Tramping the Bruce Stream saw a return to Arthurs Pass for us and the opportunity to traverse one of our favourite ridges, to Bealey Top Hut and further along Hut Spur.
The gentle track from the Bach’s at Bealey Spur has to be the best in The Park for getting somewhere with great views very easily. A small knoll at around the 1000m mark provides fantastic views across the Waimakariri Valleys as well as back across to the Minga and Bealey Valleys. We stopped for lunch here and watched the gathering clouds away to the East. Unusually for Arthur’s Pass, there was not a cloud in the sky to the west of The Divide.
The situation was further complicated as we climbed higher as it started to thunder. Shortly afterwards, the altimeter went crazy, the walking poles starting fizzing and my hair was standing on end. It was high time we got off of the ridge and we dropped in to the basins at the head of the Power Stream. The rain finally moved away and the weather improved dramatically as we sidled round to the saddle at the back of Blind Spur.
Beyond this we traversed past a delightful still iced up tarn above Junction Stream, before following a magical deer track / stream down a steep but practically bush free descent of Junction Spur. A quick scouting around for campsites saw us camped on a grassy terrace above the stream.
Sunday was a blue sky day and we had great fun in the Bruce Stream. There were two gorges to negotiate, the upper being the most demanding which included a small waterfall to climb around in the bush. Finding a route back to the stream from here was a bit more difficult than we had imagined and we had to try several times before being able to descend back to the river bed.
Beyond here there is a long section of easy walking and at our lunch stop I took a good opportunity to swim in one of the many pools.
The second gorge started soon after the confluence of the Power Stream and this was also great fun with many river crossings and some scrambling around boulders. The route eventually finishes with a short gravel bash and pops out on the highway by the main river bridge only a stone’s throw from the start. A quick drink at the Bealey Hotel afterwards completed a great weekend.
The second gorge started soon after the confluence of the Power Stream and this was also great fun with many river crossings and some scrambling around boulders. The route eventually finishes with a short gravel bash and pops out on the highway by the main river bridge only a stone’s throw from the start. A quick drink at the Bealey Hotel afterwards completed a great weekend.
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