Mt Alford Track
Alert/Important notice
Access easements to Mt Alford Conservation area are closed every year from 20 September to 20 October due to lambing and calving.
Track category
Tramping track
Time:
3 hours one way
Distance:
4.6 km
Description
The marked track passes through Alford Scenic Reserve before climbing beside a stream gully clothed in beech/tawhairauriki and then emerges onto tussock/wī grassland. The route through this open section is on private land so please follow the track markers.
The access then re-enters public conservation land and climbs through subalpine vegetation to the summit of Mt Alford (1,171 m). From the summit there are wide views across the Canterbury Plains and the inland mountains.
Getting there
Access to Mt Alford Conservation Area is signposted from the car park at the end of Alford Settlement Road, which is off the Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road (Highway 72). The car park is 12.5 km from Methven. Easements will be closed from 20 September to 20 October, inclusive, for calving and lambing.
About the area
Grey warbler
As the area is unusually wet, podocarp tree species survive and are regenerating well (after historic logging and burning) in the scenic reserve.
Around the summit of Mt Alford is subalpine shrubland dominated by Dracophyllum and slim-leaved snow tussock/wī. A small stand of Hall's tōtara is also present.
Typical forest birds found in the bush are fantail/pīwakawaka, bellbird/korimako, grey warbler/riroriro, rifleman/tītitipounamu, tomtit/miromiro and silvereye/tauhou.