The tablelands walk crosses some spectacular tops in Kahurangi National Park. This walk has beech forest, tussock tops, tall peaks, rivers, and views to dream of.
Prior to visiting the area and exploring the Tablelands I had never even heard of this spectacular piece of Kahurangi National Park. I was focused on some of the longer walks, such as the Heaphy or Wangapeka. This walk may be shorter and required a bit of planning (for transport), but it was absolutely worth it. Kahurangi National Park is the second biggest national park in New Zealand and has some truly wild, remote, and spectacular areas. This shorter walk is a great sampler of the tops.
Tablelands Walk Highlights and Logistics
Highlights – Beech forest, Flora river, whio, tussock opens, mountain peaks, Lake Peel, and views.
Location – Kahurangi National Park at north-west corner of South Island; Start Flora Car Park, Finish Upper Cobb Reservoir.
Length of Walk – About 27 km
Difficulty – Moderate
Tablelands Walk – Flora Car Park To Cobb Reservoir via Lake Peel
The start of this walk is in beech forest and soon the trail forks. The left heads to Mt. Arthur hut and the route to the peak or the upper way to Salisbury Lodge. The right fork, really a road carries on down to Flora Hut after a half hour.
Flora Hut is a basic hut, built in the 1920s, that has a fireplace and a nice open area around it for tents. There are Poweliphanta nearby and whio in the stream, so take a look and keep your fingers crossed that you’ll get lucky and see some.
From Flora Hut the track follows the stream, slowly dropping down through beech forest. Shortly, it passes Gridiron Gulch, which has two very cool, open shelters under rocks that would be a fun place to stay. A little bit further down the valley at Upper Junction, the trail to Salisbury Lodge leaves the stream and starts climbing up.
From here it’s a slow, steady climb to get out of the bush and into the tops. Eventually, the track leaves the bush and begins to cross some tussock flats.
Salisbury Lodge has nice views (in good weather) of Mt. Arthur and Gordon’s Pyramid. In poor weather, it’s a nice, warm hut to hunker down in and stay dry.
An hour and a half walk from Salisbury Lodge leads to Balloon Hut.
This stretch crosses the tops and has one cool stretch passing through a spooky, lichen laden forest.
Balloon Hut is a cozy, warm hut with great views and access to the tops.
From Balloon Hut the views out across the tops get truly incredible. The trail continues up the open, tussock ridge at a very gentle grade. As you get higher and higher on that ridge Kahurangi National Park opens up all around you.
You can see the tall peaks, down many forested valleys beckoning into more remote wilderness and adventures, and even out to the sea.
The track drops down into the bowl at the head of the valley just under Mt. Peel and arrives at Lake Peel an hour and a half after leaving Balloon Hut.
From there, the track sidles down the other side of the valley and then pops over the far ridge, revealing more stunning vistas across and into the Cobb Valley.
From Peel Ridge, the track drops steeply down into the upper Cobb valley. Soon the trail enters beech forest and begins a long series of switchbacks. This section is nice and the bell birds are overwhelming with their loud, melodic singing that reverberate through the open forest. It was the most insane bell bird singing that I’ve ever heard.
About an hour and a half to two hours from Peel Ridge the trail arrives at the trailhead for Lake Peel at the upper end of Cobb Valley, just above Cobb Reservoir.
My Insider’s Tips To Tablelands
The road to Flora carpark is very steep and a bit challenging, so I’d recommend a good car, ideally a 4wd. The road to Cobb Reservoir is also quite long and challenging and is graded. Take your time on the drive.
From Salisbury Lodge there is a nice, 30 minute walk (the Potholes) that passes by some huge sinkholes. If you have the time, it’s definitely worth doing.
There are lots of trails in the area so you can pull out a map and put together any of a number of variations on this route. The route from Flora car park to Salisbury Lodge can be done the low way or the high way. In good weather the high route offers spectacular scenery for fit hikers with experience following a route. This could be an overnight loop to Salisbury Lodge and back.
It could include climbing some peaks, such as Gordons Pyramid, Lodestone, Mt. Arthur, or Mt. Peel.