Remutaka - Pylon Track

Sometimes a weekend is required where you knock off those 10 things you've been meaning to get around to. I'm not referring to the sort of weekend that the average family has about once a week, but one where you catch up with three parts of the family you haven't seen for a while; knock off five spot-heights that you expect to be unbearably tedious; take Angela on a nav trip; go on a road ride in the Wairarapa and polish off some fine dining.

The spot-heights in question are in the southern most part of the Tararua Forest Park to the north of the Remutaka hill road. The area has been cleared and burnt at times and is covered in a mix of regenerating bush. It's not that popular for walking although there are tracks and an ECNZ road along the pylons. Getting to off-track spot heights in the area is likely to involve some pain.

I figure there are at least two good days of walking and scrub bashing to get to all the points and don't fancy doing them all in one go.  A day trip followed by a bike ride seems like a good way to start ticking them off.

What:    Day tramp and road ride
Where:  Pylon track from Remutaka saddle to Abbot's Creek bridge on Featherston side
Who:     Angela and me
When:   24 February 2018
Map:

The support crew takes a couple of snaps so the SAR people know what to look for and we potter up the track from the Remutaka saddle - it's shortly after 8am. Although not early-early, the light is clear and highlights the gold in the dracaphyllum.

The single track up to the pylon track is well cut and easy to follow. The first couple of hundred metres is notable not so much for the views as the gormless twat with a blue spray-can that has daubed trees and rocks with their howls against society. Fortunately they didn't have the stamina or attention span to travel far and we are soon climbing through forest and scrub towards the ridge.

Although the route for the day is mostly 4WD drive track I figure it's a good excuse to try to ensure that Angela learns some good navigation techniques rather than picking up my slightly slap dash approach. To this end, we pause on the way up to fix our position using a distant landmark perpendicular to our direction of travel, and actually pay attention to the bearing numbers for a change. The altimeter only comes out to confirm if we're in the ball park.

The views start with the full length of the Upper Hutt side of the Remutaka road - from this angle the twisting climbing curves are reduced to a gently rising straight line. The Pakuratahi flats are now basking in the morning light with the morning mist we drove through 30 minutes earlier completely burnt off. In between, the hillside below has a surprising depth with hidden gullies and some lovely forest that is not visible from the road. 

Remutaka hill road

Pakuratahi

Other side of the Remutaka road

Progress is slow as we take every opportunity to take in the view and practice aligning the map with distant ridges. To the south, the hills and ridges of  the Remutaka Forest park come into view as we climb higher.

The pylon road is well maintained with vegetation cleared and a solid base so we rock along to 805 (and our most significant planned deviation) fairly quickly. The plan is to 'pop' north down a spur to pt 575. Let the record state that I warn Angela that it could be pretty scrubby judging by the map.

About 20m below 805 there is a bit of tape on a tree and a ground trail develops. We follow this down through open, mossy forest to a couple more markers before a short section through open scrub - back into the trees again we are making great progress until we hit the next patch of scrub. A carefully taken compass bearing saves us from hiving off down a side spur at least once.

We lose any sign of the trail and end up in a full on scrub bash - progress is glacial as we edge our way through, over and under trying to avoid the worst of the gorse. Angela trials the well known technique of falling backwards through a tree and somewhere in the process rips a hole in her brand new Under-Armour tights - I could be accused of being insensitive in pointing out that it could have been worse - it could have been her leg,

Eventually we get back into bush again and progress speeds up. There's a clearing at our target pt and we take a bearing on a nearby feature (714) to confirm we have arrived. Time for a bite in the shade.

The route back is a little less exciting - we stick to the more heavily forested east face of the spur and work our way upwards avoiding the worst of the scrub.

Scrambling down the bank onto the pylon track is a little bit fraught with Angela engaging the slip-and-slide-down-on-your-bum technique - judging by the amount of filth and water accumulated this is not recommended.

A short stint along the 4WD track before we leave it briefly to follow the ridge line towards Mt Frith. This track is well cut and marked, although a rising wind starts to buffet us a little.  A historic burn or other clearance has left the ridge here covered in low scrub giving good views to Lake Wairarapa,  the Featherston side of the Remutaka Road and north across the Tauherenikau gorge.

Angela in the wilderness

Lake Wairarapa with some foreground

Heading back from pt 712 - contending with the wind

The final mission for the day after returning to the pylon track is the steep drop to the valley floor with a brief excursion to pick up pt 375. Angela takes one look at the bush and leaves me to half an hour of crashing through trackless manuka, old man gorse and regenerating forest species.

Still looking down on the hill road

The stream valley to the east has forest trees and hillsides of Punga - the area is regenerating really nicely.

The support crew responds to a phone call and our assurance that we will be out in about 10 minutes - unfortunately this is a little prolonged due to blackberry patches on the way down that require harvesting.

Our accommodation in Martinborough is serviceable if a bit tired and Aidan and Janne join us at Pinocchio's for a very good meal. She has just finished saying that we don't know it but this is her birthday weekend, when she discovers a gift under her serviette and a cake we had delivered to the restaurant earlier turns up for dessert. A successful surprise and suitably low key.

Post script

It's a nice walk giving interesting angles on familiar landmarks. The pylon track is easy going but it is hard underfoot and a little steep on the downhill end so the knees feel it by the time you get to the bottom.  The track along to Mr Frith looks like a better option to my eye.

Good company, a nice day, and five spot-heights efficiently dispatched.

A Sunday road ride

The following day we polish the weekend off with a bike ride from Martinborough along the Longbush Road to Gladstone and a jaunt up Admiral Hill.

Between the first and second puncture

My newly replaced back tube has gone down overnight and the replacement (from the same batch bought cheap on Torpedo 7) loudly gives up the ghost 3km in.  Notwithstanding this, it's a lovely ride with Tour Aoteroa riders coming through after overnighting in Masterton. Gladstone has a large sign up welcoming the riders which is pretty cool although the riders may be a little disappointed that there is essentially nothing at Gladstone and certainly nothing selling the essentials (ginger beer and toasted sandwiches). The pub a little way of the back road is pretty good though (see below).

Admiral Hill is a nice little uphill grunt with a good half K steep pinch. Angela takes this in her stride despite her bottom gear starting to skip. We pause at the first summit for some adjustment which gets her to the top.

The wind gives good assistance on the way up and is screaming across the crest, but demands some care to get started on the downhill.  Angela's gears choose this moment to throw a wobbly and, after a bit of examination, a broken gear cable is diagnosed - I remove the cable and lock it into a choice of two gears which prove to be just too high for her to peddle to the top of the rise on the way back to the false summit.

As soon as cell phone coverage is restored the support crew (who have taken refuge at the Gladstone pub) are dispatched to mount a rescue. I nobly continue the ride to the bottom of the hill meeting them on the way up.

The Gladstone pub turns out to be an appropriate venue for the post match analysis. Surprisingly good food for a country pub and clearly a magnet for cyclists - some of whom have stayed overnight for the sole purpose of knocking off the admiral (as it were).