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DOC Land
Altitude: 535m to 1296m. Gain: 203m. Loss: 964m . Gradient: 12 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills:
A rough but usable route runs down the 2nd spur south of Parks Peak Hut to the end of Ellis Road.
From Parks, head south over the low pt1328 passing 500m later a large, obvious spur dropping to the lowlands - this is not the spur you want. You want the next one! Pass the visible spur and continue another 500m to the next spur. It is not obvious from the track, and you'll have to nose around to pick up the head of it. It starts from the track in good mature beech, and remains that way as it drops ESE. Good game trails lead all the way to the 900m contour, where the spur ends at a steep face of tall fern. Descend this on a SW bearing to hit the start of the lower ridge at the 780m contour. This is hard tangled going for 150m and would be even worse if climbing.
The ridge below is only obvious when you hit it.
Heading SSE along the ridge, pick up an old logging track at the top of the northern face. This is an obvious platform on the face, but is overgrown with pole beech. The canopy has now established, and the majority of the lower dense pole-beech which has failed to reach the light is dead (2015). So give it 3 or 4 years that should all have rotted away to make good, open going. For now it's slow and scratchy.
Follow the old track through improving vegetation swinging east to pt689 then SW, E,and finally dropping due south to hit the end of Yeomans Rd.
For those walking in reverse: At Yeomans roadend is an old chimney where the road splits in two. The overgrown logging track starts 20m up the northern branch, on the left of the road (uphill side).