Waitewaewae headwaters

The trip plan is a little audacious - explore as much of the Waitewaewae river headwaters as possible in a weekend. The design is efficient whilst leaving some scope for future exploration (i.e. the east branch which looks a bit daunting).

The Waitewaewae is one of those rivers whose story is subsumed by a larger river. Most people never get near it as there are no tracks or huts marked. On the map the whole system looks like a rose - the flower consisting of three tributaries: Prout Stream in the middle with the East and West Waitewaewae Rivers curling around on each side and delineating two spurs between. These join to flow south down the stem - about 5km to be swallowed by the Otaki river.

I've pottered across the top of the catchment on a couple of previous occasions but it's time to get off the tops and have a good poke around.  And it went mostly to plan, the bit that didn't was accommodated within the contingency plan and provided a useful reminder about confirmation bias.

What:    Weekend tramping trip in western Tararuas
Why:     Navigation and hut bagging
Where:  Waitewaewae headwaters
Who:     Solo
When:   8 and 9 July 2017
Map:

It's pitch black at the second gate at the Manakau Road end - a couple of pig hunters are collaring their dogs by torchlight. They set off ahead while I fluff around with a recalcitrant head light. At 7am the light is necessary as I stroll along the road, over the slip and to the, now isolated, road end.

Road end clearing

I continue straight past the redundant bollards. A short way along an old sign marks the turnoff to cross the river and climb the spur to Mt Thompson (where I came down a couple of weeks back - but turned down river and missed the crossing in the evening light).  

The track drops to the stream bed just before the Panatewaewae forks. Crossing with dry feet is easy followed by a few meters up to a clearing at the foot of my target spur. A track heads off up the true right of the Waikawa stream valley but I quickly find an unmarked route heading directly up. There's an obvious trail.

The pig hunters are polite when I catch up but, I imagine, not best pleased that a tramper might disturb the game. They are heading for another spur though so hopefully not too much loss.

After a bit over an hour on the go I reach pt 708 and veer SSE to keep climbing - this is clearly an old route with one of the markers embedded deep into its tree.

The climb is steady but not steep - I'm enjoying the exercise and the prospect of the unknown territory ahead when suddenly I'm conscious that my sense of my surroundings has altered. There is sometimes a breath that you take when you start on a trip - by the time you've exhaled, your awareness has shifted from driving and work, to a wider landscape and the sounds and smells of the bush. It's not always noticeable but it's pleasant to be conscious of the change.

Just past a turn to the ridge to Thompson, I'm on Waitewaewae, still not much to see but at 0900 it's a good start to the day. 15 minutes more pt 969 gives some views and marks the turnoff to the convoluted ridge into the headwaters that I'm after.

There is no obvious track to start with but as the ridge forms, a trail of sorts comes and goes. It's generally pretty good going. There are a few clearings giving views north and east. It's irresistible to pause and identify the ridges and points from two weeks back in the near ground; and behind ... Oriwa, Waiopehu; and beyond again, the peaks of the main range dusted with snow.

Pt 955 in the near ground with ridge to Panatewaewae running left

A little further on windows open southwards; Judd ridge and Hector on the horizon with the characteristic jagged Tararua peaks to the left. Periodically a flock of whiteheads twitter in the low stunted trees - I chirp at one of them and it comes over and we cheerfully shout at each other for a bit. Occasionally a kereru blunders loudly off. There's little wind - a perfect tramping day.

Probably one of the Pt 1030's in near ground - southern and Tararua peaks behind

Main range on the horizon

By 11.25 I've followed my nose with no significant problems to pt 957. The ridge top is fairly flat here so the start of my spur NNE is not immediately obvious but with a bearing it soon starts shaping up. There is a bit of trail and occasional pest control markers, an old vegetation tag and some other Venetian markers with measurements on them. All quite old but clearly DOC has been in the area. 

The trip down the spur is pretty straight forward - it gets mucky at the bottom for the final drop into Prout Stream, about 40 minutes from the top. Travel upstream in the tight, dim and damp valley bottom is somewhat different.  However, Prout stream is pretty - mossy with a few minor water falls and pools but pretty navigable.

Prout Stream

I follow up the diminishing stream until it starts getting clogged with mossy logs then take a spur up to just short of pt 969 - the climb is pretty mucky and I'd have to say it's not until I'm on the ridge heading west towards the top of Waitewaewae that I actually know exactly where I am. At 2.25pm I'm on Waitewaewae ... again.

The spur isn't obvious immediately but before long I'm pottering along with sporadic views towards Kapiti Island. I expected the trail on this ridge to be more obvious but I'm not sure that it is really. There are the usual trails that could be animal or tramper so I keep an approximate line with the compass.

Daylight is waning as I get to the flatter sections below pt 650 - the key, I figure, is to head more east and not pop out on the edge of the gorge on the West Waitewaewae. I drop into the head of a wee stream and follow it down to the top of a cliff over Prout Stream and eventually find a place to scramble down. A little after 5 and it's pretty dim.

The game plan now is to head downstream to Island Forks (Prout and West YTYY), through the gorge and up East YTYY to Island Forks hut. Except in the dark I miss the West branch confluence and bowl through the gorge and past the East confluence.

In retrospect it probably took 25 minutes to get from where I dropped into Prout Stream (for the second time) to the East branch forks but confirmation bias ensured I shot past looking for something that wasn't there. I just assumed that I'd dropped into Prout Stream further up and had traveled slower than expected so just kept going.  Eventually the penny drops but by now I'm a fair chunk of the way to the Otaki confluence so figure it is best to keep going to YTYY hut.

Sure enough, about 7.30 a large river joins from the left and I know it's a short stint downstream to find a swing bridge and the track to the hut.

At 8.10pm I'm pleased to arrive and not too disappointed to see I have company. A father and son have a radio set up listening to the All Blacks draw with the Lions and another chap has already turned in. I eat dinner, and warm icy feet by the fire before also turning in.

Otaki river from the hut

In the morning the third hut guest turns out to be a chap I shared Elder hut with one night over a year ago. To his credit he makes the connection first. It's good to catch up.

I'm first away a bit after 0800 - the advantage of the extra distance last night is that I can nick up to the ridge behind the hut and follow it north to a spur I've had my eye on (it was one of the possible permutations for the weekend). I head along the track towards Otaki Forks leaving it about 10 minutes later when it climbs to it's highest point on the spur. The top of the spur has a long, wide top that is easy to get mislaid on with lots of very large, old logs scattered about. Once it starts climbing it's easier to follow but there's not really much of a trail.

At 0940 I'm on the ridge and turn north (after notifying home command of the plan change by text). I've come down this ridge before but it looks completely unfamiliar - no snow for a start. The trail is easy to lose and there's not much view until further north. I'm keen to keep moving as I don't want to be caught by darkness too far from the road end.

Tantalising glimpses of ridges from yesterday

This ridge forms the true left of the Waitatapia stream in the valley below (west). At the top end there are a few clearings and it's easy to find yourself struggling through leatherwood rather than under a high canopy. Still - the clearings give great views west.

Tangata Maunga Ridge with Kapiti behind

Towards the top end of the ridge I find a trail on the east side which avoids the leatherwood. It get's pretty flat and a bit hard to tell where my target spur starts to diverge but someone has thoughtful laid some pink ribbons out and I follow them north east, through a clearing and down through open bush as the spur gradually forms. It's taken about three and a half hours to get from the hut to the turnoff to the spur.

The ribbons seem to be relatively new but are a bit sporadic so I keep an eye on the compass and manage to follow the somewhat messy spur down to the flat top near pt 650. From here it's steep and I can't really tell if I'm on a trail or not. Whatever - I'm chuffed to emerge at the top of a bank bang on the forks. An hour 20 from the top.

Waitewaewae Forks 

Island Forks hut is about three minutes up from the forks. It's a tidy little number - low door, bunks and bench. That's pretty much it. There's a loo in the bush behind and a picnic table and fire place out front. The five visits recorded in the hut book in the last year might explain the tidiness - not frequently visited.

Island Forks hut

After a bite to eat it's only 10 minutes before I'm heading out again and, in 15 minutes, through the gorge above YTYY forks - a much easier proposition in daylight.  A pool that was up to my midrift last night proves to have a shallow pass on the other side.

Not-really-an Island Forks

The rivers must be low as island forks island is connected to land. The reason I missed it in the dark becomes apparent - West YTYY feeds into a deep quiet pool which I must have just assumed was a backwater. I scramble around on the true right and head up into the next gorge.  

I head up the valley counting the side streams, painfully aware of the time but not wanting to rush on the lethally slippery rocks. The weather is  overcast with patches of sun - precious little of which reaches the valley bottom. Like Prout Stream there are scrambles up little water falls and some quite deep pools to sidle. A few large slips and log jambs are reminders of how active this landscape is.

At long last the stream rounds a bend and takes a bearing that I am waiting for - it's 3.40pm and time to look for a route up to a low saddle above the Waikawa catchment. A tree in the river bed has an old marker and there are more on the bank - there's not much trail and the markers run out but the slope is not too steep or high so before long I'm standing in the lowest point on the ridge between YTYY and Thompson.

West YTYY upper headwaters - a bit messy

There's a spur running down from near the saddle so I sidle around and take a bearing down. It's a little hard to follow at first but some very old ribbon soon appears, almost invisible but enough to keep me in the right direction.  I lose it toward the bottom and end up in supple jack but eventually bash down to a stream and start following it down.

There are occasional terraces which could have had old logging tracks on them and once I get to the Waikawa this is more common although there are still periods in the river. It's worth casting around for them as the pace is considerably faster than the stream bed.  There's an old sawmill site marked on the map - I find a large grass clearing with lumps on it but don't hang around to see if any of these are old machinery. The track is now reasonably well formed and each time it opens out I'm hoping it's the clearing where I headed up yesterday morning.

It is well dark under the canopy but light enough in the clearings so I keep plodding without a torch until I reach the original clearing. From here on it's more open and I'm on familiar territory again so I eschew the light to arrive at the car in the pitch black just before 6pm.

Post script

The Waitewaewae head waters caught my intention some time ago and I had heard about Island Forks hut, but didn't really have the confidence to take the trip on until now. A few previous trips near the area provided the necessary familiarity (and possible escape routes) and the weather indicated low flows and no rain - perfect for thrashing around in gorgish streams.

Missing the forks in the dark is a salient reminder that if you're relying on reaching somewhere and stuff your navigation up you could be in big trouble. In this case I knew the river route was navigable, had considered the possibility of travelling to YTYY hut, knew how far it was and where it was (although about 1cm off the bottom of my map) and was therefore quite happy not to turn back when I finally realised what was going on.

Despite the lesson (and discovering a wee gash on my forehead when I got home - apparently from head butting a log), it was a really pleasing trip - a little bit of unfinished business in the shape of East Waitewaewae river but I have to say it doesn't look entirely pleasant ... maybe I've seen enough of the reclusive Waitewaewae headwaters for now.