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Mt Vernon Farm Track , Canterbury

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Mt Vernon Farm Track Intermediate

Submitted by Conor Keena

Info Info
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Trail Information

7.40km

435m

435m

 

Canterbury

Christchurch

Front country - easily accessible

Loop

Very hilly

Native bush
Open farmlands
Open tussock/grasslands

Intermediate

1:45 (Slow)
1:10 (Moderate)
0:45 (Fast)

-13.3%

+13.2%

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Description

Start up the hill straight away, you'll pass some houses and at the end of the street it will look like you're going onto somebody's property - but keep going up the drive and climb over the gate. You're now on the Mt Vernon farm track, a nicely rutted and washed out 4WD track, that becomes smoother as you climb.

Go up up up for a couple of km's, and you'll get to a fence just before the Summit Road. Follow the fence along to the right until you get to a people-sized gate, go through, and cross the road. Here you'll cross the bike track, and continue straight up the face of the hill for a reasonably steep 30m-40m climb. The track then flattens out for a quick run to the summit.

From here, you can turn around and go back the way you came, or drop down the east side of Mt Vernon to the top of the Rapaki track. Start down the Rapaki track, but break off to the left and aim for the valley. The track here isn't formed very well, but for the first km I think it's best true right (east), then it will switch over to true left when you're alongside the Rapaki saddle. This single track continues all the way down to the Mt Vernon Reserve car park. You can take a nice little detour on the Marette Taylor track along the way (this is what the GPS shows).


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Make Up of Run

Untracked / Route only: 2%

Technical Single Track: 20%

Moderate Single Track: 20%

Easy Single Track: 16%

Farm Road / 4WD Track: 40%

Sealed Road: 2%


Route Data

Reviews:

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Overlapping Runs

The following trails overlap with this run to some degree. You may wish to combine them but please note that to qualify for FKTs on these runs you should record a separate Strava activity for each

Rapaki Sugarloaf Return

Rapaki Sugarloaf Return

Length: 15.00km

Port Hills Spur Challenge!

Port Hills Spur Challenge!

Length: 18.50km

Up Hill Down Valley

Up Hill Down Valley

Length: 10.80km

The North Faces

The North Faces

Length: 24.80km


Photos:

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Wild Explorers

I did it!
  • Access

    Intersection of Hillsborough Tce and Heybridge Lane

    Plenty of on-street parking.
    Bus 145 goes along Centaurus Rd at the top of Hillsborough Terrace.

    5 km

    13 minutes

    Yes

    No

  • Staying Safe

    Moderate.

    Make navigation of this route super-easy by using the Capra app on your phone. View on Capra .

    Navigation going up is easy, just aim for the top. Coming down the valley track might be tricky, if in doubt just follow the valley, most of the track is on the west side. If you get lost here, climb up the east side to the Rapaki track. You can drop off the Rapaki via the Rodgers track to get to the Mt Vernon carpark.

    Generally good.

    Short-sleeved thermal top, Windproof jacket, Whistle, First aid kit, Cellphone, Map.

    None

    The tracks can be quite slippy when wet, typical of the Port Hills.

    There are small sink holes in the soil all over the Port Hills. Watch out for these, particularly on the valley track.

  • Post run indulgence

    Fava Cafe
    236 Centaurus Rd

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