4 carloads of 15 or 16 members headed out at 11am, heading up to one tree hut for lunch, before heading on up to Castle Rock, before dropping back down to the Earnscleugh cave and return. The following would suggest John had his GPS turned on.
At Rough Ridge we covered 14.0 km in 3 hours and 11 minutes walking time, we climbed from 450 m to 1030 m above sea level with a total ascent [that’s all the up hill bits added together] of 630 m. On the Castle Rock walk we covered 14.1 km in 3 hours and 22 minutes walking time, we climbed from 280 m to 710 m above sea level with a total ascent of 630 m. There’s not much between the two, except that I walked slower on the second one! So anyone who did the Castle Rock trip could easily manage the Rough Ridge walk, for future reference."
Meantime around 30 other members turned up at 1pm to head on out to Conroys. Most groups headed around the dam. Some continued on to the Otago Skink sanctuary at Adinga reserve.
The fast runners pack headed up high , towards Omeo Gully ,before swinging round to Castle rock and return. They were a bit disconcerted to find themselves followed all the way round by Stevie and Greg. The slower pack tried heading round at a lower altitude ,ending up exploring lots of gullies ,creeks and rocky bluffs.
The walkers must have been tired out as when leaving the dam, the runners in the 3rd car back had to jump out and open the gate for them.
