Camp Saddle Loop via The Luge Track

Camp Saddle Loop via The Luge Track is a loop of 10.3 km, near Sheffield in Canterbury.

This is the Craigieburn loop Anna and Gordo did: up the Camp Saddle Track, along the ridge to Lyndon Saddle, then down The Luge Track and back along the road. About 10.5 km all up and roughly six hours. It starts at the locked gate and carpark where Broken River Road crosses Camp Stream, which is as far as you can drive. From there it is a kilometre of road walking to the signposted track, opposite the ski club tractor shed. DOC describes the climb as "a wide four-wheel drive track" that "narrows as it climbs steadily towards the saddle. It passes through beech forest then emerges into open tussock, and poles mark the route to Camp Saddle." The middle of this loop has no track. DOC is blunt about it: "There are no tracks or marked DOC routes beyond Camp Saddle." The link to Lyndon Saddle is a navigate it yourself proposition, described by DOC as "continuing southeast along the well-defined ridge. After an hour descend steeply down a scree slope. Stay on the left of the scree to join an unmarked track through the beech forest to Lyndon Saddle." Take a map and compass and know how to use them. DOC adds that "it is much easier to go down scree than scramble up it, so this trip is better done as a descent", which is the direction described here and the direction Anna walked it. If that is not your kind of day out, the Camp Saddle Track on its own is a good out and back and you can turn around at the saddle. The mapped line over the ridge is indicative only: there is no trace to follow, and the line is there so you can see the shape of the day, not to navigate by. Dogs are allowed and off the lead under control on both named tracks. DOC's wording on the Camp Saddle Track and on The Luge Track is identical: "Dogs allowed. Keep dog under control at all times." No DOC page publishes a separate rule for the untracked ridge in between, and none of them restricts dogs there. Two things to hold on to anyway. Craigieburn sets dog access track by track rather than park wide, so read the DOC page for whichever track you pick next, and Avoca Valley Track in this same park is marked no dogs. And DOC states that "dogs are not permitted in the operational areas of the ski fields during winter, while the ski fields are open", because dogs interfere with the work of avalanche rescue dogs. Your car will be parked at the bottom of that ski field road. Season matters more than usual here. DOC recommends against both ends of this loop when there is snow above: "There are avalanches in this area in winter and early spring (May-November). We recommend choosing another track at these times", and the Lyndon Saddle to Craigieburn Edge section of The Luge is described as a zone where "there are avalanches here every season". Check the NZ Avalanche Advisory for the Craigieburn Range if there is any snow on the tops. Wasps are thick from January to March. The road you finish on is shared with cars and can be busy in the ski season, and The Luge itself is a shared track where DOC asks walkers and mountain bikers to look out for each other, which on a fast descent is a reason to have the dog in close whatever the rule says.

It sits at the hard end and gains roughly 622 m, and takes about 3 hr 5 min to walk.

Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Anna & Gordo suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.