Island Ridge

The Mangahao dams area of the Tararuas has been extensively interfered with - historic logging and fires, a long access road, farming, forestry and accommodation. And of course the extensive modifications that come with Hydro development. The road and dams are obvious, but less so is the impact of water being hoicked out of the Mangahao river to pass west through the range to Shannon - leaving a trickle that follows it's normal course north east to join the Manawatu River miles away near Woodville.

Te Araroa passes through here and there are certainly some interesting corners - there are also some physical challenges, particularly if scrub is your thing. Overall this isn't my favourite part of the range but Island Ridge has caught my eye and (of course) there is a small matter of a bunch of spot-heights that require seeing to.

What:       Navigation, scrub bashing and spot-heighting
Where:     Island ridge (Mangahao)
When:      28-29 April
Who:        Solo
Maps:



Deep in the hills behind Shannon ...



Most of Saturday



Sunday (and start of Saturday)

Island Ridge is just that - a wee lump defined by a the Mangahao River, Baber Creek and connected to Ngapuketurua by a low saddle. Most people whistle up the river valley hardly glancing at it. A few others head up College Creek passing the north end of the ridge. After wandering around it and looking down on it I figure it's about time to pay a visit.

An 0445 start sees me bumping up the Mangahao Road after 0700. It seems like a while since the grader has been through. I park by the warning sign in the small carpark by the dam for reservoir two, and sort my life out. This includes donning flak jacket (flouro vest to try to discourage hunters from shooting me).

It still has the typo - hope they never change it

The lake is showing a muddy rim indicating it's down a bit, and the spill way isn't doing much, so there's little flow in the Mangahao River. At 0730 the sky is grey but not threatening as I head off for the 4 km (ish) walk to reservoir one - mildly tedious but not unpleasant.

Not much happening in the Mangahao river 

Reservoir two - showing a bit of mud

I'm less than half way when a ute offers a lift. Perched on the tray it's a far more satisfactory method of travel.  The chap and friends are shuttling a car to be ready when they complete the loop walk from reservoir two via Burn Hut.

The first order of business is a bit of a nothing really - pt 512 is a knob near the road end. Mr pink ribbon man has been up there - possibly for pest control although I can't see anything. I skid back down through the supplejack to the dam and the proper start to the day - it's now 0845.




The evocatively named Pt 512

The upper reservoir is also showing a bit of mud. The track to College Stream crosses the dam and across the water the base of Island Ridge comes down to the water.

Reservoir One - Island Ridge ahead

At the first opportunity I drop off the track and out of the bush to find a way across the stream mouth. Someone plus dog has already been through this morning but the footprints return so I'm less concerned about a hunter on the loose.

Tide's out

At the foot of the spur the shore is steep and there's a bank to scale to get into the bush. It takes a bit of fossicking to find a place to haul myself up. There are no signs of a track.

The scramble up starts as a steep clamber on a crumbling slope. There's a reasonable canopy with a few tangled clear patches on the way up.

At the ridge top, things look great - the canopy is high enough and the trees open enough that I can potter along at a good rate. It doesn't last. Soon it's tight saplings and then scrub. Generally not the worst type of scrub but slow nonetheless.

North back along Island Ridge - 'Peak' on the horizon

The scrub does mean lots of chances to look across towards the Camelbacks and Tawirikohukohu, and up to the ridge north of Ngapuketurua which, as the day wears on, starts to gather clag about its shoulders.

Towards the end of the ridge I can make out the saddle - it has a bit of a complex shape. Towards pt 870 and the end of the ridge the scrub gets more dense. At 1145 it has taken me 3 hours to get from the dam to pt 870.

Approaching south end of Island Ridge
Ngapuketurua in cloud on left - Saddle in middle 

From 870 (south end of Island Ridge) SW up Mangahao valley
Tawirikohukohu on right 

I keep hoping that people will have worn a trail up to here from the mouth of Dick Creek but can find no evidence. So, it's scrub bashing down until there's enough canopy to duck underneath.

I drift a little left onto a side spur but cut across to find an erosion scar that points to the saddle. Once in the saddle the bush is more open and, as expected, there are plenty of animal trails with the understory pretty much cleaned out (a common sight in low saddles). The wind in the trees almost drowns out the occasional roar drifting up from the Dick Creek side.

I pause for a bite and to regroup - things are much slower than expected so I figure I will only be going as far as the hut tonight - I'm still hoping to divert to two spot heights off the side of the range near Ngapuketurua.

Climbing out of the saddle is the reverse of climbing in - forest gives way to low canopy then, inevitably to scrub - still no trails. A handy rock gives a nice wee view back into the saddle but otherwise it's just a long grind up taking well over an hour to get through the saddle from 870. I'm hoping for a trail coming up the major spur to Ngapuketurua from Harris Creek - nope. More and worse scrub. Some game trails higher up but these wander off and disappear. The cloud comes and everything gets progressively damper.

This may all sound a little depressing but there's a certain mindless satisfaction in rolling out of the scrub to the top with bleeding knees having unequivocally 'knocked the bugger off.' The scrub is also very healthy with the usual suspects present - leatherwood being the most annoying (slippery, contorted and prone to breaking suddenly), totara (much harder and springier than the rest of the shrubbery and surprisingly spikey), and around here; mountain cedar (dense to push through with low branches - but smells nice), and mountain toatoa (just gets in the way). Dracophyllum filifolium can be tricky when thick but at least you can grab hold to haul your way up without it splintering. Higher up the grasses and tussocks add their own little tripping hazard as they tangle into the leatherwood.

Looking west across the saddle at 870

There's a wee cairn tucked into the tussock at the top of Ngapuketurua but still not a lot in the way of trails. It's not cold although there's a bit of wind moving the clag about.

It's a bit after 1500 - I figure it will be tight but I should be able to knock of at least one of the two spot-heights that someone has carelessly placed off the east side of the main ridge. After thrashing through more scrub and popping a short way down a dead end spur, the clag shifts enough to show that I'll not be sleeping in a hut if I continue. So ... back to the top - a compass bearing into the featureless gloom and off we go - it's now 1540.

Last time I was through there was a trail running diagonally SE up the north face of Puketurua - I manage to find it but then lose it again. It's pretty easy to pick up though once on the ridge.

Finding the way off Ngapuketurua

From Ngapuketurua there is an old, but well cut trail along the ridge. It forms a tunnel through the clumps of leatherwood, and a foot trail through the low scrub and tussock. Although the day is getting on, progress is good - until the top of the spur to Baber forks that is. I suspect this is where a lot of people exit/enter the tops as it is harder finding the trail from here on. I lose it completely on the drop to 840. The top here is broad and featureless so you just follow the compass and pick your way through low, knee-shredding scrub and tussock.




This bit is definitely a track

The light wanes and the clag refuses to lift. The track comes and goes and in the gloom is easily lost - at 5.30 it's getting mighty close to headlamp time. I hold out until finally reaching the track. By now it's dark and all but raining. Visibility is down to about seven meters but the track is a wide swathe in the headlamp. The rain sets in just as I arrive at the hut at 1900.

Empty: downside is no hot brew ready for a wet, scratched tramper. Upside is no snoring or dogs, and I can spread out. It isn't cold but with no fire I get dry and into my bag while the water boils for dinner.

By candlelight the hut is tidy and cosy. Someone has left a few books and I while away the time reading old scifi (minus the last chapter unfortunately).

Burn Hut

The rain splatters against the hut all night - not too heavy and not too cold, but incessant. By morning I have talked myself out of thrashing around in the scrub chasing spot-heights through the clag. I figure it will take two more trips to tidy this area off - hopefully with a view of more than the inside of the next patch of leatherwood.

There's time for coffee, porridge and to finish the book before braving the elements at 0845. There's cellphone coverage up here and home command has acknowledged the plan change.

It turns out to be not so bad. Sure, it's the inside of a cloud but the track is (at least initially) open and the temperature mild. It's as muddy and slippery as you would expect given the rain.

About 0955, I'm standing on the humpback bridge at the bottom above a high flowing creek as it cascades into the Mangahao (which has more water than I've seen previously). A fantail pops by to say hello - the rain has stopped and the clag is left behind on the tops.

In a tactical move I thrash up a messy spur to pick off a low hanging spot-height - in theory the next trip will be just a little bit simpler for the effort.

The slip way at the dam is operating and the lake level looks like it has come up about a meter overnight. At 1130 it's been less than a half day tramp but I'm more than ready to hit the road - hopefully ahead of the end of school holiday traffic.

 

 

 

Saturday

 

Sunday

Tawirikohukohu and North Ohau

It's a terrible thing to neglect an orphan - but more about that later. 

The ranges behind Levin have some lovely wee spots and fond memories - the upper reaches of the Ohau Rivers; beautifully formed but unmarked tracks; a forest gecko that stayed put long enough for a photo. And then it is justly infamous for parts best described as scrubby hell holes (or ridges to be precise).

This weekend is a foray back into the interior and pretty much covering both ends of the spectrum.

What:    Navigation, spot-heighting and scrub bashing
Where:  Ohau River, Mangahao, Tawirikohukohu
When:   21-22 April 2018
Who:     Solo
Map:



Large scale view - red is the current trip, blue the Easter excursion

Close-up of start and finish bits

Close-up of middle bits

A quiz evening last night results in a lack of sleep and a late start. Consequently, it's 0800 when I arrive at a busy Poads Road end. A motley crew is gathered preparing for a day walk - I head out just before them.

The familiar track wends across farmland and into the Ohau River valley. The sky is a bit grey but the forecast showers are holding off. A couple of paradise ducks kick up a racket when I appear on the terrace above their pond.

My navigation brain is barely required at the start which is probably just as well. The first bridge marks the target spur and there turns out to be a well worn track heading up. There are a number of leg-hold traps (all sprung) stapled to trees, one clutching a well-dead possum - not a pleasant death. And someone has left an old pack hanging on a tree with a secateurs and a knife sharpener in it.

Spot-height 295 (0845), like most others, is unremarkable (and to my annoyance, I realise later that it is technically not in the forest park - oh well).

295 -  open forest with just a little bit off supplejack

Hallmark pack - remember them?

At the top (0915), the spur emerges onto the track that will take me back down to the river at Blackwater Stream (6 discs track?). It's marked and reasonably well trod but still easy to wander off in a few places. Spot-height 372 is a short distance off the track and even less remarkable than 295.

At the bottom (1010), the bridge over Blackwater Stream leads to a pleasant grassy clearing and a track down to the river junction. Across the river is the base of the spur I have my eye on - it turns out to have sporadic markers indicating that someone thought it was a route once.

Back on the gorge track

On the way up, the wind in the trees is a constant refrain but the rain still holds off. The wind noise is such that I step around a tree and startle a large stag about three metres away. He's completely oblivious to my approach and, it's fair to say, gets the bigger surprise. He leaps and thunders off around the slope. The place must be infested - a little earlier I heard something crashing off and, at another spot, caught a glimpse of a rapidly dwindling deer's bum.

On the ridge (1140) there's a lovely wee track with old orange bait stations - it looks like part of a line I've seen further up the ridge around Square Knob. The stations aren't in use but the track looks like it might be. The weather gets up a bit more and there must have been some rain as the trees are a bit wet.

Ridge - pretty open

I figure the track is likely to take the obvious route and drop to the junction of North and South Ohau Rivers. It doesn't. I lose it around 670m and take a bearing to my spur, taking a while to triangulate to ensure I'm in the right place - a little tricky with the cloud ceiling hiding the higher points.

The spur is ok with a bit of steep clambering at the bottom - I'm chuffed to emerge just below the junction (1340). But not so chuffed at the downpour that is slashing up the valley. It blows through quickly with just a few parting shots, so I don't get my coat out.

The name of the spur that splits the two branches of the Ohau River is Deception Spur. As names go it's up there with 'False Spur' off the Southern Crossing. In this case it is possibly a testament to the challenges that have always existed of navigating below the bushline in Tararua clag?

The spur caught my eye a while back - it looks like an efficient way to get into the head of the Mangahao and the big spurs up to the Main Range - but I failed to work it into my Easter 2018 double crossing. It proves to be a good route, a little overgrown and steep at the bottom but quite navigable and easy to follow further up.

Nice to see rata in flower - Deception Spur

I notice I've slowed a bit - with low energy levels the plan of dropping to North Ohau hut then bashing over pt 1025 is clearly off the table. I have a sit and think and regretfully decide to leave the spot-height for another day - and thus an orphan is born. It will take a dedicated trip to knock it off, buggrit.

The top of the spur has a large cairn (1545) - perhaps indicating early problems finding the right spot and hence the name?

Top of Deception Spur

This is (briefly) familiar territory - I whistle down the ridge to the area of treefall (about 720m) where I pick a random spot and strike off for the valley which is less than 200m below at this point. No trails to speak of, but I would be very surprised if there wasn't one somewhere.

Mangahao River

The river (1630) is not up but deep enough for wet boots. The track here is wide and well formed, following river terraces beneath mature forest. It's relaxing swinging along familiar ground without having to think quite so much about navigation and foot placement. What is not relaxing is the prospect of being mistaken for a deer (in a flouro vest) in the gathering gloom. I periodically let out a loud whistle just in case.

It always takes s little longer than I expect to get to the hut and it's just on dusk (1740) as I clomp onto the deck to find it empty.  It's as tidy as usual (probably due to the ministrations of the Manawatu Tramping Club who seem to be sending working parties in reasonably frequently).

I have a luxurious 10 hour sleep disturbed only by a few heavy dumps of rain during the night. By the time I'm heading out (0720) the sun is already drifting down the opposite valley wall.

Morning from Mangahao Hut

The plan today is to climb to the ridge running west up to Tawirikohukohu. Forays into this area in the past have been ... challenging, but I've heard there is an old route up by Tawiri Stream and I'm hoping the ridge is better traveled then some in the area.

On the flats a few minutes from the hut, for the second time this weekend I manage to sneak up on a stag - this one is about five metres away when we see each other. This close he looks pretty big and spiky. Irrespective of our relative placement in the food chain there's an instant of relief when he runs away rather than toward me.

Not for the first time I get caught out crossing between two maps (mind the gap!). And, if I'm honest, confirmation bias. I have it in mind that I enter the river at the big slip (which must be the one with the high level bypass track).  My morning brain refuses to count the first slip without the bypass and I amble gormlessly twice as far as required and consequently take the spur on the true left (not right) of Tawiri Stream.

The bush is beautiful here. Rain forest like - dripping with moss that is bright green in the morning light under a tall canopy (the classic goblin forest at higher altitudes is generally darker and often a bit drier). I'm a bit suspicious that there is no sign of any trail but don't really mind.

Deer wallow on way up spur

It's a steep climb and the dreaded scrub starts about 800m, there's no real signs of travelers other than game until an old powerade bottle signals an(other) idiot has been this way. The scrub bashing is not too bad, and at least I can now see the Main Range, and the fact that I'm on the wrong spur.

From the wrong spur - back towards the Main Range

The ridge (1000) brings views to the orderly Horowhenua plains and the infamous Camelbacks. I am delighted to discover that there is a bit of a trail to follow.

Difficult country - Camelbacks and other scrubby places

Having come up the wrong spur I now 'have to' drop down to pick up a spot-height on the correct spur (pt 940 - 1025). This spur has an old cut track and is probably pretty good going all the way to the bottom. However, my attention is more taken by the shape of the ridge up to Tawirikohukohu from the south. It is the site of the most miserable scrub bashing I have ever endured. It doesn't look so bad from here but does look a little ugly towards the top.

Tawirikohukohu on right - I think it took two hours to navigate that stretch of ridge
Those little knobs up to the right are nasty

Just before Tawirikohukohu the track sidles around to the right (north) and it's easy to miss where a foot trail continues upwards. A bit of clag is starting to gather. From the catchment south east of the peak a stag roars - I roar back and another joins in. We roar at each other for a bit until I clearly say something inappropriate and they both shut up.

The top (1105) is largely in scrub so I take a bearing to the next spot height (897) and am relieved that there is an old cut trail leading in that direction. The plan at this point is to nip down and back, then exit on what I know are nice but unmarked trails via Square Knob. You can guess that this is exactly what doesn't happen.

From Tawirikohukohu - towards Square knob 

Part way down, the trail simply disappears leaving me floundering through leatherwood and other scrubulous species. Sometime during my sweary down-spur progress it becomes clear that coming back up is going to be miserable. I hunker down in a patch of dracophyllum and study the map - an escape route into the upper North Ohau River is quickly identified and a text is sent to home command in quick order.

Don't forget to scrub

There is a bit of a knack to scrub bashing and often a bit of a knap to the scrub. As soon as I start heading off the ridge I am no longer pushing through the scrub but crashing over scrub that is lying in a downwards direction - progress further accelerates as the canopy lifts and progress underneath becomes possible.

No-one in their right mind comes through here so it's animal trails again. The spur is a bit messy in shape so some compass assistance is necessary but the only real challenge is at the bottom where it bluffs out. The river (well, stream really) is visible below, flowing though a slot into a deep pool, but it takes a wee while to safely navigate the crumbling bank to the bottom (I may have marked the wrong spur on the map above).

The North Ohau (1335) then provides a delightful series of cascades to negotiate before leveling for a long (slippery) wander down to the hut. I reach the major junction upstream of the hut about 1400. There are a few useful terraces that speed up travel, and one or two lower down with deep cutty grass and elephant traps that are best avoided. On one high terrace I find another bloody hunters rubbish heap.

Wee cascade shortly after joining North Ohau

Junction

Bloody hunters!

There's a large hind grassing on the flats below the hut.  My approach is masked by the sound of the river so it isn't until I whistle that she takes a long look before trotting off with another in tow. If I had been a hunter it would have been another for the pot.

North Ohau is a tidy wee hut (1515) - I notice in the log someone else reporting seeing part of a cut route on Tawirikohukohu and lamenting that it stopped (so it wasn't just me) - it looks like they dropped into the headwaters of one of the streams.

A nice wee hut

I'm keen to get on as it could be approaching dark by the time I get out. At this point I notice the heel of my boot has ripped in half. It might just be time for a new pair - still, it won't be much more slippery than the well smoothed soles already are.

The sun had been streaming into the valley but is now just hitting the slopes above. Pairs of fantails are feeding above the river and pause to investigate as I cross their territory. One pair is a normal pied version with a black mate - s/he is stunning, and it's odd to see all the familiar mannerisms in a bird that looks completely different. Black fantails apparently make up about 5% of southern populations but are rare in the North Island - I have never seen one so close before.

The trip down river is familiar. The gorgy bit to the junction of North and South Ohau (1605), then the more open wander down to where the track starts (1645) with occasional short cuts across terraces. There are some footprints in the river bed from earlier in the day but I don't see anyone.

Just after sundown I'm back at the carpark (1740). 8 spot heights knocked off, an exploration of the Northern Ohau complete and that fantail. A good weekend - shame about the orphan.