Coppermine Trail in Nelson

We had an afternoon off and though it was a cloudy day with a threat of rain, it was warm and we decided to go for a hike out of Nelson, on the South Island of New Zealand. Pedro and I invited another person on the tour, Peter, who was from Germany.

Prior to the trip I knew we would have this afternoon off, and had already selected a good hike from trails in my AllTrails app. I knew just how to get there, and which loop I wanted to take. The guys trusted my lead and off we went.

Then we met a problem. The Tawa Track, and all access points to the trail network, were closed. We tried multiple approaches, and all were closed.

So I pulled out AllTrails and found another trail nearby. I honestly love this app. Not many of the applications on my smart phone live up to their hype or to my hopes for them, but AllTrails has exceeded it. I used it in the Julian Alps, in central Mexico, in New Zealand, and constantly at home. It’s always reliable, up to date, and worldwide. And not expensive. Anyhoo….we next came to the Coppermine Trail.

And let me use the photo above to make an observation about New Zealand. I have noticed as I travel the world, that different places have different levels of outdoor exercisers. In some countries you can spot them, in some countries you do not. So far, it was my opinion that there are more joggers and walkers and cyclists and scooters and skateboarders out getting some air for fun in the United States than anywhere else. I don’t mean people merely commuting, because in that case there are places that vastly subsume the number of bicycles in the US. But if we are talking strictly people outside to get excercise, US wins. But then… maybe not. New Zealand has the same thing. This is the first country I ever spotted a person on crutches and workout clothing on a hiking trail. Damn – that is above and beyond.

I had really hoped to go uphill somewhere, somehow, just for a view. I like to get up high and take a look around. We ran into a problem though, when we discovered that most of this trail system is for dirt bikes.

We stopped the next group of people we saw coming by (they were on bikes, but not racing, merely enjoying their day), and asked if they knew the trail system. They did know it and said only one of the many trails is for walking, and we were on it. They also cautioned not to try walking on any of the bike trails because people go very fast and do not look out for pedestrians. We took their advice.

We asked if there was any place that had an overlook, and they said there was a short spur off Coppermine trail to the Tantragee Saddle, where we could look down into the next valley.

It was an enjoyable trail. We did get a few drops of rain, but it was warm out and they dried easily. We were not concerned.

In the photo above, the evergreens at the very top, and the baby trees, are imported for the timber industry. The tall trees in the middle are eucalyptus, and native. The look of recently harvested trees is quite familiar where we are from in Oregon. Not the eucalyptus forests, though.

We reached the saddle and were greeted with a curious sight.

That was the peak of the trail. We could only go downhill from then on.

As you can see from the map that marked our path on the AllTrails app above, we walked a considerable distance. After eight miles (13 km), we were nearly home, and came to a bar called Rattle n Hum. We went in to have a beer and sit for a while.

My cough had not been aggravated much, but all that walking probably didn’t help either. The thing is, I was in New Zealand! I was determined not to lie in bed and be sickly, no matter what my body wanted to do. So I just kept going and kept pushing.