Black Gully Loop, Tapanui
Black Gully Domain is a park 10 minutes north of Tapanui in West Otago, South Island. At the far edge of the domain is the trailhead for hiking in the Blue Mountains (Te Papanui). My original goal was out-and-back to the peak of the Blue Mountains’ Tapanui Hill. I shortened this to the Black Gully Loop due to rain, so the actual high point was an unmarked spot around 950 meters in elevation.
Time
Screenshots of the NZ topographic map are licensed as CC BY 4.0 by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
DOC signs estimated 2 hours for either ascent, 1 hour along the ridge, and 2 hours for either descent.
AllTrails reports 3 hours 58 minutes on average.
My hike took around 3 hours 45 minutes.
I ascended by the northern route in around 1 hour 40 minutes; then
followed the ridge for around 45 minutes; and then
descended by the southern route in around 1 hour 20 minutes.
Because of the rain, I hurried and took no meaningful breaks. I’ve put the hike in my medium-length category, because I assume this loop would have taken me 4-5 hours without rain. (Medium-length is roughly hikes 4-7 hours.)
The round-trip to Tapanui Hill probably would have added another hour.
Route
Round-trip, AllTrails reports 708 meters of elevation gain and 8.5 kilometers in length.
Black Gully Domain (Google Maps) is the starting point for both tracks to the ridge. The trailhead starts at the edge of the forest, just past a colorful jungle gym rocket ship (pictured below).
The northern route track was in worse condition, especially below 500 meters of elevation. Mud and tilted slopes were challenges. There is also a stream to cross, at around 380 meters of elevation. On the ascent, the track resumes 4-5 meters downstream (left) from where it reaches the stream.
The ridge itself was somewhat muddy, but otherwise easy for me.
In the rain, it was difficult for me to follow the final twenty meters of the southern route track’s descent to the forest.
Once in the forest, the southern route track was in better condition. I would have hiked this track out-and-back, had I known this.
If 1 is an easy track, and 4 is using hands and feet on exposed rocks, I give this track a 3 at its worst. The southern route track is overwhelmingly a 1 or 2, and the ridge is a 2.
Hunting
Almost all of the route is in a restricted hunting area, with access allocated by ballot. This makes me think it’s a relatively popular hunting area. I have hiked in more than 30 hunting areas, and only passed hunters twice - this wasn’t one of those hikes.
Hunters are forbidden to “discharge firearms near tracks, huts, campsites, road-ends or any other public place.”
Here is the DOC topomap with all hunting areas visible.
Other pages about Blue Mountains hiking:
https://hikingscenery.com/black-gully-loop-blue-mountains-west-otago/
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/new-zealand/otago/black-gully-loop-track
Please let me know, below, if you find a DOC webpage for this hike.
About the region
West Otago is “a never-never land halfway between Invercargill and Dunedin” (Mike Crean). The Blue Mountains separate it from Dunedin. Several ranges separate it from Central Otago to the north and the Queenstown Lakes region (which might otherwise, with more accuracy, be called ‘West Otago’) to the west. Forestry and dairy farming seem to be the dominant industries.
Tapanui, the name for the highest peak and the nearby town, is a corruption of Te Papanui, the Māori name for the Blue Mountains. They were named for the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia. A few of my Australian friends told me that there is a moderate resemblance.
Further reading:
https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/post-haste-goldfields
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/features/81423158/ghost-towns-haunt-the-southern-region
Blue Mountains seen from Tima Burn Rd, between Mt Teviot (the actual hill) and Miller’s Flat, Roxburgh Gorge
Blue Mountains are in the far left distance. Somewhere in between is the boundary between Central Otago and West Otago.
