Blue Range

It was about Wednesday that I realised that Blue Range was the perfect trip I've always wanted to do. It's not that I've had my eye on it for some time (I hadn't), that everyone raves about it (they don't), or even that it promises spectacular views (it doesn't). It was just that I had been casting about for the next nav trip and the area looked promising, a few trip reports on the web pretty much confirmed that it would be perfect for where I was at - after that I just couldn't wait for the end of the week.

What: Navigation trip; north to south the length of Blue Range
Where: Eastern Tararuas
When: 25 June 2016
Why: Practice navigation, first visit to Blue Range hut, self inflicted one day challenge
Who: Solo
Map: click here (without GPS track).

Blue Range is a pretty obvious 'below the tops' route with plenty of options for trips based around Blue Range hut, the Kiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki road ends and various eminently navigable spurs. Browsing through some old trip reports (links at the end for those interested), I found the fateful words "... to traverse it in a day would be a fine challenge." Up until that point I had been perfectly happy planning a weekend scramble around the Tararua foothills with a night in Blue Range hut.

Beyond the (mostly dated) trip reports and what I could see from the map, I had no idea how long it would take so packed for a light overnight tramp with a bivvy bag should I get caught out. Brother number one once again very sportingly agreed to drop me at the bridge over the Ruamahanga before Mt Bruce after we parked my car at my intended destination: the road end where the Mitre flats' Barra track emerges.

The forecast was for a reasonable Saturday degenerating into rain and gales early evening and a miserable Sunday - an added incentive to get through in a day.

Flash new sign at start of track

At 7:30 it is light but not yet sun up as I trot along the farm flats skirting the base of the hills (don't head towards the river). Where the terrace runs out, the farm track dives upwards over a spur. I happily follow the track upwards on auto-pilot through an open gate. A few minutes later I belatedly realise that I've left the usual route. I keep going though (a little guiltily as I should have notified the farmer) as I quickly figure I'm on a more direct route to my target spur.

The rising sun colours the slope above and at the right moment I pause to watch it rising above Mt Bruce. Despite the forecast it's looking to be a cracker day.

It's pretty easy to follow my nose upwards over spot heights 565 and 495 with just a couple of glances at the map to confirm where I am. There are old blue triangles on a couple of gates so this route has been used for access to the range in the past.

Dawn over Mount Bruce

From 565 to 915 - the route upwards
(Cattle Ridge on skyline to right)

The fence line and farm tracks lead up to a gate at the edge of the pasture and continues beyond but largely overtaken by regenerating scrub. As the map indicates, it leads up to 598. The rest of the way up the spur to 915 there is a fair amount of pushing through Manuka/Kanuka. There is plenty of pig and other game sign and trails and Mr Pink-tape-man has been through at some time. I have a bit of a struggle through the scrub at times and suspect that the going would have been easier off the south eastern side of the spur in more mature bush. There are occasional rocky open spaces providing views but most of the time is spent in worming through scrub that is thick on all sides and overhead.

Looking back down the spur from somewhere above 598

Reaching the forest is a relief and the pace picks up markedly. There is a lot of pink tape along the top of the ridge towards 915 which would be quite handy coming in the other direction but not really needed today. I'm not 100% sure whether it was marking the way to my spur or to one of the others.

With large trees around and the canopy far overhead there are few views to be had from now on, apart from sporadic glimpses of the ranges to the west. At times clouds spill ominously over them but at the next look are gone again.

A bit cloudy in the west

It's pretty good going along the ridge, easy to follow and often with a reasonable ground trail. I potter along at a good pace until I figure I'm on 915 with a clear ground trail ahead dropping as I am expecting. However I take a breather and haul out map and compass which inform me that I'm about to head off at 90° to my course. Fortunately no time lost but a reminder how easy it is to lose direction under the canopy.

I don't recall any other dramas along this part of the range, the trail comes and goes but travel is generally pretty good. It's a little hard to work out which spot height you've got to and which knob is unmarked but progress is pretty steady.

Approaching the clearing above Blue Range hut I find and lose the pink tape. The marked clearing is patchy dracaphylum and isn't quite as I am expecting it. In retrospect when I first hit it, instead of ducking back into the bush I should have crossed and found the hut track just beyond. As it is, I waste a few minutes skirting the edge of the scrub until I hear voices and, popping my head out of the scrub find that I'm a couple of metres from a woman standing on a large boulder. We're both somewhat surprised.

The boulder gives a view across to Mitre and surrounding peaks - all without a scrap of snow. The track is just beyond and it's a few minutes down to the hut arriving at 11:30, four hours after setting out.

Blue Range hut is a treasure. The first thing you notice is the colour - the bright sky-blue stands out cheerfully from the bush just before you notice the second thing, a large red sign incongruously declares this to be a tow away area. Someone has decorated the hut with various signs from a (hopefully) defunct hospital. It's not until you get around the other side of the hut that the third thing strikes you - a splendid view north and west to Cattle Ridge and parts of the main range peeping around it. And there is a picnic table at which to sit and enjoy it all.

Inside the hut is old but dry and tidy.

The very Blue Range Hut

"Do not enter when surgery is in process"

"Social Workers Office"A bit rude - there's no apostrophe!

The woman and her companion turn up as I sit down to lunch and we chat - they are from Massey and both are foreign students. One of them has done a good amount of tramping in the area but I detect is a little disapproving of people that hive off the marked tracks causing untold ecological damage. I figure that the loading rates in these parts of the Tararua's are not such that this is a source of serious degradation but it is a fair perspective.

Lunchtime view.  Cattle Ridge - various main range peaks centre right

It's a seriously pleasant spot so it's about 50 minutes before I drag myself away with full camel back and stomach. The boulder is too good a spot to ignore on the way past so I pop off a few more photos before continuing towards Te Mara.

Across to Mitre 
(I think it's the peak on the left)

Looking north along Blue Range on the right
The range on true left of the Ruamahanga is on the horizon 

Te Mara and boot - both at 1104m

A short way along the track to Kiriwhakapapa road end dives down the hill, I continue upwards following the track to Cow Creek. Someone has marked where the route to Te Mara leaves the track so I don't need compass and map. It's a reasonably well traveled route and I arrive at the top a little over 30 minutes after leaving the hut. The actual top is a little further on than I expect and is marked with a steel stake and a horse shoe.

A little later there's a bit of a clearing a bit past spot 995 which provides a view across the valley and along Blue Range.

Mitre on the rightLooking west from the ridge a little south of 995

And south down the ridge, Bruce Hill ahead

Around 2.10 I'm at the top of Bruce Hill and text base to say that I'm going alright and have a tricky bit of navigation coming up but think I know where I'm going. It's looking good to make it out in daylight - famous last words.

I think I know where I went wrong and will digress to relate the details as a somewhat embarrassing but salient lesson. Bruce Hill is near the boundary between my maps which makes it a little tricky to get a picture of the local topography. There is a well traveled and marked route (plastic bottle tops and old metal markers) south east down towards 535 which I followed a short distance before realising I had gone a little far. Returning a ways back along the route I took a compass bearing and headed down towards what I thought was the ridge but dropped between my desired ridge and a wee spur at grid reference 109782.

This left me thrashing around in a gully unable to see through the canopy to determine whether my ridge was to the left or right. Hearing running water I had a brain wave - it could be one of two streams which run in different directions - I located the stream and took a bearing of the direction in which it was running - concluding that it was the stream at 107784 - in retrospect I had found the stream well above where it is marked on the map at a point where it runs along a similar bearing to the other stream.

On the strength of the stream direction I sidled around on to the wrong spur but was suspicious about the rate of fall and lack of ground trail so eventually climbed a tree (any idea how few climbable trees there are in mature forest?). Sure enough, there was my ridge 300m back the way I had come. A further thrash across the gully and back up to the ridge and I was on my way again - somewhat late, chagrined and battered.

Just before 4 pm I reach a point with a cairn, a bottle on a stick and a metal marker. People have not wanted to miss this place over a fair period of time - I assume this is the southern most height 865 marking a route down to Mitre Flats. I keep on my ridge with the lowering sun streaming under the canopy reminding that there is precious little winter daylight left.

Camo-cairn

I'm surprisingly sore now from pushing through tough-bugger little saplings of kanuka, beech and, worst of all, totara. After a day of it your hands and knees are fair knocked about - leather gloves and chaps may not be such a bad idea.

The route heads on and down - a little tricky to find on the face of the ridge at times (going down is always hardest!) and there are a few occasions when Mr Pink-tape-man is very helpful in the gathering gloom.

I find my way down to the scrubby clearing at point 688 - basically the end of the range and tantalisingly close to my objective - and promptly lose the ground trail. It's tough pushing through the scrub but at least lighter than under the trees. I find one piece of pink tape but there's no apparent trail. Eventually I hazard a guess and follow a bearing back into the forest but drop further west than intended into a gully. I'm not particularly bothered as it doesn't really matter which down direction I take.

It's now difficult to see anything under the trees but given the forecast I'm not about to bivvy down for a wet and miserable night-out. The last straw is a branch flicking my glasses off, I find them by braille but it's past time to crack out the light.

A bit of care is indicated bush bashing down the gully in the dark. Initially I avoid the lush and slippery stream margins but eventually it's safer to follow the stream through supple jack rather than the loose boulders on the sides. I keep an eagle eye out for where the Barra track crosses the stream and in the end spot it easily enough (missing it isn't an option as there's a bit of a drop into the river). It's quite a relief to be able to relax and amble along the well formed track with the sound of the Waingawa drifting up from below.

It's 4-5 km from the stream to the carpark, much of it on gravel road so although it's a mild evening (despite the forecast) I'm pretty happy at 6:30 when I finally reach the car. Next - hot shower and dinner.

Post Script

The one day challenge was met although if I had left half an hour earlier and not got ... mislaid, I would have got out of the bush in daylight. All up - a grand adventure but probably smarter to do with summer daylight hours to work with.  Blue Ridge hut is great and there's any number of trips you could do around the range.

Websites

Windy - Rua to Te Mara

Windy - Mitre, Bruce

TTC Bruce lookout

TTC Kiwiwhakapapa-BruceHill-TeMara

TTC - TeMara, BlueRange

WTMC - Kiriwhakapapa Nav

Kime, Hector and Otaki Gorge Slip

A trip up to Kime Hut is not exactly new territory but this weekend provided some new experiences.

What:  Otaki forks to Kime and Mt Hector
Who:    Scott (leader), Rachel, Vignesh and me
When:  Sat 18 and Sun 19 June
Why:    Meet-Up group trip
Map of slip: Link

Scott puts a tramp up on Meet-Up early in the week and I decide to check it out. I have been in the habit of avoiding group tramps but this is a chance to get out with some of the leaders from the Meet-Up group and to check out the slip on the Otaki Gorge Road. An unanticipated advantage of a group trip becomes apparent after the trip when Rachel posts her photos - they are far better than I have managed on my phone and she graciously agrees to let me display them here (only the photos around the slip are mine).

The weather forecast is rubbish for the Sunday so the plan shifts towards the end of the week to a trip up to Kime then return to Field for the night.  It should be pretty easy going although there is a small matter of an odd extra 4 Km and 300 metres climb to get past the slip.

After a few delays and a stop for coffee it's about 10am when we leave the car on a grey day at the car park on Shields Flat. It's about a kilometre short of the slip. Diggers and bulldozers are operating on a vast hill of spoil but the slip itself is out of sight. A group of four (two chaps and two women) has arrived just ahead of us and head along the road to see if they can get across the slip. They are soon back after being told in no uncertain terms that they're not crossing.




The slip isn't visible but the pile of spoil is just 
to the left of centre 

The bypass starts up the gully to the left of the caravan

The bypass is well marked from the carpark, crossing a paddock then heading steeply up an old forestry track under pines. It climbs fairly steeply and there's little to see through the trees although machines can be heard working below. It's sort of pleasant when the track levels to stroll along with soft pine needles underfoot.

The track soon rounds a spur and enters a gully that has been clear felled and replanted. After a total of about 300m climbing it turns left into a more recently upgraded 4WD track and immediately starts descending. The road soon reaches a wide space with a couple of vehicles parked and the marked route heads off into the bush to follow a winding track down a spur, at one point steep enough for someone to have attached a very long rope through the trees.

Vignesh emerges out of the gully

Vignesh and Scott negotiating the descent

At the bottom there's a left turn (you would have thought right) on to an old but very well cut 4WD track which finally deposits us onto the Otaki Forks Road again - about a Km past the slip which is out of sight around the hill.

There's a further kilometer to the bridge over the Waiotauru River and the start of the tramp proper.

We're pretty slow up the hill so it's a late lunch at Field where the group from the carpark has settled in and a few others are sleeping or milling around. I discover that my topo map has Field hut in the wrong place - a bit odd given the hut has been around for quite a long time. There is a flash new toilet though - the old one has been pushed on it's side and I assume will be removed some day.

Field Hut

As the weather forecast has improved we are going to head on up to Kime for the night with maybe a jaunt up to Mt Hector. It's still cold though and probably a bit windy up the hill so I crack out the coat.  The tops start pretty much straight after Field hut and there is nothing to see in the clag. Even less to see once my glasses fog up (mental note to get the contacts out for the next trip). The wind is not strong which is lucky as it's pretty cold and there's a fair amount of moisture in the air.

Clag on Judd Ridge - the track is not all so over engineered

We are making very slow progress so the day starts drawing in as we are still heading up the ridge. It's a pretty straight forward route though so there are no concerns.

At one point we suddenly notice that the tussock has taken on a golden light - it's a bit weird as there is no change in the cloud but we figure that somewhere behind us the sun is setting. It quickly fades and it's just about dark when we arrive at Kime around 6pm.

There's one chap in residence who we think has come up from Tutuwai Hut via Bull Mound - good travel given the short daylight hours. Scott is keen to head on up to Hector as it is a strategic point in a strategy game that he is involved in. I figure that there is an outside chance of a break in the cloud and a view of city lights on the horizon, besides, I haven't really done enough for the day so I add some more layers and we head out under lights.

As we leave the calm in the dell around the hut, the wind steadily rises and the wind chill increases. We're just short of the top of Field Peak when Scott gets an attack of the cramps which are not about to go away - nothing for it but to head back to the hut.

Kime hut has a harsh rap as a cold hole. I suspect this is probably because the old hut was a cold hole and there were some issues with the building of the new hut so it hasn't managed to throw off the reputation. Let's face it - at 1400m next to a tarn and with a few traces of snow about - of course it's cold!  The temperature in the evening is just under 8 degrees dropping to a bit over 5 during the night. The hut is clean, spacious and light, certainly better than its predecessor.

Nostalgic diversion

Old Kime and building materials for new Kime

New Kime taking shape

You can't even tell where she stood now

Dinner for the evening is a fine chicken curry courtesy of Vignesh and his wife. I do my best not to burn it on my gas burner (not using my penny stove for a change). Scott also drags various treats out of his pack including Garage Project beer and pop-corn. Augmented by Rachel's marshmallows we have more than enough and turn in a little after 9.

It's a pretty quiet night. The other tenant gets up well before dawn and disappears. Then Scott is up and about to head up the hill - Rachel and I decide to join him so we kit up rapidly and head out.

Kime Hut almost sees the dawn

It's windy on the ridge but not wet and the cloud is breaking around the peaks providing tantalising glimpses of the sun and surrounding ridges and peaks.

Here comes the sun - just off the top of Field Peak

Coming off Field and eyeing up Hector

A minute or two later - Neill Ridge to the left

At the top of Hector Scott hunkers down over his cell phone behind a rock to do arcane things. This is Rachel's first trip up here and it's good that we get a few views across into the Wairarapa, glimpses of the Southern Crossing and Marchant Ridge and Cone come and go. Neill Ridge looks pretty uninviting in this wind with cloud shredding through the dips but it would be fun to head along and down.

Memorial at top of Hector

Gazing at the view 

Neill Ridge

We head back to Field for breakfast. Vignesh is ready to go so he and Scott head on down while Rachel and I have breakfast and tidy the hut. 10 minutes latter Scott pops back in to pick up the clothes he'd left behind.

Yep - there's a little bit of winter about ... just

Rachel sets a cracking pace and we are at Field hut not too long after the others and I've shed a few layers on the way. The other tenants are gone after neither filling in the log book nor replacing the firewood they used. Probably didn't pay their hut fees either.

We pause briefly then Vignesh launches off down the ridge at speed. We see an older couple on the way up but otherwise it is pleasant travel in damp bush and little wind; not too cold and the forecast rain never arrives.  It's a really good track through nice bush.

Trackside fungus

For the last 300 vertical meters the track breaks in and out of bush and we get a few views into surrounding valleys but nothing as far as the main range.

At the bottom we elect to pop along and check out the slip. It's an impressive sight - the road is covered in shattered rock, mud and shredded trees. The slip drops steeply to the river far below and is not safe to cross at the road level but workers have bulldozed terraces across further up. We grovel up through scrappy bush and supplejack beside the slip until we are above one of the terraces. The ground around the slip is fractured and loose but there's enough vegetation to provide hand and foot holds.

Heading up to the slip which is ahead and up to the right

The edge of the slip

Rachel, Scott and Vignesh

Scott ventures onto the slip - there doesn't appear to be any material likely to come down from above and the surface is stable enough, about 10m out he turns and bum slides down to the bulldozed track. Vignesh then Rachel follow suit and finally I essay a somewhat more elegant scree run down.

There have clearly been a few other people taking the same route however I wouldn't recommend it unless you assess the risks pretty carefully (condition of the slope, loose material that may come down from above, run-out below etc) and don't even think of it when the machines are operating.

We walk across the terrace and down through pines to a staging area with a lot of diggers then down to the road for the short walk back to the car. A couple of chaps are chatting next to a 4WD and we wonder if they are going to challenge us but they don't seem to be connected with the site works, we exchange a few words and head on our way.

We've made much better time than yesterday and it's good to get back to Wellington in daylight and without having to contend with the worst of the Coast traffic.

So all up, the weather wasn't flash but was better than expected. We got some glimpses of view from Hector and a number of us managed some firsts - for me a night in the new Kime and an up close look at the slip. Good fun.

Quoin Ridge

Every tramp has its moments, whether it's the views, a physical or mental challenge, a particularly stunning area of bush, or interesting people. Rarely, a tramp will stand out for many reasons - this is one of those trips.

What: Navigation trip up Quoin Ridge and around to Elder hut, return down spur into Eastern Hutt catchment and down river to exit.
Where: In and out at Kaitoke Waterworks
Why: Navigation practice, two new huts, explore Quoin Ridge and Eastern Hutt River.
Who: Solo
When: 4-5 June 2016

The main range of the Tararuas is largely well tracked and traveled apart from in the south where the tops peter out down from Alpha via Quoin Ridge and eventually into the water catchment at Hutt Forks.

My memory (from the '80s) is that you were not permitted to go into the area at all. As teenagers we would look longingly across from Marchant Ridge at this terra prohibita and vicariously enjoy the tales of trampers that had gone in there anyway. So it's pretty much remained as unfinished business for three decades. With a good forecast, a free weekend, and a bit of navigation practice under the belt I'm finally set to knock the bugger off.

Looking at the map, and reading a few reports from other trips, I figure that navigating up the ridge and returning the short route down a spur will be the most straight forward. This will give the experiences of travelling the length of the ridge, dropping down the spur, visiting the Eastern Hutt Hut, and returning down the river. The only remaining question is where to spend the night. I haven't been to Elder Hut before so that becomes Plan A but it seemed a bit of a stretch in limited daylight hours so Plan B is the shorter trip to Alpha Hut.

I'm a little late leaving, after some last minute problems with a leaking camel back, so it's 7:40 on a decidedly crisp morning as I leave the car next to the information shelter just inside the Kaitoke Park gates. There's a sign to the Norbert Creek Loop and a good quality 4WD track heads off across the paddocks before splashing across Farm Creek and up the hill. The view behind is of white frosted paddocks and dacron mist in the Pakuratahi Valley. The Hutt Valley is already enjoying the full sun.

Near the top of the first hill looking south(ish)

The rules

The Norbert Creek turn off is well sign posted and is just before where the road levels and heads under shady beech forest, before topping out (about 400m climb), then dropping into the valley beyond. The road ends at a well marked walking track down to the Hutt River.  A few minutes later at the river there is a large sign noting where to find the track on the way back, and a well trodden path heading up river to the swing bridge. The bush is rich and dense with punga crowding in around the track.

Sign to find exit to Kaitoke

First view up river

About an hour after leaving the car I'm gingerly picking may way up slippery, frosted mesh onto the bridge. There's a view up and down river from the middle; a good excuse to pause for a few photos - however it will be a while before the sun makes its way down here so it's still a little dim.

On the other bank there is a choice of up or down river. The map shows the route as being left and down river to reach Quoin Ridge but, after reading a trip report from TTC, I'm heading to the spur above the gorge for what looks like a more graded route to the ridge.

The track is well marked and easy to follow through lush bush. It's lovely and flat for 300m then it dives into a creek and climbs 160m to the top of the spur. Someone has left pink tape at various points along the route: once to warn of a wasps nest, and another marking some mistletoe. There's two wee pink plastic squares on a tree, and a ground trail  marking where my route leaves the track at the top of the spur, about 30 minutes after leaving the bridge.

Pretty easy to find the start of the route

The ground trail comes and goes, and there are few markers remaining on trees, but it's generally pretty obvious where to go: up. Coming down it might be a little easy to drift off the spur near the bottom. Just before the top there is a bit of scramble through some fallen trees, on the other side is the ridge top and more pink markers. The route along the ridge has a more obvious ground trail and at this point there are a number of orange markers indicating the normal route down to (or up from) Hutt Forks.

Where the Spur meets Quoin Ridge - through the wind throw to the left
Looking south down ridge

It's good travel through forest and I hardly need to use the compass, even when the ridge levels off. Occasionally the forest thins into scrub and tussock - one section is marked with a sign warning about sticking to the track to protect sensitive vegetation. It's harder going in the scrub and easy to lose the route but overall pretty good travel and the brief openings give increasingly stunning views to Wellington, Wairarapa and parts of the Tararuas not hidden by Quoin and Alpha.

Translation: please try to find the few remaining markers
while you feel guilty about what you might be stepping on

Briefly out of the bush and first view across to Marchant Ridge

And looking across the western part of the catchment and Maymorn Ridge

The top of Quoin is open and there are small patches of snow. It's like a large, rounded and very soggy cushion; apart from the ice on the puddles. The views are panoramic and spectacular, although I am most interested in getting a look down across the Quoin Stream catchment at the spur I intend to descend tomorrow. It looks great from this angle! The clouds just to the west are less welcome, although there's virtually no wind, so they are just hanging around and don't look threatening.

Top of Quoin; peaks along Southern Crossing behind

The spur running down from the left. Quoin stream somewhere below
From top of Quoin 

There's a saddle to negotiate which proves to be the trickiest travel on the ridge - it's possible that I missed the track dropping off the east of the ridge into the trees as it's a bit of a struggle through scrub and grass. It's also longer than it appears from the top, taking over an hour to get through.

The climb out of the saddle is onto a knob south west of spot height 1308: the top of the spur of interest. Try as I might, I can't see the hut in the forest below (it turns out to be painted green and sits in quite a small clearing). Across the valley is the long undulating top of Marchant Ridge.

Looking back at top of Quoin

The snow underfoot thickens during the final walk up to Alpha and a sign marks the transition from the catchment to the forest park.  It's absolutely quiet apart from the sca-runch of my steps and occasional skitters of melting ice. Across the valley, the ridge from Aston to Elder drops from the snowy tussock into dense, dark bush. There's still plenty of day left so it looks like plan A is on.

Destination: Aston on right with ridge running over knob and down to Elder on the left 

Regional Council hands over to DoC, or vice versa

There is a tarn on top of Alpha, and others at various points up the ridge, but many were a bit manky looking so I'm glad I carried my own water and for future reference wouldn't rely on getting water on the ridge.

Alpha is where my route joins the well trodden Southern Crossing. I have to admit I have never climbed the few meters off that track to the top of Alpha, mainly due to the close proximity of a warm hut and the state of the weather on most previous occasions. This time I stop for photos, lunch and check in with home base to confirm that I'm continuing to Elder.

Top of Alpha looking south

Top of Alpha looking north, false spur ahead

Over fruitbread, salami and cheese I sit on a rock soaking in the sun and the views: snow on the peaks and sun on the plains. At about 1:20 it's 5 hours 40 since leaving the car.

Aston is under the edge of the stubborn cloud which isn't moving and I don't really want to be stumbling around in mist when the light fades so I keep on. No-one has been through since it snowed so I have the pleasure of breaking the crust and cracking icy puddles. The snow is a bit thicker on the way up to Aston but presents no difficulties beyond the need for careful footing above some of the steep southern slopes. The shape of the ridge from Alpha to Quoin becomes apparent close to Aston but I'm still a little surprised by how long it took.

Looking back to Alpha (left) and ridge down to Quoin

On Aston

The Southern Crossing keeps going but I'm heading off to the left

An hour after stopping for lunch in the sun on Alpha I pause for photos in the cloud on Aston. There's still very little wind so it's not unpleasant. I resist the temptation to continue around to Atkinson and instead follow the markers over the edge for the steep descent. Once off the tops the track is easy to follow through typical mossy forest - it's absolutely lovely.

Ridge to Elder as the cloud starts breaking

Elder hut

Around an hour twenty after leaving Aston I pop out of the bush to find Elder hut just below, tucked in behind the knob. It's a pretty new and tidy four bunker, well built and double glazed. There's an older gent in residence who has come up the long and winding ridge from Renata. But the log book indicates no other visitors in recent weeks.

Two is a good number for the size of the hut and he's good company. We chat about this and that as we prepare our respective meals. He's doing an interesting line in DIY dehy, whilst I am staunchly light weight: penny stove and Back Country eaten from the pouch. We are both quite happy to settle down for the night in the pitch black by 6.30.

It's a cold night and I have tights, socks, two tops and a hat inside my bag to keep it at bay. The obligatory excursion to the nearby long drop in the wee smalls demands a brief and chilly pause to view the stars and the lights of the Hutt and Wellington in the distance, as well as diverse small towns on the Manawatu plains. The lights show an oily sway with the air movement across the distance, although there's no wind here.

Mercifully my companion is not a snorer and we are both surprised to find that it is a little after 6.30am when we wake in the predawn light. Outside it is cloudless, decidedly crisp and again the views are captivating, this time the snow on Taranaki catches the sun and Ruapehu looks impossibly close.

Kapakapanui catches first light

I'm first off, as he has an easy day to get down the ridge and is in no hurry. The sun is still well hidden just before 8 although it is colouring the horizon and touching the hills around Kapakapanui. A steady pace sees me at the top of Aston in a little over an hour. I note three figures on the ridge line from Alpha and they arrive at Aston shortly after me. A couple and a single have overnighted at Alpha and are heading to Maungahuka, Neill Forks and out to Waiohine via Cone (single) and Totara Flats (couple). A good trip to do some day. They have crampons which I suspect they will be needing before the top of Aitkinson. The snow is harder after the cold night and the ice on the puddles is much thicker making it a little skatey in places.

Top of Aston has a view today - Quoin on left, Hutt and Wellington in the distance

At Alpha 45 minutes later it's a bit early for a break but it's so clear and the views are just to good not to stop for a bit. East is the Wairarapa Plain bordered by wrinkled hills rising to the Haurangis in the south, the slips on Mt Matthews in the Orongorongos are visible. The view also extends to the Hutt, truncated by perspective and separated from Wellington by a wedge of harbour. Beyond and above, the snowy Kaikouras hover. The eastern peaks of the Tararuas lurk in the distance to the north and close by the dress circle curves around to Atkinson.

The dress circle without cloud

Marchant Ridge - Mt Reeves on ridge behind

Ridge down to Quoin, Rimutaka range on horizon

Dress circle again - note Kapiti Island on left

North over top of Alpha - Holdsworth will be in the middle there somewhere

I follow my foot prints from yesterday down the ridge to the top of the spur. It's a simple descent to the bush line with a bit of a ground trail to follow. I lose it before the bush edge at 1000m and elect to follow down the side of a clearing to 900m after a couple of abortive sorties beneath the canopy.

1100m on the spur - Rimutaka range on horizon

 It's a pretty mixed bag with dense undergrowth in places, a few areas where the spur is not so clear, and others where the ground trail is obvious and travel is fast. The compass gets a fair amount of use but I think it would be pretty straightforward in the other direction. There are quite a few old black tunnel traps with pink tape markers - they look fairly recent until I note that a piece of tape wrapped around a tree is riddled with neat little holes where the bugs have exited the tree over some considerable time.

At the bottom it's the work of a few minutes to cross the river and find the hut on the opposite terrace. It's taken a little under an hour and a half to descend 800m so not exactly rapid travel. The hut is catching a bit of midday sun but the clearing is still frosty.  A standard 6 bunker, it is in good condition. The last log entry is over a month ago and the entries are uniformly for people on day trips.

Eastern Hutt hut

Over lunch I study the map and figure that it will be under 90 minutes to the top of the gorge where I have to find the track over the spur. Rather than map watch the whole way I'll just fossick along for an hour then work out where I've got to.

I try to follow the left bank for a bit but it's not working so I revert to the river, crisscrossing down valley.  The river is mostly fairly closely hemmed in by trees or the valley sides and I end up mainly either in the river or in dense bush on a terrace, so there's not a lot in the way of views apart from along some of the longer stretches of river. The bush is stunningly beautiful; rich and thick which makes it a little tricky to navigate, although on some of the true right terraces there is a bit of a trail that speeds things up. At one point there are some markers that take you high above the river to avoid a swifter section. The river itself is clean and fast flowing, with a few swifter sections which require care or avoiding.

A few footprints in the river bed reveal that someone has been through with a dog in the last few days, and there are some old muddy prints on the terraces, but otherwise it is relatively devoid of signs of people.

After an hour I work out I'm pretty close to the spur and have my first crossing where I judiciously decide to use a branch. It's the only one during the day where I had any concerns and the next crossing (within 100m) is fine. A spur off spot height 790 serves as a progress marker as it descends to the gorge from the Marchant side. But I'm in the bush when I realise I have passed the final clearing and have joined the marked trail. A short backtrack takes me to the clearing, which has a large sign indicating the track up the spur. I guess you could miss it if you were in the river, but all up it was pretty straight forward and about 80 minutes from the hut.

Ya can't really miss it ...

The track is now obvious and well marked, I'm soon at the top of the spur and the turnoff from yesterday. It's familiar now so and within an hour I'm at the Norbert Creek intersection. Two joggers heading down the road are the first people I've seen since morning and stop for a brief chat.

The last view

The Norbert Creek track drops steeply through a little bit of scrubby growth, past a couple of startled foreign hikers, then into open forest. It's well marked and drops down a spur, then sidles along terraces before finally dropping to, and crossing, the stream in the soggy bottom of the gully. It's about 25 minutes from the top to the start, then a short walk back down the road to the car, arriving just before 4.

All up, I was quite chuffed to have achieved everything I had set out to do, in gorgeous weather and with stunning views. I have been wanting to travel Quoin Ride and the Eastern Hutt catchment for many years and picking up two new huts was a bonus. There's plenty of scope for some more exploration of the Eastern Hutt but I'll probably leave it for a bit - maybe in summer with more daylight hours for a leisurely trip the length of the valley.

Times

Because the weather was so good I managed to get a lot of photos and have been able to take the times off these. The times are probably a bit quicker than a group will manage, as this was fairly lightweight, solo travel with just the occasional stop for photos and navigation. However, when I say light weight - I did discover that I had lugged in a ground sheet, second spare pair of socks and a merino top that I hadn't removed from my pack from last weekend - damn!

Saturday
07:40    Depart carpark at first information shelter on Water Works Road Kaitoke
08:15    Norbett Creek intersection near top of first hill
08:35    End of road
08.38    River
08:41    Swing Bridge
09:10    Top of spur above gorge
09:40    Quoin Ridge
11:35    Quoin
12:47    Top of Spur to Eastern Hutt hut
13:17    Alpha  (lunch)
14:18    Aston
15:37    Elder

Sunday
07:55    Elder
09:00    Aston
09:43    Alpha
10:31    Top of spur
12:08    Hut
12:30    Dep hut
13:50    Bottom of spur
14:10    Top of spur
14:29    Bridge
15:10    Norbert intersection
15:33    Start of Norbert track
15:50    Car park