CHALKIES TRACK

Chalkies Scenic Reserve, Dunedin – May 2021

The Green Hut Track Group (GHTG) are a group of volunteers (mostly retired) who for the last 20 years have maintained an extensive backcountry track network across Dunedin on behalf of the DOC and the Dunedin City Council. Every Wednesday the GHTG undertake track maintenance on one or more of the 56 tracks on their list.
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Dunedin’s backcountry is highly accessible to the city, and the work undertaken by the GHTG is critical to keeping many of the tracks open to the public. Without the dedicated work of this group, some tracks would have been lost.

an overgrown section of chalkies track before work

​Recently the group completed work on Chalkies Track, aided with a grant from the Backcountry Trust.

​Chalkies Track, just 10 min drive from Dunedin’s city centre is located within the Chalkies Scenic Reserve. A steep tramping track, it climbs 400m through native bush to emerge onto Powder Hill, which offers spectacular views of the Silverpeaks and Taieri Plans. Impressive limestone cliffs also feature.

​In May, 10 members of the GHTG and one DOC ranger completed work on 6 km of track, focusing on the upper section, which had not been maintained for 3 years. The team completed vegetation cutting, track marking and step cutting. They also replaced a rope on a steep section of the track on a rocky face. Altogether they spent 85 person hours in the field, adding to a further 10 hours of planning.