45th Parallel Loop Track
Cromwell · Otago · Loop
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. The rule-setter’s own wording: “Dogs on a lead, because two rule-setters own this loop and only one of them allows off lead. The climb itself is off lead: Central Otago District Council Dog Control Bylaw 2020, clause 4.1.1, read 27 August 2026, verbatim: "Dogs are permitted off Leash in Public Places, designated Exercise Areas and Dog Parks unless otherwise specified that dogs must be on Leash or that dogs are prohibited from the area, as required by the Act or this bylaw." Clause 4.1.2 adds that dogs must be under control at all times, and this track is in none of the areas the bylaw names on lead (clause 4.5.1: Alexandra Town Centre, Cromwell Mall, Old Cromwell, Ranfurly Town Centre, Roxburgh Town Centre, all sports grounds, food premises) or prohibited (clause 4.4.1: playgrounds, sports pitches, cemeteries, swimming pools). The return leg is different ground. The loop closes along 707 m of the Lake Dunstan Trail, and its operator, Southern Lakes Trails, answers it directly in the FAQ on their own trail page, read 4 September 2026, verbatim: "Are Dogs allowed on the trail? Dogs are allowed on a lead around the urban areas of the trail - Smiths Way to Cornish Point - some 32kms." Lowburn sits between Smiths Way and Cornish Point, so the shore leg is inside the on lead section. The operator's own current words are the more restrictive reading and they decide their own trail, so we call the whole loop on lead. Walk the named track out and back instead and the hill is off lead under the bylaw”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Keep them on the lead, watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About 45th Parallel Loop Track
45th Parallel Loop Track is a loop of 2.2 km, near Cromwell in Otago.
The 45th parallel of latitude runs across the hillside above Lake Dunstan here, exactly halfway between the equator and the South Pole, and the track climbs to it. Walked as the loop it is named for, it is 2.2 km back to the carpark you started from, and the reward at the top is the view: the lake below you, the Cromwell basin, and the Pisa Range across the water. The signposted track has two ends and they are not the same walk. The State Highway 6 end is signposted, with parking opposite, and it goes up hard on built steps. The other end drops to the lake shore by the inlet, and while it is still a decent climb it is a gentler grade with far fewer steps. Inge and Pip do it as a sunset walk, and going up the steps and down the inlet side is the kinder way round if you have a dog who finds steps awkward. Those two ends sit about 700 m apart along the shore, and what joins them is the Lake Dunstan Trail, which is how the loop closes and why our line now runs all the way back to the carpark. Daniel and Zola told us our old line stopped short, and it did. That last flat stretch is the reason the whole loop is a lead walk: the hill is off lead under the Central Otago bylaw, but the shore leg belongs to the Lake Dunstan Trail and its operator asks for a lead on it. If you would rather have the dog off lead, walk the signposted track up and back down the same way and skip the shore. This is dry Central Otago country. Thyme, briar and tussock, almost no shade, and rock underfoot that holds the heat well into the evening. Carry water for the dog, because there is none on the hill and the lake is at the bottom, not the top. In midsummer this is a morning or an evening walk and not a middle-of-the-day one. Two things to watch beyond the lead rule. There is stock on some of the surrounding hill country, and the shore leg is a Great Ride that runs both ways and is not segregated, so riders and e-bikes come through fast and quiet. Keep left and keep the dog in close once you are down on the flat. The sign at the trailhead gives 45 minutes return for the signposted track up and back, and Daniel and Zola walked it in 40. The climb is a steady set of large steps with no real flat to break it up, about 100 m of it, and the descent has loose rock underfoot, so it is worth taking slowly with a dog on a warm day. Daniel also flagged the part that happens before the walk starts. The carpark is on the far side of State Highway 6 from the signposted trailhead, so you cross the open road to get on the track and cross it again coming back. Our mapped line touches the highway at both ends of the loop and the limit through there is 100 km/h, with traffic coming off a straight, so it is worth a short lead and a proper look both ways before you step out with the dog.
Graded moderate, it climbs about 100 m overall, and takes about 36 min to walk.
Dogs are allowed here, on the lead. This walk is on the map because Inge & Pip suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
