Mangahuka Stream and Muir Creek

The main range of the Tararuas is well travelled - similarly, the Otaki and Waiohine Rivers have had their fair share of exploration. However, sandwiched between the rivers and the range there are a couple of bits of real estate that don't seem to get so much attention. 

This weekend I have designed a cunning plan to explore an area to the east of Maungahuka. The area is relatively remote requiring a bit of dedication to get through in a weekend and the Waiohine river is somewhat gorgish meaning it's steepish and escape routes could be limited. The intended route is a little complicated in places and should be a good navigation challenge.

What:    Navigation and spot-height trip
When:   24-26 November 2017
Where:  Maungahau Stream and Muir Creek
Who:     Solo
Map:    



Tiger country - bits on marked trails largely omitted

In order to get a head start on the weekend I head up to Otaki forks after work on Friday. A little after 8pm I'm about to set out when the damp state of my pack leads to suspicions about my camel back's level of commitment. Just in case, I slip an empty iced coffee bottle into my pack.

There's no particular hurry up the hill as it will be well dark by the time I get to Kime Hut. I take the time to pick off spot height 455 which turns out to be in a series of grassy clearings off the track up Judd Ridge just before you get to the bush proper.

The sky above Kapakapanui is pink and a few hills in the north are catching the last of the sun. Soon after getting into the forest the head torch becomes necessary.  The evening is mild and the track good, a morepork signals that it's hunting time and disdains my clumsy response.

At Field Hut (just before 10) there is a chap ensconced for the night and we chat briefly while I fill in the log.

Above Field, the climb reveals the distant orange lights of towns and cities like embers on the horizon. It remains calm and mild. At 11:20 there are no lights on at Kime Hut but there are packs in the foyer so I quietly sort myself out in the entrance before sneaking in to find a bed.

In the morning my hut companions turn out to be a small group of older members of the Palmerston North Tramping Club. They're heading back down to the forks so are in no hurry and I'm first out the door around 6:40.

Looking south west from Hut Mound
Kapakapanui with Kapiti Island behind  - just to right of centre

There's a high overcast but the hills are clear, the day is warm and the wind light. The sound of Hector Stream drifts out of the valley on the right as I head north up the main range. Looking back at one point tiny figures are just discernible inching down Judd Ridge towards Dennan. Too far away to bother waving.

From near Bridge Peak looking up the main range

Cheerful tramper just after setting out

It's been dry in the hills and even the usually soggy parts of the track are firm. I pause frequently to take advantage of the view and identify ridges and spurs I have and have not traveled.

The ladder before Maungahuka is the iconic and legendary feature of this part of the range. The legend stemming from the days when trampers navigated the Tararua peaks with the aid of what was little better than a chain or a vertical Taranaki gate. This time I take a moment to clamber the few meters to the top of the first peak as it is a marked spot height. I also pause for a few photos in another fruitless attempt at capturing the sense of the place. It's about 9 so about 2:20 hrs to get this far.

From the first peak contemplating the next
top of ladder just below shot (left of middle)

Maungahuka marks the first diversion into unknown territory. Pt 1068 is on the long flat topped spur running south that is visible on the approach to the Tararua Peaks. There's a tarn marked on the map and my water is getting low (despite the coffee flavoured back-up) so I potter down. There are indications that it has been travelled before including some pigtail fence standards that don't seem to mark anything in particular. My guess is they're from hunters that have helicoptered into Maungahuka Hut.

South side of the Tararua peaks from spur

Remains of a tarn 

It's clear all the way to pt 1068 with a few clumps of stunted beech. An old, unused shotgun cartridge indicates who normally visits these parts - looking at the map you could probably find a way down to the Hector Stream from here but given the contours you would want to pick the route carefully.

On the hot slog back up to the ridge, the view of the Tararua Peak's is familiar in a backwards sort of way. There are a couple of tarns which in the current conditions are completely non-potable without treatment. At the top the heat and dry are catching up and I have to take a long lie down in the tussock - it's just before 11:00 and the spur has taken almost an hour and a half. I consider pulling the plug but in the end elect to continue on plan to the bushline and re-evaluate in the shade.

The track down (then up) to Concertina Knob is well formed and marked. The bush is dry with mosses and ferns crisped from the heat. I have another long sit down in the shade and think through the options deciding in the end to carry on.

Concertina knob at 12:20 and there's a bit of a foot trail heading north east away from the main track in the desired direction, there are a couple of old markers near the top but these seem to peter out or head off somewhere else (Hector Forks maybe?). The navigation is tricky with the spur meandering and often not that well defined. I'm relying heavily on the altimeter.

During a pause for a call of nature a deer roars from just over the ridge and starts coming closer. I have been following an animal trail and wonder what sort of target a trouser tangled tramper will present to a large stag. With decorum hastily restored I roar back and we continue to happily shout at each other, although he starts heading off down slope suggesting that he is either intimidated by my Cervidae masculinity or slightly disturbed by the weird noises following him down the ridge.

At 2:00 I've dropped to 700m where there's a flattish top and an scrubby clearing that proves difficult to navigate with bush lawyer and no discernible trail under a hot sun. This is no place to be caught without a shirt so I drop east off the spur and sidle to pick it up again where it splits and heads east. This takes me down to pt 492 (the object of this part of the exercise) where I suck the last of my carefully hoarded, coffee flavoured water. It's 3:00.

This bit should be interesting. The Waiohine is marked as entering a gorge and I intend to find a way
down to the confluence with the Maungahuka stream without getting bluffed. It is one of those situations where the plan is pushing the resolution of the map - it's clearly steep but there could be a gully that will get me within sidling distance of the top end of a gorge. It proves to be reasonably straight forward through open bush albeit steep with scree underfoot. I end up following a wee creek that drops out right beside the gorge taking half an hour from 492.

Arrival at Waiohine
Foot of Middle Spur top left 

The sight of the deep green pools of the Waiohine is very welcome and the Maungahuka stream provides an opportunity to suck up plenty of water and replenish stocks.


The confluence is a funny spot - above and below, the Waiohine flows between steep rocky sides but here it is briefly open. I suspect more people come through here by the river route than by foot. I'm keeping an eye on pacing myself against the clock so don't pause for a swim and start up the foot of Middle Spur. Normally a named spur will have obvious trails but I can't say as I noticed anything more than animal trails which come and go. The forest along the flat top of the spur is open and easy travel through spot height 668 (4:50).

Maungahuka stream from right, Waiohine disappears into gorge to left
arrival point from spur to right of gorge

Last look at Waiohine River before heading up spur

Pt 668 and a slightly less cheerful tramper

I found reference on the intranet to someone else following my route through here - dropping to Muir Creek from the small saddle west of pt 668. There is no indications of trail that I can see though. It's the usual scramble down through the bush with the bottom of the slope liberally inhabited by nettles (15 minutes to creek from 668).

In the wee creek it is a 50/50 call whether to go slightly up or down stream to find a spur to follow up. I head up a little way up and find a way onto a steep spur with lots of windfall. It's hard going and again no sign of previous use. At about 880m I sidle across a dry gully (i.e. scramble through rotting deadfall) to reach the next spur and follow down to 885. Finally, a ground trail here.

A slightly grim tramper at pt 885

At last, it is time to turn and head up to Aokaparangi Hut - at 7:00 it feels like I might actually reach the comfort of a hut for the night. I plod up following anything that resembles a trail and eventually reach the bush edge in clag. The hut isn't in sight but by following the bush line up to the right it eventually comes into view 40 minutes after leaving 885.

Despite travelling the ridge above on more than a few occasions I have never bothered to drop the 200m to this hut. It has been described as a biv so I have always pictured it as a small, slightly shabby and very cosy affair. However, it looks very trim in DOC green paint and despite having just two beds there is good space inside and you could cram a few extras in.

Aokaparangi Hut

It's also clean and dry - I crawl onto the bunk and have a sleep before rousing enough to cook dinner.

The penny stove does its thing

After breakfast, the results of yesterday's stress is still apparent so the plan is to just follow the main range out. I head out at 6:40.

The clag is close about the hills but I figure that rather than climb to the ridge I will sidle to where the track drops from the peak to follow the range south. I don't really recommend this unless the visibility is good as you are in for a bit of a struggle if you go too low.

Islands in the mist
the lumps on the main range south 

Clearing ...

Clearing ...

Clearing ... ?

The clag comes and goes all morning so there is little view for a start and the only thing of note is a couple of chaps who stayed the night at Maungahuka.

As the morning develops the west clears but the clag in the east does it's best to colonise, flowing across the ridge to drift away in the light air wafting up from the Otaki River.

Maungahuka Hut passes (8:50) then the ladder (9:15) before the long lumpy ridge to Bridge Peak with the sound of the Hector stream drifting up from the cloud (again) the marker of progress.

Maungahuka Hut

A tiny, tiny ladder

Battle of the clag - looking north up range

Leatherwood busy creating more leatherwood

On the last climb to Bridge Peak the sun is out and hammering down so it's slow work with the reward of a long sit in the tussock at the top to look at the clouds and views (11:35).

Main range from Bridge Peak - the clag is winning

Bridge Peak down Judd ridge to Otaki Gorge and the forks in the distance

The last planned bit of business for the weekend is to divert onto Table Top on the way down to pick up the spot height there. Another one of those spots that I have never bothered to visit in anticipation of better views to be had further up the ridge. It's about 12:30 and I waste a bit off time thinking there might be a short cut north west off the knob - there isn't.

From Table Top - Bridge peak in cloud
Dennan just touching the ceiling 

This part of the main trail is often busy with people taking advantage of the good track, two huts and great views for short weekend and long day trips. A couple coming up stop for a chat and clearly have some experience as they enquire about, and appreciate the description of my weekend's doings. They're popping up to Table Top for the view.

At Field a party of four are preparing to head down and confirm that Kime Hut was packed last night with many in Field Hut too.  I bump into two more coming up as I descend to the forks.

It's baking hot by the time I get to the bottom (2:00) and it's a race of heat against laziness as I try to avoid the need to stop and don sun screen. The picnic area by the Waiotauru is busy with families having lunch and mucking about in the river.

Reflections

Another successful weekend. Some salient lessons about ambition, heat and equipment (I now have a new, more expensive Osprey water pack). It was only the presence of the spot heights that got me thinking about the area and I'm pleased to have passed through. Lots of future exploration potential - Maungahuka Stream, spur to Hector River, pt 885 to Waiohine River ...

Kaipaitangata

This weekend I have my eye on another stream in the eastern Tararuas - Kaipaitangata.  It's a pretty nondescript looking corner between the Waiohine ridge (above Totara flats) to the west, Mangaterere and Holdsworth to the north, Mt Dick to the south and the scrappy farm and forested foot hills of the Wairarapa. It also happens to be the source of Carterton's water supply. I swear I am not going out of my way to paddle in people's drinking water but when you think about it, it's somewhat inevitable.




Large scale

Many communities in the Wellington region rely on drinking water supply catchments in (or bordering) forest parks. Indeed, the four cities in greater Wellington would be somewhat screwed if they couldn't - the Hutt, Wainuiomata and Orongorongo catchments providing the bulk of their water.

In the not so distant old days, water supplies from bush catchments were often not treated. Initially, public health risks may not have been as well recognised or understood, but affordable treatment technology continued to be a barrier for smaller communities until relatively recently. Some still being untreated late in the 20th century due to cost (and probably a degree of denial).

During the first half of the 20th century the tendency was to manage risk by excluding the public from the catchment, but as treatment technology became more affordable restrictions tended to be relaxed. The recognition, however, remains enshrined in the public health drinking water grading system that catchment use restrictions provide another barrier to contamination. As a result, the upper Wainuiomata and Orongorongo rivers are still fiercely sign posted and, in places fenced - and recreational users are firmly requested not to over-night in the Hutt River catchments in the southern Tararuas.

Catchment land was often owned by the Forestry Service or a local authority (remember Water Boards before the CIA got hold of the term?). Catchments were also often significant access points into forest parks and introducing restrictions could create tensions between recreational users and health and water authorities.

Kaipaitangata Stream, where water is drawn for Carterton, is a case in point. In the 1950s the Health Department was apparently insistent that where the community could not afford treatment the public should be excluded from the catchment. For Kaipaitangata it meant re-routing the track to Sayers Hut (near Totara Flats). I discover afterwards that Tararua Footprints refers to the old route and some of my trip coincides with it.

If you want to read more about similar issues around developing tramping tracks there's a book by Pete McDonald. But for now, it should be sufficient to explain why there are a couple of gates and a sign suggesting this is not a place you should be.

Incidentally, the other things Google throws up about Kaipaitangata is that the Council is looking at establishing a manuka plantation for honey instead of pines - not surprising given they lost money on the harvest from the pine block.  I can't find any explanation for the name.

What:    One day nvigation trip and spot-heighting
Where:  Kaipaitangata Stream catchment
When:   18 November 2017
Who:     Solo
Map:   

Close up

It's a little after 7am under gloomy skies as I park the car near the first gate at the bottom of the access road to Mt Dick. There's a ute there already and dog prints in the gravel indicating someone has got up earlier than me. Hopefully they're not trigger happy.

Although it is supposed to be a day trip I have packed for an over-nighter as I have suspicions that it could be quite scrubby and slow going.

And there's a big gate around the corner that backs it up

The track - a bit mixed

Past the second gate the stream curves around the foot of a spur running north to pt 605 where an old map shows a logging track. Although it has dropped off the recent editions, it's still there albeit a bit overgrown in places. A large mob of goats (10+) scatter up the track ahead of me.

Across the gully to the west another spur leads up - in retrospect, I suspect it is the route of the old Sayers track.  I hear some gun shots from that direction at one point.

The vegetation isn't pretty: pines and scrub although some sprays of white flowers do their best to provide interest. The periodic views are equally uninspiring - the back of Mt Dick's head, cut over pine blocks and scrubby ridges.

It takes about 1 hr 15 to get to pt 605 where there is nothing to see but an old tape marker and more scrub. A light drizzle starts.









The intended route is somewhat convoluted, dropping into wee saddles and zig zagging to follow the ridge top. At 605 I take a bearing to find my way to the next saddle but as I go a ground trail becomes firmer. It becomes easy to lose in the frequent scrubby sections but in many places it looks like at some point in the past it has had a lot of foot traffic (this is probably after I join the old Sayers route).

Clag has gathered around the hills making the navigation trickier.

Down the spur toward the Wairarapa,
the back of Mt Dick's head on the right

Someone has been here before

As the morning progresses the vegetation gets better - from marginal regrowth around pines to scrub. There's an old fence at 605 perhaps indicating regenerating farm land. After 517 it's pretty much forest. I'm intending to pick up spot height 667 so drop through a slope of rotting logs and moss to a tiny stream. There's a steep climb out to reach a long flat ridge top and point 667. Here there is a good ground trail indicating that hunters may come up from the Mangatarere Valley road end. An old but sharp hunting arrow caught in a tree confirms the hypothesis.

Pt 667 - another one down

Back on route, it's a steady climb through increasingly cold and wet clag to pt 810 on the ridge above Totara Flats. The last time I was here was the inaugural midwinter waiohine steeple chase. 

The view from Pt 810

It's midday and cold in the clag so with rain coat on I keep going - picking up the old trail along the ridge which has periodic markers and is reasonably well traveled. Towards Waiohine (pt 818) there's a bit of a clearing in the weather and I come across the pest control lines I saw last time. The stoat traps don't seem to be baited or set and I don't have a posidrive so am unable to rectify the situation. 

This time there is a bit of casting about required to find the top of the spur that runs down to 690 - there's no trails to speak of but I manage to find my way to the wee saddle and the knob. No views and unremarkable but you could probably drop into the upper Kaipaitangata if you were of a mind.

Looking NW from Waiohine - Cone ridge in the middle distance drops 
to the location of Totara Flats Hut. Sayers Creek runs away in foreground

The weather clears as I potter south along the ridge, the odd deer, rifleman and once a kaka wheeling overhead provide some distraction. The weather clears and there are a couple spots with views westward.

A bit of concentration is required to find a route to 445 and it doesn't look like anyone has bothered to follow the last steep scramble to the stream. It's not very big and as I turn to follow it out I wonder if it gets a bit of a stretch during a dry summer. In deference to the good Cartertonites I do my best to keep my feet out of what is destined to become their drinking water.

Carterton's watersupply

It's a pleasant wander down valley and the stream is pretty enough.  Prints indicate the hunter and dog from this morning have been up this way. About forty minutes later the headworks for the supply come into view and from there on it is an amble out on a gravel road. 

Upper water intake

Water works

It's 4.30 so I have plenty of light left when I reach the car and the afternoon is decidedly hot. I'm pleased to have got around without any significant navigation problems.  As expected the foothills have a lot of scrub but further up the forest is pleasant and appears to be fairly lightly frequented. It's an interesting alternative for getting to Totara Flats or even to follow the Waiohine ridge through to Holdsworth.  

Six new spot heights and some countryside that I would not otherwise have thought to visit.  A successful day.