Peak

There's still a few spot-heights I need to see to around the Mangahao dams. One of these is the somewhat tersely named 'Peak.'  I had to abort a previous attempt and the idea is to polish it, plus a few other randoms off on a weekend that is promising to be a bit miserable.

The Olde Beach Bakery in Waikanae supplies an excellent scone and pain au raisin that keeps me happy for the rest of the drive to Shannon.  Leaving the plains, the gravel road over the ridge rapidly disappears into thick cloud requiring cautious driving. 

The first three spot-heights for the day are close to the road between reservoirs two and three. After that I'll be heading for Peak and, if all goes well, may find a camp site and have a nosy around Te Araroa trail tomorrow.


What:     Navigation day trip bush bash
Where:   Mangahao - Peak
When:    16 June 2018
Who:      Solo
Map:

A few random spots to get things started

The forest park boundary is a bit of a weird shape and it takes in a few spot-heights that are pretty pointless really. However, I park the car and wander along a 4WD track to pt 409 (about 8am). There's a survey point with recent tyre prints indicating it's still used for something. No view today but on a clear day you might be looking over reservoir 3 and could follow the track down to the water.

Pt 409

The next spot is off the side off a nondescript bend on a windy section of road in unremarkable bush. It takes a bit to find the right bend and there's no track but it's pretty straight forward.

The final starter (590) is on the ridge above reservoir 2. A 4WD track leads up from the corner to a power line then it's a question of following your nose to the high point. It's all in tall forest and despite one piece of pink tape there is no real sign of people. Tick the box and head back to the car.

The main event sees me parking at reservoir 2 again a bit before 10am. The reservoir is spilling over one half of the top of the dam - even higher than last time and the Mangahao is looking definitely river like.

A couple and dog come out of the bush as I wander across the dam. They've just been in a short way and must be local as it's a long way to go to take Rover for a walk.

I duck into the bush, crossing an old terrace and bricks before bashing up the steep side of the spur. I'm hopeful that as this is a strong spur and an obvious way to head up to Peak it might have a good trail.

Peak - blue line is a previous trip

It's a slippery climb during which I come across plastic cups tacked to trees - they probably once held possum lure as there are one or two old leg hold traps left behind.

On the spur there is indeed a nice wee trail and white and pink tape markers. The canopy is high and life is good.

I lose the trail before the scrub starts below 797 - no idea where it wandered off to as there is no sign of it from there on up. There's an initial scrubby knob and then another one and very little visibility. I follow the compass and try to find an easy way through. No sign of human tracks but animal sign aplenty.

There's a bit of bush but soon after the climb up to 866 it's pretty much scrub. It's slow and the cloud holds in tight. As I get higher it gets steadily colder. It seems to take a very long time to get from 866 to Peak at 890 at 12.50 - about 2 hours from the bottom.

It's very nice to get there but I can't see much sign that anyone comes up from any direction and the view leaves a little to be desired. 

Peak

or 890

It's wet with a cold wind rising so I don't hang about. Hopes that the spur down is well traveled are soon dashed. It's mixed scrub and still clagged in. At one point I manage to describe a circle trying to find where the spur branches. The canopy starts lifting after this so at least the going is easier.

It's quite complex navigation with the face of the spur often weakly defined. I'm planning to duck off the side of the spur to drop west to a stream - in the event I just miss the top of the steep side spur but there is a patch of rock in a gully that provides enough view to get back on line. From there it is steep but straightforward.

A brief view

Joining the stream I slip my way down valley to join the track by the Mangahao River (it really is past time to get boots with some tread). It's easy travel with few scrambles. Towards the bottom there are some old red tape markers, I assume marking some old possum line or other pest control activities.

By the time I get back to the dam (3.45pm) and thawed out somewhat, I'm saturated and my appetite for heading for Te Araroa trail and mopping up a few more spot-heights before finding a soggy campsite is strangely lacking.

Wet gear stashed in rubbish bags in the boot, I head for home - a warm bath, cold beer, undehydrated dinner, and a dry bed.  Seven spot heights knocked off for the day which is not so bad - and the day pretty much confirms that the scrub in this neck of the woods is often best avoided.

My advice is that if you must climb Peak - pick a nice day and don't come through the saddle in the southeast.  You could follow the spur I took, but expect a bit of work to get through the scrub - I think one of the two branches of the spur from the north is probably better though. Hopefully you'll get better views than I did.

Ngamaia

The Inuit probably don't have 50 different words for snow but there is a case to be made for more words describing scrub. The northern Tararuas are teaching me that the word is sadly inadequate to encapsulate the world of painful variety that hides behind those five letters.

This weekend I am tackling the area south and east of the Mangahao dams from the Wairarapa side. There's an unusually long ridge that runs north east from above the Putara road end - it is flanked on the east by the farmland behind Eketehuna and on the west by Ngapuketurua Stream. The long finger points to the spot where the Mangahao River leaves the hills. Someone has scattered spot heights all over it and I suspect it has 270 different varieties of scrub.

I'm planning to explore the southern end of the ridge and to drop over in the Ngapuketurua catchment.

What:      Navigation and spot-heighting trip

When:     9-10 June 2018

Where:    Behind Eketahuna

Who:       Solo

Map:

The whole trip

Start and finish

Middle bits

Despite getting up at 5am it's already daylight when I park at the Putara road end and head out a little before 0800. My route today is not along the track towards Roaring Stag but a circuitous path to an old track, part of which I've explored previously.

The old 4WD track into the bush passes a couple of shipping containers converted for a sleep out. The track follows the map but continues further than marked. At one point a deer trots away ahead.

The road runs out and I follow game trails up through high scrub into forest then into a clearing on a spur at about 600m. This gives views across farmland and up to tops that are flirting with low cloud.

From here there's pretty good forest, a strong ground trail and eventually an old marker - this seems to be the route of the old track. Around 740m the spur flattens and there is a couple of old ribbons that mark a turn off to the spurs I followed last time (eventually to the flats below Ruapae Falls). Although I cast about a bit when I came through it should really be easy to spot on the way down - the track goes past a puddle (to your right) then the turn is on the right just before the track rises up a wee knob. If you go past, the track soon starts dropping.

There's a turn on the right here (facing down spur)

But first, pass a puddle on your right

I potter on up through mixed bush with plenty of cedar. I've already figured that I am now repeating effort that I could have avoided (i.e. a complicated scramble up from Ruapae Falls to pick up spot-height 820, which I now wander past).

The track is pretty good - someone has been through trimming branches with a handsaw. Months ago rather than years by the look of it. The occasional break in the canopy gives a view to sunlight on the eroding north face of the Herepai ridge to the south - and the clag that is now hiding the tops.

Ridge to Herepai

I have half an eye out for the site of the old PUtara hut that burnt down (1977). The accounts all mention tensions with the land owner and in the next breath that the hut mysteriously burnt down - the implication being: 'we know the toe rag did it but there's no proof.'

Some cut branches off to the right of the track catch my eye and I follow to a small clearing off the side of the spur. Some blackened stumps, an old fire place and a sign indicate that this was the spot (0950).

Putara hut site 

'Trees are shelter, do not cut this side of the hut'

980m altitude

By the time I break out of the bush the clag is thick around the spur and visibility is about 50m. The temperature has decreased, in contrast to the wind which is increasing.

At the ridge (1025) there's a reflective marker on a cairn making the top of the spur easy to find.

For the next few hours I battle the wind along the top pausing every few minutes to wipe the mist off my glasses. The wind increases from firm, to boisterous and then to down right obstreperous. There's a bit of moisture in the wind although not rain as such. It's slow going what with the buffeting wind pushing me about and the need for frequent pauses for navigation.

The ridge wanders north past Massey Knob, 1030 and 970. Nothing dramatic but in the clag navigation is challenging. There's a ground trail but it is easy to wander off into low scrub. It gets colder and windier.

I know I've gone past Ngamaia but in the clag can find no indication of the top of the spur I aim to take to drop east. The ridge top is broad and shelves gently - I can see nothing that indicates a route. A false start doesn't flatten where it should and I have to struggle back up through scrub to the top - demoralising. The clag resolutely refuses to thin for even the briefest moment.

It's hard to keep your chin up - cold and wet, no view, scrub, hard to keep your feet ... I'm starting to get really fed up. However, on your own in these conditions there is no choice but to find the way forward or a safe bail route. I'm not quite ready to pull the plug yet I head back for a known point in order to follow the compass and watch.

The clag thins for a second and I find a knob with a cairn to the east of the ridge (not what I want but noted for later). It gives me a fix and I time myself north again for 15 minutes before striking east off the ridge. This time a wide spur top gradually appears from the mist.

There's still a bit of a ground trail but easier to lose. I have another bit of a moment finding the next branch off the spur - eventually breaking through a band of scrub and once again finding the way down.

This time as I drop, the cloud starts breaking ahead to show sunlight on farmland. It's a bit surreal to be in scrubland looking down at a scene of such green pastoral order. It's after 1500 now so I've wasted a fair amount of time staggering about looking for spurs. The plans for the rest of the day are amended accordingly.

At last a view east

There's a bit of choice on the way down so I stick to the open areas (not always the best policy) then drop into forest to a small stream and a short climb to where the ridge north continues. Here there are briefly markers along a definite (but not strong) track - it looks like there may have been a route down to 509 (...maybe).

I most definitely do not recommend popping up to pt 708. The scrub is low and tight - too tight to push through but not firm enough to climb over. Daylight wanes as I inch painfully upwards. Long story short - near the top I can hang off the east of the ridge under a higher canopy - at pt 708 I mentally put a tick in the box and bash over the top and down through scrub to reach the forest on the west slope. I drop rapidly looking for somewhere flat to camp.

Home sweet ...

By the time the fly is up it's pitch black. The wind is whipping through the tree tops but it's pretty calm on the forest floor - still, I find a completely sheltered nook by a wee creek to boil the billy. Dinner is eaten in pit before lights out by 7. The wind keeps it up most of the night but it's a good sleep and no rain.

In the morning I can't be bothered firing up the stove so munch on some fruit bread. It takes a while for light to filter through the trees so it's 0745 before I get away.

Morning light

The first order of business is to work out where I am. It turns out it's not quite where I thought but it's reasonably quickly sorted. I start working may way onto the spur I want and along to spot-height 625. The day is looking not too bad and I get some views across to the ridge I aim to be climbing soon.

Spur running from 597 (on right) to 815

There's a bit of ground trail and even the odd bit of old tape. On the way down, rather than follow the steep spur through forest I see a break and drop into an erosion chute high above a stream, with a water fall in a slot. The sound drifts up as I scramble down. It's tricky footing but nice to be in the open (0830).

The stream sides are too steep to bother contemplating so I work along the slope and find a way down near where the streams join at the base of the spur.

From here it's pleasant stream travel for half an hour to the junction with Ngapuketurua Stream. There's a couple of points requiring a mid thigh wade.

Junction between my unnamed stream and Puketurua Stream

Ngapuketurua Stream turns out to be quite sizable in a nice open valley. I'm quite looking forward to exploring it further at some point, but today I'll be leaving it straight away to head up to the tops again. For now though it's a pleasant spot to regroup, study the map, and enjoy the absence of wind and a slice of sun.

The spur looks like an obvious route up so I'm hoping for a ground trail. A terrace at the base has some hunters' rubbish but once on the spur there is no real sign of human traffic. It's a steep climb.

At 0945 I reach pt 597 and the going starts to get mixed. Wind has cut the odd swathe across the ridge and, as usual in this part of the Tararuas patches of scrub start turning up at quite a low altitude.

Scrub - for a change

A bit higher and I can imagine there is a path of less resistance in places, but judging by the way it comes and goes it's mostly animal I think. After yesterday I'm really appreciating the absence of clag - the wind is boisterous and I've got a balaclava on though.

Looking east - pt 708 is in there somewhere if you know where to look 

Up spur - probably from pt 815 or thereabouts

On the way up I rejoin my route from yesterday, without clag it's a completely different experience -  I'm not surprised at the navigational difficulties. The wrong spur from yesterday is clearly a ridiculous proposition.

Just short of the main ridge - looking south at the wrong spur from yesterday

The spur snaking down and to the left

There's a band of low scrub to navigate to get onto the ridge. Once there, its broad featureless top gives no indications for someone in clag to find the spur. On closer inspection though there's a few lichen covered rocks that could once have been a wee cairn, but more usefully, a small tarn (1155).

Subtle signs of the spur top

South west towards the real tops

There's a few options for getting back to the road end. I opt for what looks the most direct. Yesterday whilst stumbling around in the clag I thought I saw a cairn on a knob near Ngamaia and figure it probably marks a way down.

The start is very promising (1210) - the spur points directly at the wee patch of farmland by the road end far below. There seems to be a bit of a trail down through the tussock but as soon as the scrub starts it disappears and the going gets tough.

Putara road end's down there

Southish towards Herepai Ridge - spur up from yesterday in between

Eventually the scrub is behind and game trails provide quick progress down. However, the scrub has taken it's toll - somewhere in the struggle my map has fallen from my pocket. This is the second time this has happened - first time I was trialing wearing a bike top and it fell out of the back pocket, this time it was in the breast pocket I always keep it in.

I rely heavily on printed maps so it's weird to be on an unfamiliar and untracked spur without one, however, there's no way I'm going back for it. Plan A is to keep going down and aim to drop right into streams that I know will lead to Ngamaia Stream. Then I remember my cell phone - it takes a few seconds to load a topo map page and everything is sorted.

I drop south and angle down the east side of a stream. At the bottom there's some beautiful punga forest and a terrace above Ngamaia Stream. This is the edge of the farm land.

The going is easy now, across pasture and through open scrub. A deer heads for deep cover when it sees me but otherwise there's nothing about. I follow the stream and the odd farm track until joining and crossing the Mangatainoka river for a short scramble up to the road. A brief trudge along the dusty road later I'm back at the car (2.30).

Postscript

Nine spot-heights down for the weekend but it looks like I might have missed one in the clag (curses). My Underarmour tights are doing service as scrub trousers and as a result are starting to show significant amounts of skin - an expensive (but light and warm) option. After this trip, legs from gators to groin ended up covered in bruises and scratches - time to get some proper trousers I think. I also managed to swipe a totara branch across one eye which is still blurry over a week later. Travel can be tough in these parts.