Crown saddle to Queensberry hill (5 summits)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 16.77 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,094 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 4,094 ft
- Max elevation
- 5,248 ft
- TrailRank
- 54
- Min elevation
- 5,248 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 5 hours 36 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2588
- Uploaded
- March 19, 2023
- Recorded
- March 2023
near Gibbston, Otago (New Zealand)
Viewed 84 times, downloaded 1 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
The Rock Peak track is an official track from the Department Of Conservation in New Zealand.
The track starts at the Crown range saddle parking. This is quite a big parking but you may find it busy since it is allowed for self-contained vehicles to camp there. The track is quite popular since it's easy and close to Queenstown. As crazy as this may sound I saw a woman going up in flip-flops. Not sure how far she got or how long it took her.
The track follows an old 4WD road that goes from Crown Range Road summit to Tuohys Gully. You can even continue further taking other tracks from there.
We decided to do only the summits and then come back on the same track after the last of the summits. The mountains you will encounter in order are the following:
1. Mount Hocken (1375 m) → Summit at 2.5 Km from the start of track
2. Rock peak (1485 m) → Summit at 4 Km from the start of track
3. Mount Allen (1492 m) → Summit at 7.34 Km from the start of track
4. Quartz Knoll (1593 m) → Summit at 9.75 Km from the start of track
5. Queensberry Hill (1531 m) → Summit at 13.9 Km from the start of track
Most people only go up to Rock Peak and then come back. At the Rock Peak summit you will find several antennas.
Views are great 360 degrees from most of the track. You can clearly see Cardrona ski resort and also the vineyards and mountains like Mount Rosa, Mount Edward, Mount Salmond or Ben Cruachan.
From the last of the summits, Queensberry Hill, looking north you can even see a lake that is either Wanaka or Hawea.
Since the track is so easy and obvious you won't see any orange markers.
When going up all 5 mountains you always stay on the 4WD road except for a few meters when you get off-track to get to the summits themselves. I mention this because at one point you are going to find a well-marked track and you are going to feel tempted to take it since it looks like it will avoid losing elevation so you don't have to go up so many meters later on. I made that mistake and found out the track went nowhere and I had to come back. I cleaned that from the gpx record and marked that point with a waypoint named "Dead track".
This hike is easy but keep in mind that since it goes up 5 mountains you are going up and down a few times accumulating a good amount of elevation gain. You have to do this on your way in and again on your way out since it follows the same track to go back to the car park.
Keep also in mind that there are no trees on this track, not even one, so you are exposed to the direct sun all the way from start to end. Also you won't find water. Vegetation is quite low in the Pisa range.
Full description and more pictures at Back from Summit: Rock Peak
The track starts at the Crown range saddle parking. This is quite a big parking but you may find it busy since it is allowed for self-contained vehicles to camp there. The track is quite popular since it's easy and close to Queenstown. As crazy as this may sound I saw a woman going up in flip-flops. Not sure how far she got or how long it took her.
The track follows an old 4WD road that goes from Crown Range Road summit to Tuohys Gully. You can even continue further taking other tracks from there.
We decided to do only the summits and then come back on the same track after the last of the summits. The mountains you will encounter in order are the following:
1. Mount Hocken (1375 m) → Summit at 2.5 Km from the start of track
2. Rock peak (1485 m) → Summit at 4 Km from the start of track
3. Mount Allen (1492 m) → Summit at 7.34 Km from the start of track
4. Quartz Knoll (1593 m) → Summit at 9.75 Km from the start of track
5. Queensberry Hill (1531 m) → Summit at 13.9 Km from the start of track
Most people only go up to Rock Peak and then come back. At the Rock Peak summit you will find several antennas.
Views are great 360 degrees from most of the track. You can clearly see Cardrona ski resort and also the vineyards and mountains like Mount Rosa, Mount Edward, Mount Salmond or Ben Cruachan.
From the last of the summits, Queensberry Hill, looking north you can even see a lake that is either Wanaka or Hawea.
Since the track is so easy and obvious you won't see any orange markers.
When going up all 5 mountains you always stay on the 4WD road except for a few meters when you get off-track to get to the summits themselves. I mention this because at one point you are going to find a well-marked track and you are going to feel tempted to take it since it looks like it will avoid losing elevation so you don't have to go up so many meters later on. I made that mistake and found out the track went nowhere and I had to come back. I cleaned that from the gpx record and marked that point with a waypoint named "Dead track".
This hike is easy but keep in mind that since it goes up 5 mountains you are going up and down a few times accumulating a good amount of elevation gain. You have to do this on your way in and again on your way out since it follows the same track to go back to the car park.
Keep also in mind that there are no trees on this track, not even one, so you are exposed to the direct sun all the way from start to end. Also you won't find water. Vegetation is quite low in the Pisa range.
Full description and more pictures at Back from Summit: Rock Peak
Waypoints
Car park
3,538 ft
Waypoint
Summit
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