Mt Herbert track

Hike to the top of Mount Herbert (919 m), the highest elevation on Banks Peninsula, following the official Mount Herbert track from the Department of Conservation (DOC).

This track officially starts from Herbert Peak Road (lat="-43.635242013" lon="172.734979977"), see the waypoint with that name and the picture with the two cars.
As you can see in the picture there is not much space to park cars. If you preffer you can start the track just a few hundred meters earlier on that road on number 2 and drive up just another 50 meters (lat="-43.63589345" lon="172.73329446"). This is where I started the hike. You can see the waypoint named "Start of Track (2 Herbert Peak Road)". As you can see in the picture where there is one car there is plenty of space to park cars.
It doesn't really matter if you start from here or from the official spot since the whole track is on the same private land. That's what a worker on this farm told me. When starting from here you join the official track in just a few meters as you can see in the map.

There are a couple other spots where you can start this track, both further down towards the sea. The first one is also by the road, in this case Marine Drive (lat="-43.6294480" lon="172.73741098"), see the waypoint named "Start of track from Marine Drive". I don't think it's a good idea to start from here because there is little space to park a car.
Finally there is also the option to start from sea level (lat="-43.62628981" lon="172.73740059"), see the waypoint named "Start of track at sea level". This beach is where I ended my track because I wanted to find out how low you could get by following the track down to the sea. To start from this spot people usually take the ferry from Lyttelton and walk from the wharf just 100 meters from this spot. I find this option very appealing since you start walking right from the sea level.

Once we start walking, the track itself is pretty straight forward and well marked with orange poles from DOC. Since this is a farm, at some places you will find yourself walking among sheep or cattle. As we gain elevation the views of the sea only get better.
Approaching the summit there is a sign post indicating 10 minutes to the summit going straight or the option to go right, through a toilet and I believe the shelter, taking you to the summit in 15 minutes. I didn't go through the shelter so I cannot confirm this second option.

In summary, enjoyable hike not far from Christchurch, with the option of taking the ferry from Lyttelton.



Full description and more pictures at Back from Summit: Mount Herbert