Hiking Mt Alford in the Mid-Canterbury region

A beautiful day hike in Mid Canterbury is the Mt Alford track, only 10 minutes outside of Methven in the Alford Forest Scenic Reserve. This isn’t the hardest day hike in Mid Canterbury but does have a variety of terrain and scenery which makes for a great day out. From forest to crossing paddocks with cows to mountain vistas the views from Mt Alford definitely don’t disappoint.

Track Details

1171 m | 690 m | 9 km return | 3-4 hour return

My Route

I’ve been up Mt Alford a few times now. It started with the first time being an unfinished attempt. I had just moved to New Zealand, was new to hiking and looking back I was a bit ambitious with the track I was tackling. My fitness wasn’t quite there, it was hot, I ran out of water and ran our of steam. Two-thirds of the way up I turned around promising myself I would be back.

Since then, I’ve been back multiple times and yes, I’ve made it to the top. Every time getting a bit easier than the last.

There’s only one route to the summit. It’s straightforward and nothing too tricky. A few mucky spots and you cross private land in some areas but the route is poled the entire way. I’ve outlined what the track is like below.

The ascent

The start of the track is through private farmland before entering the Mt Alford Scenic Reserve. The first small section about 20 minutes, slowly climbs through a beautiful beech forest and along a small stream. Listen for birds chirping and don’t forget to breathe in that fresh forest air. In my opinion, the start of the track is a nice introduction for a steadier climb to come.

Once out of the forest, you’ll reach an open scrub section for some of the first views over the Canterbury plains. Not far along, you’ll reach an area where you need to cross the fence line. This section gets pretty wet. You can usually hop around it but it’s much better to go through with boots on.

Go through the fence door and follow the fenceline to climb up the hillside paddock. In the summer you’ll often be hiking with cows in the paddock, sometimes with their calves. I’ve never had an issue walking through but as always just be respectful to the animals. There is a picnic table in the area with views of the Pudding Hill Range and the Ashburton which makes for a great spot for a break.

This is also the part where the track is exposed for the rest of the way. The poles also get harder to follow as the track climbs steeply through dracophyllum scrub to the summit. The ground is quite rocky as well but it’s not too hard to find your way to the top of Mt Alford as the rest of the climb is pretty straightforward.

Mt Alford summit views

Once you hit the last ridge the climb is easy and the summit, denoted with a stone cairn will come into view. The scenery is fantastic as you’re surrounded by mountains and a patchwork of fields. I quickly could see what I was missing when I didn’t get to the top on my first attempt of the track. On a nice day, you could easily pass the time sitting at the top taking it all in.

The descent

Like most tracks, the descent takes about half the time to come down as it did going. It can get a bit easy to lose poles on the way down. One of my trips I was up with a friend, Anna from @annafrost.nz , when we were chatting away and we missed the marker poles. However, it’s not too hard to get off track and see what direction to be going.

Once back at the fenceline the descent goes by quite quickly and before you know it, you’ll be at the car park!

when to go

The Mt Alford track is a great track to do year-round. Of course in the summertime, make sure you pack enough water. In the winter, you’ll just want to check on the snow levels. Because Mt Alford isn’t that tall, often in the winter it’s still doable to get up without deep snow.

Do note that the track is closed between September 20th and October 29th for lambing and calving.