Mt Campbell to Flora Saddle, Kahurangi N.P. - Jan 2022

Descending Mt CampbellThis is the last uncompleted section of our Arthur Range Traverse from 2021. Our group of three had the fortune to have someone drop us off on the summit of Mt Campbell saving us a few hours ascent. Unfortunately after over a month of fine weather we encountered 100% cloud cover for the duration of the trip. Whilst it kept us cool we missed out on all the spectacular views so we will revisit the area at a later date. Most of the ridgetops had a reasonable clearly defined ground trail with sporadic tape markers so travel was mostly relatively quick. However you did need to pay attention navigating to ensure you dropped off the correct spur which with a very limited visibility required regular checking of our GPS. The ascent of the northern slope of Mt Crusader while steep had plenty of handholes with small terraces topped with non-slip limestone rocks. It was fairly wet as we ascended this in limited visibility so we didn't encounter the exposure that previous trips members had noted in fine weather. If you don't like heights then a north south traverse would be the way to go. We topped out on Crusader after 4 hours and travel after this was quicker with a mostly clearly defined track. Particular attention needs to paid when dropping off SH 1153 at the right place but after travel was reasonably benign. Total trip time was 8.25hrs with 1500m of elevation gain over 15.6km.