The Ryton Track takes you through impressive mountain scenery to Lake Ida, and then Lake Catherine. Both are nice enough – Lake Ida is in the nicer setting – but neither particularly photogenic. There are also Lakes Selfe and Evelyn at the start which are nice. For me though the highlight was the lumpy topography including scree covered mountains in the Craigieburn Range. It’s a fairly flat walk and not too long, so for relatively little effort you can get a good sample of the Canterbury High Country.
The route continues on up Ryton Valley and it’s possible to climb onto the Craigieburn Range, but that would be a long day walk that we’ll save for another occasion.
Track notes at the end.
Ryton Track to Lakes Ida & Catherine: The Scenery
Track Notes
It’s a marked track the whole way, although as you approach Lake Catherine the track kind of disappears and so do the poles, so I wasn’t sure how best to access the shore. I see on this map that the track continues along the base of Mt Ida, but we passed through a wire fence at the last pole and through a couple of farm gates to get to the other side of the lake on a farm road. Roughly 3-4 hours return. More info on this brochure of walks in the Lake Coleridge area.
