The content on this website is published in English. I cannot guarantee the quality of the translated text generated by the plugin of this website. The machine-translated “names” and “terminology” are often inconsistent and/or incorrect. If it looks confusing, please switch back to the English version.
Disclaimer: Information such as the locations or the trails shown on the maps of this website might be inaccurate, misleading or out-of-date. They are only the simple illustration for the ranges of the hiking trails or the points of interest. Please prepare your own navigation device, apps, topo maps, and GPX files for hiking.
Sourced from Topo50 Map BY19 Arundel. Crown Copyright Reserved
About Little Mt Peel / Huatekerekere, Peel Forest
The Difficulty Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Little Mt. Peel / Huatekerekere is one of the mountains / hills that stand along the edge of Canterbury Plain. One side of this peak flanks the plain while the other is a part of the mountainous South Island. The locals may stroll on the popular hiking trails there like in their backyard.
The two trails leading to the peak of Little Mt. Peel form a loop. When my partner and I hiked there for the first time in January 2019, we ascended to the top via South Ridge Route and then descended Deer Spur Track. In general South Ridge Route is steeper and more natural and thus is slightly more difficult than Deer Spur where has sections of wooden boardwalks. But it would be fine if you want to travel the other way around. On the following three visits, I only moved back and forth on Deer Spur Track, which seemed more convenient for my photography tasks.
Being not too far from Christchurch, an easy access and the great scenery, the trail was a testing ground for my first full-frame camera, time-lapse motion control devices and other accessories. I stayed by the track and even the summit overnight, experiencing a couple of exciting and also frustrating moments. Anyway this mountain kindly rewarded me some photos and clips I really like. You can find more images / trip comments from these posts, “Little Mt. Peel in Snow” and “Little Mt. Peel’s Day and Night”.
Overall the hike is not hard, but you still need a reasonable level of fitness to complete the full loop as the net altitude gain is about 900 m from the trail head to the summit and there might be a few steep sections to climb (although I could not remember anything special). Here is the track information from DOC.
