Benmore Peninsula, Otematata
The Benmore Peninsula is a short circuit hike near Otematata, Otago, South Island. It seems to be just over the border in Canterbury; I’m putting it in both categories to be safe. I’ve also put it in the Mackenzie Basin category, since it’s nearby.
The Peninsula is beside Lake Benmore and the Waitaki River, which flows into Lake Aviemore to the south. Both lakes were created by hydroelectric dams.
By car, the hike’s trailhead is about 5 minutes from Otematata village and 25 minutes from Ōmarama.
The Benmore Peninsula, as well as the nearby Benmore Range (and its summit, Benmore), should not be confused with the various other Benmores and Ben Mores of South Island. For example, Ben More is a day-hike in Canterbury’s Big Ben Range.
Scroll down for rainbow photos.
The purple X indicates an area into which I made a wrong turn.
Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
Time
DOC says that the walk takes 1 hour 40 minutes.
AllTrails users report that it takes them an average of 1 hour 20 minutes.
Both of those times include a side-trip to Point 560, which I skipped.
The circuit alone took me 1 hour 10 minutes, including breaks.
Route
Round-trip, AllTrails reports an elevation gain of 188 meters and a length of 4.0 kilometers. So mine was a little less of each.
The parking lot is just past Benmore Dam on Loch Laird Road. The track shortly diverges into a clockwise and a counter-clockwise option. I chose counter-clockwise, probably because it was late in the day and the eastern half of the walk would grow dark sooner.
Early in the walk, I mistakenly turned left on a disused track that led down toward river level.The disused track is on the tiny peninsula sticking southeast off of Benmore Peninsula. You can see the area marked with a purple X on the topomap screenshot.
As mentioned above, I skipped the side-trip to Point 560. I assumed that the view would be similar to what I could see from the circuit track.
The track is easy, and not steep for extended periods. Parts of it are in pine forest, so there are a lot of pine cones.
If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give most of this track a 1. There are short steeper sections which are a 2.
Although this is not a good photo of a full-arc rainbow, I’m pleased with the placement of my shadow.
Other pages about this hike
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/benmore-peninsula-loop
https://www.theoutbound.com/new-zealand/chillin/hike-the-benmore-peninsula-track
Hydroelectric power history: https://www.engineeringnz.org/programmes/heritage/heritage-records/benmore-power-station/