The Hermit had a friend during his years living in the Silverpeaks - a tame pig.
You'll find Hori the pig snoozing right beside the track, close to the Hermit's 'top cave'. Please make sure you leave him completely hidden.
Ross caught Hori as a piglet and taught him to do tracks, sit up on his hind legs and beg like a dog. Like a dog, Hori would accompany Ross around the Silverpeaks. When Ross lay down, the pig would lie down beside him - which must have been very useful on winter nights! But as Hori got older he got lazier - he would sleep inside the cave merely waiting to be fed.
When the pig followed an OBHS tramping party out to Silverpeaks Station in March 1958, there was concern that the 'mystery man of the Silverpeaks' might be injured or ill and therefore a second police search was initiated.
It all ended happily for Ross and for the pig. At the Silverpeaks Station the pig was named Hori (the Maori form of George) and was kept as a pet.
The return trip to the Hermit's Cave takes an average tramping group about 5 1/2 hours walking time, 7 hours total return time, from the Mountain Road carpark via Green, Pulpit and Rocky Ridge. This includes time to descend and climb back up from the main Hermit's Cave. Or, since the caves are a good third of the way along Rocky Ridge, if you arrange two cars and a gate key you can complete the classic Silverpeaks traverse via Yellow Ridge and Tunnels track in 9 hours or so (depending on caching detours). Gaiters recommended, to stop your legs being scratched by dracophyllum scrub. The less obvious parts of the Rocky Ridge track, where it sidles around bumps, are marked with orange waratahs.
The weather in the Silverpeaks can turn nasty very rapidly at any time of the year. It's safer to walk with a friend. Always tell someone where you are going and when you are due back. Carry warm and waterproof clothing, snacks and drink, a map, cellphone and extra batteries for your GPS.
For information on tramping and safety in the Silverpeaks see the Department of Conservation website Silverpeaks Routes and Pamphlet Tramping in the Silverpeaks.
Ross Adamson was an experienced tramper, a long-standing member of the OTMC who had helped build Jubilee Hut in 1950/51. He held a position of responsibility at L V Martin furniture designers. But, in those days before PAYE, Ross found himself owing money to the IRD…
Now read the story as it unfolded in the pages of the Otago Daily Times:
1955 – April – 2: Man Missing Since Monday Morning
31 year old Ross Adamson missing; last seen leaving lodging 9.20 am on the morning of Monday 28 March carrying climbing equipment.
1955 – April – 6: Police Appeal For Leads To Missing Man
• Photo - Missing Man Ross Adamson
1955 – May – 16: Missing City Man May Be In Haast Pass Area
Reported seen at Lake Paringa 19 April; at hut on Paringa Pack Track 30 April; at Haast township 11 May; setting off to walk through Haast Pass to Makaroa [no Haast road then].
By 1956 Ross was living as a ‘hermit’ in the Silverpeaks, living in huts during the weekdays and retiring to his cave at weekends. His friends quietly arranged to leave supplies for him. There were some odd reports: a person running away from trampers, a face peering through the window of Jubilee Hut, hunters arriving at a hut to find the door locked and the person inside refusing to open it, items going missing from huts, runholders (the Silverpeaks were all farmland then) finding the occasional sheep going missing …
1957 – November – 6: Silver Peaks ‘Mystery Man’
Tramping party speaks to a ‘mystery man’ near Green Hut – filthy, hatless, unkempt black hair, heavy beard, bare feet, wearing a piece of oiled silk like a cape. Dr Cotton concerned that the man appeared weak and emaciated. A police search party sent out.
1957 – November – 8: No Trace Found Yet Of ‘Mystery Man’
A police search party, including two warders from Seacliff Psychiatric Hospital, had no success. Since the man obviously wished to avoid detection he would be hard to track him down. Trampers Mr J H Gilkison and Mr S P Boyd had seen the man near Silverpeak, rushing towards the Silverstream with something pulled over his head. Within a few moments a wild pig came up the hill from where the man had disappeared, coming within a few yards. The animal, which appeared to be quite tame, ate a sandwich which Mr Gilkison threw from a distance of about 10 feet, then to the men’s astonishment came right up and ate sugar from their hands.
1957 – November – 9: No Luck In Search For Man • Photo - The Wild Pig
The police search party found a cave near the Gap which had been recently used for shelter [ABC Cave]. They had not found any trained pig. Missing persons files had been reopened, but it was not possible to identify the recluse.
1957 – November – 18: Silver Peaks ‘Dweller’ Still Not Found
1958 – March – 25: Tame Pig Captured
Six OBHS boys were at Jubilee Hut when a tame pig appeared. It could be patted like a dog. The pig followed them to Mt John Hut and waited outside that night. The next morning it could not be shaken off. It followed the party out to Silver Peaks station, where it was led into a pen. Landowners believed that the mystery man might be ill since the pig had deserted him.
1958 – March – 26: Police searching For ‘Mystery Man’
A police sergeant and constable making another search for the man.
1958 – March – 28: Police Party Again To Seek Silver Peak Mystery Man • Photo - Interior of the Cave
Scanning with binoculars from the Devils Staircase, Mr H A Adams, manager of Silver Peaks Station, discovers the hermit’s cave. The police party describe the hermit’s living arrangements, including a water collection system, well-constructed bed and cooking utensils. There was evidence that the tame pig had lived in the cave, and netting was stretched across the front to keep it in custody. Police recover a book, which went missing from Green Hut in February, a rifle, axe and slasher used to kill animals, A further search party equipped for a week was to be sent out.
1958 – March – 31: Police Party Too Small To Locate ‘Mystery Man’?
OTMC members J Chivers and F Graveson report meeting the man at Jubilee Hut on 4 March. He was a 'wee fellow', clean-shaven, had worn and dirty gear, carried a .303 rifle and explained he was out pig shooting.
1958 – April – 2: Letter To The Editor from Tramper
Suggest that the police should spend more time clearing teddy boys, bodgies, widgies etc from the streets instead of hounding an innocent man who prefers to live a peaceful life in the Silver Peaks.
1958 – April – 5: Mystery Man Eludes Police
• Photo - Sergeant examines discarded boots
The man has ignored a note left by police in his cave, inviting him to meet the police. The man is wanted for questioning regarding several alleged offences. The party spent a warm and comfortable night in the main cave. He had three caves, including one set up as a meat safe, stores of equipment and tinned food. They surmised he had few vegetables, finding pieces of paper with prose and poems on them mostly about vegetables such as cabbage, carrots and green peas. It was doubted that the man could be found “unless he wants to be” since he was obviously an experienced tramper.
1959 – April – 5: Letter To The Editor from A Democrat
Is it legal for police to be trapping a man who has elected to live in the seclusion of the bush? If so this is almost a police state akin to Orwell’s “1984”.
1958 – April – 8: Police Halt Search For Mystery Man
Farmers as far away as behind Palmerston are reported to have seen the man. He is believed to have moved out of the district.
1958 – April – 9 Letter To the Editor from J K S Roberts, Cromwell
As “Tramper” says, if the hermit prefers his reclusive life, leave him alone instead of making his life untenable by taking his meagre belongings from his cave.
With Ross now officially wanted for questioning by the police, a tramping club friend “Big Ross” Lake persuaded “Little Ross” to allow himself to be “discovered”.
1958 – April – 30: Hermit Found: Chance Discovery Solves Mystery
Three young policemen out pig hunting at Whare Flat decided to walk up a firebreak towards a saddle, and saw smoke from a hut where the hermit had previously been seen. They recognised Ross, who offered them a cup of tea and agreed to return with them to Dunedin. Ross looked remarkably fit and quite healthy.
1958 – May – 1: Theft Charge Against Hermit • Photo - Ross Adamson after being taken into custody
Charged with theft of a rifle from Double Hill area between 1 October and 29 December 1956.
1958 – May – 8: Hermit Given Probation Term
Ross Adamson pleaded guilty to the theft of a rifle from Possum Hut and a tent and carving knife from Green Hut. He was placed on probation for two years. Friends had found him accommodation and employment. Compensation for the thefts was to be paid from his wages. Ross did not wish to create any further publicity by telling the story of his chosen exile, but seemed quite at ease and was enjoying his return to civilisation to the full.
Ross, like Hori, led a happy life after his sojourn in the Silverpeaks. He worked as a clerk at a sheet metal business, married, continued actively tramping with the OTMC for many years, was a NEV Scout leader and Meals on Wheels driver. He and his wife Kathleen died within the same week in 2004.
