Stonehurst Track, Middlemarch
Screenshots of DOC publications are Crown Copyright and licensed as CC BY 4.0 by DOC.
The Rock and Pillar Range is a long northeast-southwest escarpment near the hamlet of Sutton and the village of Middlemarch in Strath Taieri, a region of Otago, South Island. Strath Taieri (which means the valley of the Taieri River) is between Dunedin and Central Otago.
DOC lists seven tracks that climb through flat pasture and hill pasture to the Rock and Pillar Conservation Area boundary.
From these tracks, I chose Stonehurst Track because it seemed appropriate for winter. It didn’t look too steep on the topomap. Stonehurst Track in full is quite long, but the track to the escarpment alone it is shorter than the more popular options of Kinvara Road and Glencreag Track (which can make a loop passing Big Hut and Summit Rock).
DOC warns that entry from Gladbrook Road is closed for lambing 1 September – 31 October.
Time
DOC reports that it takes 2 hours to reach the Conservation Area boundary from the trailhead.
Taieri Regional Tramping Club reported 2 hours 30 minutes on the ascent.
At the loop at the foot of the escarpment, there was at least one problem with both options. I emailed DOC to ask them to ensure that hikers have suitable access across farm fences.
Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
It took me 2 hours 45 minutes to reach the boundary, and around 2 hours 15 minutes to return. This includes breaks. Westerly wind slowed the ascent.
Route
The trailhead along Gladbrook Road is marked by a DOC sign. There is no dedicated parking lot, but there is a wide grass margin across the road from the DOC sign. The road has minimal traffic.
Until the Conservation Area boundary, the rest of the hike is a farm easement, marked by orange poles.
For me, the most difficult part of the hike was leaping the first stream. It was wide, with deep mud. I recommend gaiters. The other two stream crossings were simple.
The route became unclear where the hill became steep. I’ve drawn in a loop on the map. The southern track is the official one, but neither it nor the northern track were prepared for hikers. Each track seemed to have at least one locked gate and/or fence without a stile.
After that, by the standards of cow pasture, it was a pleasant hike up a grass/dirt track to the T-intersection with the Conservation Area fence and north-south track just beyond it. The north-south track was marshy, with speargrass menacing the firmer ground, and I turned back rather than battle ease my way between spikes and puddles. It would have been easier if I had worn gaiters.
Just after starting my descent, I was caught in a snowstorm that lasted 20 minutes or so. Of the snow and the wind, the wind was the bigger issue. After getting downhill from the storm, I caught intriguing photos of it over the escarpment further north. See below.
If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 2 at its worst. Mud was more of an issue than terrain.
Hunting
A hunting area begins where conservation land begins, at the fence on top of the escarpment. Hunters are forbidden to “discharge firearms near tracks, huts, campsites, road-ends or any other public place.” I have hiked in more than 30 hunting areas, and only passed hunters twice - this wasn’t one of those hikes.
Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.
Other pages
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/otago/stonehurst-track
https://trtc.blogtown.co.nz/2023/02/09/middlemarch-area-tramps/ (scroll down to 8 February 2023 section)
