Mt Oxford (1364m) is a medium-length hike 12 minutes from the town of Oxford, on the Canterbury Plains of South Island. It is about 60 minutes from Christchurch.

There are two tracks to the summit. I took the Mt Oxford Track out-and-back from Coopers Creek parking lot, which is the closest trailhead to the town of Oxford.

At the summit, an unnamed track joins the Mt Oxford Track. Let’s call it the western track. In the forest below, the western track branches joins the Wharfedale Track. The Wharfedale Track’s trailhead is the View Hill parking lot. With the Korimako Track and the Ryde Falls Track, these two summit tracks form a loop from either parking lot.

Had there not been any rain, I would probably have done the loop.

Time

DOC estimates that either track takes 4 hours to the summit. This seems like DOC being generous with time, perhaps because this mountain is easily accessible to inexperienced hikers from Christchurch.

AllTrails users report an average of 5 hours 58 minutes round-trip.

It took a little over 3 hours to reach the summit, and a little under 3.5 hours to get down. Including my rest at the summit, it took around 7 hours.

Route

Out and back, AllTrails reports 1041 meters of elevation over 12.3 kilometers.

From Coopers Creek parking lot, I crossed an old bridge and walked past an apiary (a bunch of beehives). There was a lot of buzzing all around, and I heard it throughout the forested part of the hike. Anyway, the track becomes narrower and rougher as it ascends through the forest. Then it ascends through open, tussock-covered terrain. It was moderately steep.

There were bees on the summit, but not as many as there were below.

If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 2 for the slope and a 1 for the flat beginning by the apiary.

I spoke with three Oxford residents, all of whom told me they had never hiked to the summit.

Hunting

The entire route is in a hunting area. Hunters are forbidden to “discharge firearms near tracks, huts, campsites, road-ends or any other public place.” I passed a pair of hunters with guns - the only time I’ve seen them anywhere in NZ, in more than 30 hikes in hunting areas. (On another hike, I met a crossbow hunter.)

Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.

Other pages about this hike

• https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/coopers-creek-car-park-to-mt-oxford

• https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/canterbury/places/oxford-forest-conservation-area/things-to-do/tracks/mt-oxford-tracks/

Pages about the loop involving both summit tracks

• https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/mount-oxford-summit-via-view-hill-car-park

• slightly different variants

  • https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/mount-oxford-loop-via-coopers-creek-track

  • https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/mount-oxford-track

• https://hikingscenery.com/mt-oxford-loop-oxford-forest-conservation-area

Other Mt Oxford routes

• https://hikingisgood.com/mt-oxford-loop-via-ashley-saddle-my-first-tramp-with-the-ctc-as-a-leader/ (GPX)

• https://www.nzhikingadventures.com/post/mt-oxford

• https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/canterbury/mount-oxford-circumnavigation (mountain biking or multi-day hike)

Nearby hikes

• https://hikingscenery.com/mt-richardson-loop-mount-thomas-conservation-area/

• https://hikingscenery.com/mt-thomas-circuit-canterbury/

• https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/canterbury/waimakariri/foothills-forests-brochure.pdf

• Ōpuke Upper Circuit, Mt Hutt Forest

Mt Oxford, Mt Richardson, and Mt Thomas are all easily accessed from the town of Oxford. Staying there seems like it would make a good slow start to a Central Canterbury hiking trip. A similar slow start, which I’ve actually done, was from Mt Somers village. I hiked Mt Guy and Mt Barrosa before taking on the longer Mt Somers.