited if i wasn't geocaching.

TFTC. KotukuSI has been whispering in my ear for the last year about Helms Deep. So I had to view the listing - once that was done I was committed to getting there sometime and somehow. After a reasonable amount of planning and two meetings the adventure was set - the transport was sorted, the team were sorted, safety plans were made. The only thing left to chance was the weather and potential river levels.

We meet at Peel Forest and made our way along the Rangitata River to Mesopotamia Station where we left the city 4WD and got into our two real 4WD vehicles. Big thanks to Peter007 and Wombles BBT for providing the vehicles and skilful driving.

Having travelled as far as we could along the river bed, we changed to Shank's Pony and began the long trek to Helm's Deep. I was so pleased that we had the opportunity to walk in - the scenery both in macro and in huge scale was truly breath taking. We really do live in such a beautiful country.

The team of kotukuSi, Bald Ed, Wombles BBT, MeandPedro, RogoWiz, MacPacMum, Peter007 and myself kept up a steady pace and managed to overcome wind and heat to make it to the cache. We had a celebration toast at GZ and then turned around for the return trek back in the cars. It took approx 4 hours walking for the round trip.

This was a great adventure and I feel I have really earned my smiley face.

To those of you who are considering this cache in the future: we were prepared to turn back if the river or conditions deteriorated, we took lots of water, clothes for all weather and tons of common sense.

A big thank you to all members of our group I had a real blast and have a special glow of pride for having made it "there and back again".

Thanks bl@de for placing the cache which I have given a favourite vote.

What a fantastic place for a cache. About 18 months ago I stood on the top of Mount Sunday, having collected the 'Edoras' cache, looking across the valley towards this cache and wondering how long it would take to walk across to Helm's Deep - not the right day for it, then. Since then I have been hoping for an opportunity to visit this cache. I'd mentioned it to purdiepurdie and so was pleased that she thought of me when she was part of a group being put together to visit it.
purdiepurdie and I drove up to Mesopotamia in a 'toy' 4x4 then transferred into one of the two 'real' 4x4's for the next part of the trip. Ours was driven admirably by Peter 007. The drive up the river was great fun. KotukuSI did a great job navigating too.
Unfortunately the river had risen overnight and the current course took it too close to the cliffs so we had to ditch the 4x4's and take to our feet. We spotted a likely access to the high track and made for that. The GPS told us we were over 4km as the Kea flies from the cache. We readied ourselves for the walk and set-off with a spring in our step.
The walk was wonderful. The views were amazing and the wind in our faces as we made our way to GZ. We saw some amazing, big, dragonflies near streams that crosses the track and an interesting variety of rocks.
The trip was uphill for about the first half of the trek, so the downhill part was welcome. But the last part was uphill and into the wind. Not a steep uphill but somehow it seemed like the hardest part of the whole adventure.
Then we had made the find and sharing a sip of bubbles, thanks to Macpacmum. The walk back was a little more sedate than the trip there. The group a little more weary. Still I enjoyed the views and wildlife on the way back too.
Thanks, bl@de for a fantastic experience and a great cache (a fav point from me).
Thanks, also, to all those who were a part of the trip and it's organisation. I had a wonderful time.

My first day at geocaching and what an introduction ! The trip is well documented in previous entries. Thanks for putting it there. A great location.

nearly 3 years since the last find and Im pleased to tell you its still there (pen didn't work so I swapped it).
well I wasn't sure where the high track mentioned by Gandalf began so after driving the trusty VW an extra km up the track gps said 10.9km to gz ( and I was thankful for that when I finally made it back). so I took the track most travelled and was all straight forward, a couple of small river crossings (I brought my dive booties for the job) . until I got to the main bend in the river , tried scrambling up and around the cliff but was unable to get down the other side of the bluff ,so retracing my steps I made the river crossing and left my booties on for the next km due to the number of crossing needed. finally made it back to dry land and made a B line for the fence which I then followed to the final location ( with a slight detour).

Tried to locate the high track for the return trip it was visible from the river on my way in so it had to be there somewhere. followed the fence back until it disappeared then it was basically a straight up the hill slog until I finally found it , it was a lot higher at this point than I was expecting.

im in 2 minds whether it was an easier track without the river crossing there was a lot more twist and turns also it did finish where I was expecting so I was glad I hadn't tried to find it on the way in.
6 hours later I made it back to the car
thanks for a great cache

As they say, 'it's all about getting there, not the destination', but in this case they are equal.
I agree with 'Grandalf' but in this instance our kids and their Grandparents all came for the trip, so 4WD (x2) was only option. Even with river low, this is no trip for toy 4WD's or going it alone.
Won't make record for quickest retrieve, 5hrs from home to get to 2nd cach for day after here (Sinclairs Grave), but worth the trip.
TFTC

Hey - all these people trying to drive there!! What happened to ordinary boots - there is an easy track all the way from Mesopotamia, and it's only a few walk to get there. Look back at the FTF log!! Cheers from Grandalf

What a challenge and what an adventure. We hired a 4WD to do some caches that we normally could not easily retrieve, this cache was on the list. We had absolute no problems driving from Mesopotamia station close to the cache, it was at least a 200m scramble from the river bank to GZ (of course another river crossing as we started a bit too far west). The cache was in a remarkable good condition and a quick find.
The problem for us was the way back as we could not find our way along the river. This is a bit embarrassing as we did not use our GPS to record the track. It would have been much easier if we would have used this feature. Lesson 1!!!

Lesson 2 was a bit harder. Of course we came of the track and got stuck in the soft sand of the riverbed. This was about 3pm and we tried the next 3 hours to move the car without success. We tried to walk to the station, but decided against it as soon as we approached the first river crossing. The weather was cold and we were exhausted, so we decided not to test our luck even more. We spent New Years Eve in the car with not much sleep. No sparkling of course to welcome the New Year... But we had our sleeping bags and checked the river from time to time.

The next morning we walked for about three hours to the station, where we found some help and soon the car was free again. But lesson 2: Tell someone what you are doing.

And a free lesson 3: Never ever try a riverbed with only one car!

This was a cache that probably took the longest time of all caches, and one that we will never forget.

Passing by en route to a climb of Alma. Hadn't noticed the cache before setting off but noticed it marked on my map when I paused at the junction so worked off nearby features to find the cache easily enough. A fairly leisurely 3 day trip with a climb of the peak on the middle day in perfect weather. Good to see three keas up the stream. A shame that such a magnificant and unusual parrot should be becoming endangered.

As the owner operator of the 4X4 tour company mentioned in the description of this cache I have been waiting for a customer to request a trip to find it ever since starting on Geocaching some time ago.....I got tired of waiting! .The log says no visits for along long time...so it was high time to find it!
I had a trip booked to go into this area, a Mother and her Son from Australia, and a retired couple from Christchurch. I quickly realized that these guys would be perfect to introduce to Geocaching, and what a way to do it with a trip to Helms Deep!
I do lots of tours into this valley and have a great respect for the rivers that flow through this area.....The trip to the cache involves crossing braids of the river in a couple of places and this is where the utmost caution is required, these river can be very unpredictable with ever changing conditions, and help is a long way away if you get into difficulties!
On the day we went in the river was just starting to rise and I decided that it would be to dangerous to cross ( river peaked later that night at 800 m3/sec..usually flows at 90m3/sec) so we used some of the private access track that we have organized with the Land owner to use, this involves a slight detour taking us up the side of the mountain to around 700 mtrs above the valley floor.
Having successfully arrived it was easy to teach them the use of the gps to find the cache and great excitement as the cache was discovered and opened!
We found the cache to be in very good condition, so removed nothing, added a pink pig that the group named Muldoon...
An excellent cache in a truly wonderful spot and I really enjoyed introducing some new people to the wonderful pastime of Geocaching .

What a thrill to be part of the Greywacke party in the finding of the Helms Deep Geocache and what a great introduction to geocachhing. To find my first Geocache at such a stunning location as Helm's Deep is just magical. I can’t wait to seek out more geocaches here in Far North Queensland Australia. The trip to the Rangitata Gorge and Mesopotamia Station with 4x4 New Zealand was amazing in itself – absolutely stunning scenery in such a remote and beautiful part of the world. The locating of the geocache was a magical bonus. Thank you Greywacke for allowing us the privilege of being part of this discovery. I’m definitely hooked!

Awesome day out with the Southern Sleepover cachers! Early enough start and up the long gravel dusty road - horrific dust I must say! Once we got to the rougher gravel we crammed into the 4x4's and carried on. First river crossing and one 4x4 dropped out... The next major river crossing became little more interesting. After assessing the river our Suzuki went across with a crash bang, and us girls flying around in the back! The others at this stage considered walking the last few km's. Had I mentioned the heat? After looking around down/upstream, a path was decided upon and we were off again. The cache site was rugged rough terrian but so beautiful. Whatever you do - REMEMBER your GPS!! It's difficult to find otherwise so many found out... After lunch, we jumped back in and took off at a seemingly faster rate all the way back. Not ones to be without drama whilst caching , we managed to get stuck (or as Mr Inperfected called it "the motor was stuck not the 4x4") in the middle of the river, and got towed out. Then we proceeded to nearly stop in the next one too. Hint: Don't bring a broken vehicle 4x4ing. A few km's from the camp we stopped for fuel and noticed the oil "drip" or should I say "run" from the bottom of the motor It seems we managed to blow a seal.

Anyone needing a Suzuki Escudo check out trademe this week

If anyone is wanting a copy of the photo's from the day just email me via here and I can send you one for $2

Q. How many Geocachers can you fit in a Navara[?]

Wow, I have just looked at the photo's [^] This was easily the best day caching I have had The event down the road was organised with an "Assult" on this cache in mind, and I must say the number of vehicles was needed. In the words of Master Card...The company $30, the scenery $100, A 4WD drip to Helm's Deep with Mates... PRICELESS! I now know the capibilities of my 4WD (Well what it can handle with out any problems (of course excluding the faulty oil light fault (due to water))).

Arrived at a spot close enough to the cache, stopped and jumped out, then quickly back into the 4WD to pull the hand brake on tighter as the Navara was rollong back down the hill! Then there was an explosion of activity, a handfull of wanna be FTF (of group), with Rodney counting down and a couple of us running just ahead (without GPS's), must have been a sight from behind. I must admit to being one of them, but also admit that a GPS would have made the hunt a whole heap easier.

An amazing place, well worth the visit for one cache. Thanks for giving us another reason to make the trip in.

A. 9

After a few long logs I'll do a short one. Found with the others from the event.

Over the last year I have attended a number of events in Ashburton and Christchurch and this would have to be the one cache that was talked about frequently. Anyone who had done it said it was amazing and everyone talked about visiting it. Very much an adventure worthy of following in the footsteps of hobits. Although we decided against horses and went for 4wd aiming to get nearly all the way as we had heard from the farmer it was possilbe. Thou it looked like we were going to have to walk in at one stage until one car load decided to charge across the water and the other two after some more 'man' talk decided to follow. Was amazed at how many vehicles we passed on the way to this cache. One got stuck on the way out so it was a real 4wd trip. Brought in (and took out) a travel bug that wanted to visit LOTR sites.
Thank you very much for the cache, took tattoo and left Ashburton pin.

Really love the trilogy so always enjoy a LOTR themed cache. This was extra good because of the 4WD trip to get there. Thanks for a very enjoyable caching experience.

This was a brilliant day out, with the cache at the end an added bonus. Our whole team really enjoyed the adventure getting in and out of Helms deep in the 4WD's with numerous river crossings (1 truck staying in the river a little longer than planned!) The screeching halt at the finish with the mad dash that followed up the hill (to the wrong place!) added to the excitement. I'm quite sure if it hadn't been for this cache in this particular location, we would never have seen this spectacular part of NZ. Thankyou

Ah, well maybe next time! We did get within 2km after a number of chilly river crossings but were finally driven back by the mighty Rangitata. Still, if we had taken the successful path of the other lunatics, we too may have broken our 4WD! Anyway, it was still a great adventure with some fantastic scenery, so thanks, and we'll be back...

2321. What a great cache hiding spot - talk about million dollar views! The trip in was worth it just for the fun of it. The long dusty road to Mesopotamia Station was reasonably interesting but it got really interesting after that! Our Honda CRV had no trouble travelling up the road, along the rough track through the scrub and the start of the river but we chickened out at the first river crossing that was knee deep as the poor CRV is quite low slung. Transferred to a much less comfortable seat in the back of a REAL 4WD and carried on upstream. It turned out to be a wise decision when we encountered even more challenging river crossings. After a really 'interesting' journey we arrived at Helms Deep and flew from the vehicles - quite a few keen FTF types here!! Kept back a little and called out the distances to the runners (who weren't carrying a GPS) until GZ was reached. After all that running who was the one to find the cache? I am too modest to say, but it certainly helps to actually use the GPS when there are so many potential hiding spots!! GPS was bang on. The return journey was just as interesting and a tired but satisfied group returned to base camp. Thanks for the cache.
Iris and Rodney

Travelled with others on a day of fun 4wding with a cache as our destination.
Words of wisdom - "If the vehicle you are travelling in starts taking in water, lift your feet - otherwise they may get wet"
Had a great day - thanks to those who offered their vehicles to make it all possible. TFTC TNLNSL

A day I will remember for the fun, laughter, adventure, awesome scenery and so much more.
Although in the leed vehicle I was by passed in the mad rush uphill on foot to find the cache. My Lord of the caches - Earth geocoin paid a quick visit to the cache. Thanks for the cache, the drivers who got us there and the great company of fellow cachers making the trip unforgetable.

A trek up the river by a group attending the Great Southern Sleepover. A very nice drive to the spot. The landscape is really stunning although hard to picture the place in the film. Travelling in a small pack was useful fo this trip - not so simple. The cache was quickly found and signed. Thanks for ths, the entire journey was well worth it and certainly inspires a return one day in the long future... Thanks to our driver Cydd - the limitations we have when we dont own our own 4WD. A very generous lift. TNLN SL.

[This entry was edited by rchdlyn on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 10:00:14 PM.]

A legendary cache with its isolation and connection with the Lord of the Rings. A great trip up there and excellent company.

Was an interesting day out. Drove right up to a cache. TFTC

We were spending the weekend away from soggy Canterbury, staying in one of the cosy cottages on Mesopotamia and rising before dawn to take photos of the Rangitata and surrounding mountains. Decided to 4WD up the river as far as we could go and reached the Black Mountain Hut - certainly the best maintained hut we have ever seen. The GPSr was showing a cache a little further along, quite a surprise. Easily found without any instructions, and in reasonable condition seeing it's been over 3 years since anyone visited! The candle has become rather soggy. Dried out the cache easily, took nothing but left a Scottish saltire patch in memory of Dr. Sinclair who is buried in the Mesopotamia cemetery.
Thank you for a wonderful cache with amazing views.

Fantastic trip up to Helm's Deep with Grandalf and lytteltonwitch. Even wet feet and sore legs didn't deter us from finding the cache and enjoying every minute of the hike. Left sunscreen, took BP solar calculator.
Took the pedometer with us: 29,000 steps, 17.18km, and approximately 1000 calories.

[This entry was edited by ridders76 on Sunday, October 02, 2005 at 8:05:46 PM.]

Well, I just knew that a wizard had to find this one first - and in the company of lytteltonwitch and ridders76. We drove south and then drove further in from Mesopotamia (ring and get permission from the landowners), and walked 8km to the cache, with several river crossings. There was a brisk Norwester in our faces but it was warm. We looked across to Eternal Edoras as we walked. The cache was not too hard to find - just think how bad we would have felt if we had a DNF after the long walk. And we had wonderful views of the mountains too.
For the record, we were able to drive a 2WD car about 2 - 3km beyond the Mesopotamia station, and it took us 2.75 hours to walk up to the cache and 2.5 hours back - its best to stick to the old vehicle track that climbs above the river to avoid the river crossings. All in all, a 12hour day out of Christchurch.
I left a grey walking toy, and took TB Aragorn.
Thanks for a great cache.

We had a great trip to this cache not withstanding river crossing.I took lots of photos.Was a very enjoyable day out.Swapped buzzy bee with a candle from Japan that was given to me as a gift from a grateful customer, who I think would be intrigued to know where I left it.
I wish to thank Grandalf for inviting me on today's trip.

[This entry was edited by lytteltonwitch on Saturday, October 01, 2005 at 2:56:38 PM.]

Travel bug Aragorn dropped off. he now overlooks Mt Sunday (Edoras) as requested.