Mt Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand
MT OXFORD
North Canterbury
Location:
North Canterbury
Plenty of options here, for this one I chose Coopers Creek entry.
Put ‘Mt Oxford Car Park’ into Google and head out towards Oxford and Coopers Creek.
Time:
4.5 hours return.
3h up and 1.5h down. With dog and mad winds.
Difficulty.
Hard
Dogs:
On-leash only.
There are plenty of variations available for access to this spot. View Hill or Coopers Creek being the main two.
The Coopers Creek to summit and back is the most direct, but it’s also pretty steep, and a bit gnarly.
I chose Coopers Creek as I was going to be coming back down in the dark, so wanted the most direct route possible.
It’s a great track, starting off with a creek crossing, then through private land (dogs on leash ONLY) before getting into the beech forest, up through some steep and rocky terrain, until you get above the tree line.
Note for anyone attempting this, it can get really windy. Especially a Nor’wester. Which it was on this day, and boy, was it windy!
The wind was so strong at times it blew me over, and Charlie was barking at it as it blew his ears around.
Once you get to the top though, it’s a great view across the plains to Banks Peninsula and North or West into the mountains.
Now enjoy some phone snaps on the hike, with some proper pictures at the top:
Charlie having a breather at the top. 1364m.
Trail starts off pretty chill, then gets progressively steeper as you go.
Lovely light into the foot hills as seen from the top.
Made it to the summit, didn’t get blown away - now to check out some of the views on hand.
Winter layers and ribbons of light.
Pink hue over Banks Peninsula, off in the distance.
Walking down as the light starts to fade, a nice winding trail.
Norwest Arch makes for a dramatic sunset.
It’s getting pretty dark, I hike with a head torch for me and for Charlie.
Helps if you’re not scared of the dark. Getting across the creek crossing below in the dark was an adventure.
Finished off back at the ute with a hot drink and a bikkie. Job done.