Lindemann Loop Track, Katikati

I haven't walked this trail in over 3 years.  I believe I walked it a number of times in early 2018 as practise/training for my planned (and booked, then cancelled, revised, and re-booked) U.K. walk that year.  It is a great track for training purposes as it is somewhat challenging and covers a reasonable distance.

Anyway, I was up in Katikati (it is my nephew's birthday, but he was away during the day for a job interview) and hadn't posted about this particular trail so I thought I would.  It is about 11km (my hiking app said 10.8 round trip from the road where I parked) and today it took me 2 hours and 53 minutes.  I am sure I have done it in about 2.5 hours in the past.  If you walk this loop track anticlockwise, you gradually ascend for the first 80% of the trail, and then descend rapidly over the last 20%.  The total ascent for the loop is 850 metres.

However, like most NZ trails that are not on the coast and that go through national parks or reserves, it is a bush walk, and there is really no variety of scenery for the entire walk.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what it is like:

A recent problem caused by the local council's new rubbish collection plan

A rather uninviting entrance to the walk, with no signage

A newer Kauri dieback washing station, much bigger than previously

A four-step process

Not a 5 hour walk, more like 2.5 to 3 hours depending on fitness levels

One of MANY stream crossings

Typical of most of the path, strewn with tree roots

A hole beneath the path

Not the first of many fallen trees across the trail

How did they get that metal way up here?

The 10+ metre drop off the side of the path

Where my boot slid and I fell onto a knee and both hands

More path upgrades

Ah, that's how they get the metal here, in bags likely dropped by helicopter

75% of the way around there is this branching trail

Kauri dam remnants perhaps??

More likely a dam, but not marked as such.