BILLY GOAT TRACK

Trying to vary our outings from week to week, we decided that it had been awhile since we'd been up in the mountains. So we pulled out the map and decided on an area where we've never been to yet. It's called The Coromandel Penninsula, and it's a little southeast of Auckland. There was a picture of a hiker drawn into the map, and some dotted lines, indicating a hiking trail. We decided that was the place for today! It was called the Billy Goat Track. Hmm...shudda been an indication!

We started off early in the morning, and by the time we found the trailhead, it was about 9 am. This is "The Pinnacle", elevation 759 metres (2,490 feet), according to the map. So up we started.

Beautiful little mountain streams and rocky streambeds, which we forded numerous times.

It wasn't long before we found we wouldn't be fording all the time - a swinging bridge to cross. Actually, four swinging bridges in all. A little scarey the first time, but as you can see, they were well secured at both ends. Dad laughed me across the first time 'cause I was such a chicken!

This is the scenery looking down from the bridge into the creek and foliage below.

Once we really started climbing, oh my gosh! we really started climbing! This area was logged in the past, and the logging camps, obviously, were up the mountain. In order to get supplies into the camps, pack animals were used. And this is how they got there!

It's called, "The Stone Staircase," a narrow, steep, forever upward-climbing path. Each step was carved out of stone, and those poor animals, loaded down, had to trudge up this staircase for hours at a time. It was very wet the day we were there, and the steps are steep and only about 18" wide in some places. I can't tell you how sorry I felt for those donkeys or oxen or horses or whatever they used. There must be some special place in Heaven for animals like that.

These steps are better defined than those above, but they went on for literally hours. We're not new at hiking anymore, after a year of doing this, but I found muscles that were never there before! At one point I thought about the Tower of Babel. What had we taken on????

As we got up a little higher, we began getting some great views of where we'd been below, and where we had yet to go.

Now we know "Where the Red Fern Grows." (Well, one of the places where it grows!)

One of the many places we had to cross, a beautiful little waterfall and crystal clear pool below.

Water, water, everywhere water, rushing, gurgling, foaming, cool and beautiful.

Another obstacle in our stream crossing, but King of the Mountain liked it!

Just one more little waterfall and clear pool beneath it.

Well, just another "one more."

Huff, huff, we're still climbing!! The scenery changes, the higher we get. Distant vistas now.

Is that "The Pinnacle" over there?

Or is that?

The view from a little "saddleback."

And finally, the very best picture of all! The beautiful patchwork of valleys and fields below.

Bottom line: four hours to the top, three hours back down. A full day!!