Ah the West Coast. To some this is a rainy place. A place of grey misery, forged out of coal mining pits and historical misdemeanors – reached only be a single track that winds it’s way up the rugged coastline. They’d be totally right… but when the sun does come out, the beauty of the tropical rainforest is released; untouched, ‘un-humanised’, unseen.
After the previous peak (5/52 Peaks) at the top of Old Ghost Road we set off to the south west, along the coast towards the Croesus track, an 18km track from Blackball village over the range to the Tasman Sea. The plan was to bike the 10km to Ces Clark Hut and then run the last 2km to the summit at a picturesque 1204m (Croesus Knob Peak 6/52 Peaks).
What a weekend to remember. Not only did I manage to complete two peaks in a weekend, but I also managed to ride in a helicopter, mountain bike up to 1200m and spent the weekend camping with some good friends.
The Old Ghost Road trail runs 85km from Lyell to Seddonville on the north end of the West Coast and the final part (from Lyell to the saddle area) has just been completed by numerous volunteers, DOC workers and the guys at Old Ghost Road.
I’m currently processing all the video footage and photos from my latest 52 Peaks trip to the West Coast – north of Reefton to the brand new DOC trail (yet old mining trail) the Old Ghost Road, and south towards Greymouth to the famous biking trail the Croesus Track.
The two peaks in question are Rocky Tor (1456m) and Croesus Knob (1204m), both with at least 1000m climb from the start of the run to the summit to tick of two of the 52 peaks.