Ben Nevis, Wakefield

Nelson-TasmanNorthern South Islandmedium-length hikesNZ hikes
Written By Mark Eaglesfield

Ben Nevis (1619m) is a mountain in the Wairoa Valley in Richmond Range, Mt Richmond Forest Park. I did a medium-length hike on its northern approach, Gibbs Spur. The trailhead is around 50 minutes from Wakefield and 65 minutes from Richmond, in South Island’s Tasman Region.

The access roads are sometimes closed due to logging. Bookmark this page and check it before driving: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/marlborough/places/mount-richmond-forest-park/park-access/.

Don’t confuse this with NZ’s other Ben Nevis, near Queenstown in Otago’s Hector Mountains.

Time

AllTrails users report an average of 4 hours 28 minutes return. NelsonTrails reports 4-5 hours.

Including all breaks, the round-trip took me around 6 hours 15 minutes from the official trailhead (which AllTrails and NelsonTrails are using). From where I actually parked, it was around 7 hours round-trip.

Access roads

This was the least accessible trailhead of any I’ve driven to in New Zealand, due to the poor condition of the access roads relative to my capabilities in a Toyota RAV4, and that includes the Mt Arthur and Cobb Reservoir tracks (Mt Peel and Sylvester Lakes - Iron Hill).

Cyan is the route I drove, starting just before reaching this Google Maps intersection.

Purple is the route I walked along the road, but could have driven.

Red is the normal hike.

Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

Especially after turning uphill from the road running beside the Wairoa River, here, it was an unpleasantly steep and rocky drive. (And it is not shown on Google Maps, so check the DOC topomap.) There were three or four fords. The widest one is the first photo in the gallery below.

I tried and failed to follow the directions to the trailhead on this page on the normally reliable NelsonTrails website. Instead, I just followed the roads on my NZTopo 50 S app to guide me after reaching this point on Google Maps. (Google Maps is unable to provide a route from that point onward.)

I parked by the side of the logging road around 550-560 meters of elevation, before the final turnoff to the trailhead. (On the topomap screenshot, this is where cyan meets purple.) I parked here because I had read that the road got ever steeper, and I happened to find a wide turnaround spot. In fact, having brought the RAV4 as far as I had, I believe I could have gotten it to the small parking area at the trailhead. The third photo in the gallery shows the final turn where the road to the trailhead leaves the loop road (shortly after the transition from cyan to purple).

Route

AllTrails reports 808 meters of elevation gain over 9.3km return.

The trailhead itself is a locked metal gate, separating the logging road from an even rougher, steeper bulldozer track. Not far up the bulldozer track is a DOC sign, indicating the turnoff into the forest. There are orange track markers for guidance.

The forest starts out unattractive, but at higher elevation becomes the common, attractive montane beech forest found across subalpine NZ. I think the lower part of the forest is privately owned, while the upper part is public land, and this may explain why the lower part looks the way it does - probably regenerating after logging.

Once the track reaches the ridge, it is straightforward to follow, except on a few rock outcroppings or where large fallen trees require detours of 10-15 meters. The final climb to the summit is tiring but not too steep. Had I started earlier in the day, I probably would have tried to continue south to Point 1642 or even 1668.

If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 3 at worst.

Mark Eaglesfield
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Gibbs Hill, Pōhara
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Mt Robertson, Spring Creek