Nichols

Scrub - a little fed up with it after recent excursions. Although the poked eye from last week got better quicker than expected, I was pretty much a write off the day after and am still removing prickles.

Accordingly, I cast about for a trip that, in scrub terms at least, is likely to be of a more benign disposition.

Three spots on a spur near the head of the Otaki Gorges have been on mind and promise an interesting route onto the Main Range tops. I've also discovered another spot in the vicinity that had escaped previous attention.

So, in at Otaki Forks, follow Te Araroa trail to the Otaki River, down the gorge a short way, rocket up a spur to the tops, potter along to Nichol's Hut, potter out along the track the next day with a diversion to a spot off the side of Mt Crawford on the way.

What:    Spot height navigation weekend trip

Where:  Around head of Otaki Gorges and Mt Crawford

When:   27-28 October 2018

Who:     Solo

Map:

Red this weekend, purple various previous trips - haven't bothered marking the Plateau track

The forecast is marginal. Gail force wind and rain Saturday arvo, clearing overnight. The trip plan allows for this with the most significant risk being wind on the tops on Saturday. Contingency plans involve ignominious retreat or bailing down various spurs.

At 7.20am it's overcast but little wind and no sign of the rain ... yet.  The only notable(?) event on the way in is a dog, his hunter and his hunter's missus - in that order.

I take the sidle track to avoid the slip - this always puts me slightly out of sorts. There is a mostly perfectly good (and quicker) track along the old tramway and up a creek but the slip makes it dicey.

At 9.10 I'm at the other end of the sidle and the start of the plateau. With recent rain the track is a little boggy. There's a few trees down on the descent from the plateau.

Plateau end of the sidle

40 minutes later I reach the point to leave the track and head down Arapito Stream to the Otaki River.  There's a bit of track on the true right (last time I came up here I didn't notice and whistled straight up the stream bed which can have a bit of windfall blockage).

About five minutes later I'm at the river which is looking clear with average flow. The rain is holding off for now and I'm comfortable to head down river.

Progress is through a mix of sidling, wading and crossing the river, and towards the end - pottering along an old terrace. At one point I'm edging around a rock when one hand hold collapses - there's that momentary helpless feeling as I peel inevitably off backwards. Fortunately the water is only 3 feet below and not deep.

I continue down river counting the side streams and am quite confident when I arrive at the bottom of the target spur.

Random side stream

Stream beside my spur

11.15 and time to top up water have a bite and gird the mental loins; the pipe at the top of Mt Crawford is somewhere 1200m above.

It's beautiful forest in these parts - mostly tall and mature with good going underneath. I see a couple of reasons for the open understory on the way up (deer) and hear the bleating of a flock of another reason filtering across the valley (goats).

The expected weather change starts coming in on the way up. The temperature drops, clouds filter through the trees and finally the rain starts. By the time I get to the bushline (3pm) I'm rugged up and there's sod all visibility.

Starting to cool down

Getting atmospheric

Cue the rain

And the bushline

Aside from the usual windfall it's good travel up the spur - there is often a trail to follow but, typical of animal trails it dissipates as soon as the slope widens. I don't see any of the usual old markers or bits of tape until one solitary piece of pink ribbon on the ground at the bushline. There's a bit of leatherwood to be navigated in the upper reaches of the forest but the spur is relatively free of unpleasant scrambling through scrub and, whether animal or human there is a bit of a trail up through the tussock.

Above the bushline my world expands to the extent of the inside of the surrounding cloud. It's blustery, wet and cold. This is a decision point - the forecast is for gale-force winds and I have to decide whether to continue over the top of Mt Crawford to Nichol Hut, bail backwards, or over Shoulder Knob for Waitewaewae Hut on the valley floor.

It's blustery, cold and wet but I'm happy to continue. However, although it's only midafternoon I'm not going to push my luck and pick up that spot height off the side of Crawford.

It feels like a long way up to the peak and over all the knobs and bumps afterwards. It's just borderline with a bushshirt under a coat but I keep going for the hut arriving at 4.10pm.

The hut is empty and cold with no firewood. That's fine by me - I'm not about to collect wood in these conditions so I'm not about to burn any.

I spend the rest of the afternoon in my sleeping bag reading the log book and trying to warm up.

This is one of the Te Araroa huts in the Tararuas so it gets a lot of traffic. I count the entries and discover the following for the period between 24 September 2016 and today (28 October 2018): (including myself and counting all visits not just overnighters)

Total visits:                   715
Total doing TA:             565 (79%) vs not TA or unknown 150 (21%)
Total kiwi:                     202 (28%) non kiwi 511 (71%)
Non kiwi doing TA:       492 (69% of all visits, 96% of non kiwi visits)
Kiwi doing TA:               73 (36% of kiwis, 10% of total visitors)
Southward bound TA:  504 (89% of TA walkers)
Northward bound TA:    47 (8%   of TA walkers)
Kiwis not doing TA:     126 (62% of kiwis, 18% of all visits)
Non kiwis not TA:         19 (4% of non kiwis, 3% of all visits)

(Numbers don't all add to 100% as some log entries were missing details)

I just finish before it gets too dark for unassisted reading. The dehy for dinner is a great hotwater bottle - as it finishes soaking it warms my feet.

The rain is heavy during the night but I'm comfortable and its quiet by morning when the alarm goes (5.30am).

I cook breakfast with the headlight on but it's light by the time I step outside as it takes over an hour to sort things out; unblock the sink drain, tidy the hut and climb into cold, wet clothes.

The clag shrouds the hillside but there's little wind and birds are getting up and about. At 6.45am I squelch up the track/stream.

Morning - hut side

Morning - dunny side

At the ridge the clag briefly breaks to give a glimpse of blue sky, the moon and a weak sun. They soon disappear again.

The plan is simple - climb to 1400m look for where the track takes a bend left for the final haul up to the top and follow a bearing towards 1196 down a messy face. Messy in that for a start there is little to pick where the spur is going to form.

I follow the compass down peering through the clag trying to pick which wrinkle in the landscape to follow. It's mostly pretty good but there is a healthy band of scrub. I make hard work of this on the way down but find some really useful trails to follow back up.

It feels somewhat miraculous as the slope resolves out of the clag into the (relatively) flat and straight top of the spur to 1196. A fluorescent marker catches my eye and turns out to be a SAR flouro jacket with orange cable tape - I must be somewhere! An inquisitive goat has had a nibble at the hem.

8.15am - Pt 1196 is at the end of a flat section of the spur. It's a pleasant place - there's a tussocky clearing surrounded by bush. It's also a deer superhighway with hoof prints everywhere and a large watering hole. I potter around for a bit before turning back for the climb.

By dint of casting about and following the animal trails I find the easiest route through the leatherwood and onto the open (but steep) going above. A little before 9.10 I'm at the top.

Mt Crawford

It's still claggy and cold but, on average, downhill from here on.

I tick off the Junction to turn off the Main Range, Shoulder Knob before the main descent, and the bushline where I shed balaclava and gloves. It's lovely goblin forest here. I try to make good time down without risking my neck with my slippery boots.

The first glimpse of the river confirms it is up. Across the bridge and 10 minutes to Waitewaewae Hut arriving at 11.05. Half an hour is time for a bit of lunch and write in the log book. I casually note a dog leash hanging by the door on my way out.

Normally the river route is quicker from here but it's at least a couple of feet up and discoloured so I resign myself to following the track.

It feels like a long slow climb up Arapito Stream to the plateau and a soggy trudge to the start of the sidle arriving at 12.50. Munching on fruit bread and Camembert I note that the holes in my left boot have got organised and joined forces - it's surprising they're still staying on my feet - must get some new ones.

I'm just about at the end of the sidle when two pig dogs bounce around the corner - one starts growling and I wonder what's going to happen next - you hear some unpleasant stories. I think I manage to say 'ah' when they are called off. A couple of hunters are at the bottom of the track.

It turns out that the dogs belong to bloke one. He's in looking for a dog he misplaced a week or two back and inquires if I have seen a dog (no), signs of a dog (no), the note that he left at Waitewaewae Hut (ah - that explains the leash!). I can't give them anything except for good reason not to bother walking all the way into the hut. In the course of conversation it turns out he has also lost a dog around Penn Creek somewhere. At some point this might be classified as careless.

I trot off down the track leaving them to it - five minutes down the track one of his dogs dashes past and grins up at me. It takes a few minutes to chase it back up the track but eventually it disappears around a corner with ears back and tail down. I continue on my way periodically checking over my shoulder to make sure it has gone.

15 minutes later I hear a noise and there it is again, trotting along at my heels. Ah well, I figure I can tie it up at the road end but I'm not backtracking to them now.

Coming down the hill to the Otaki swing bridge I come across a jogger and dog coming in - I find myself trying to control someone else's dog from getting involved with another someone else's dog. I explain the situation and she agrees to let the hunters know what's happened when she sees them.

The dog keeps trotting ahead including over the swing bridge but on the way up the other side I hear whistling and shouting from way behind at the top of the bank opposite. This time I manage to chase the dog off far enough that he hears his master's voice and disappears for good. I continue to the car alone.

At 2.45 on a mild and dry afternoon I'm back at the carpark watching the WTMC organise itself into two vans after a rafting trip. I leave them to it and head for home.

Postscript

When I was planning the trip I thought I had 79 spot heights left - but then I discovered two I had missed counting and knocked of one of those plus three others - I think that makes 77 to go. But better get some boots before attempting them I guess.

Tauherenikau Gorge Track

I've been putting it off - a selection of spot heights in one of the more gorse invested corners of the forest park.

When you drive over the Remutaka Hill Road you may (or may not) cast an eye north at the opposite slopes and wonder what's behind them. They are part of the Tararua Forest Park, but it's a bit of an outcast - a ridge defined by the Tauherenikau river as it veers sharp left towards the Wairarapa. The north faces have some decent bush but a lot of it is regenerating - so it's tough travel.

Today I'm intending to explore the toe of the ridge where the Tauherenikau River retires to the plains.


What:     Spot heighting nav trip
Where:   Above Tauherenikau Gorge
Who:      Solo
When:    Monday 22 October 2018
Map

Underhill Road runs north east from Featherston, between the railway and the hills. It turns into Bucks Road and eases around the toe of the ridge to a stop at Bucks Road Campsite. At 10.30 it's a late start on a sunny day.

Bucks Road Campsite

There are a few marked tracks although not much in the way of signage that I can see. I overshoot my turn and come to a grassy clearing on a terrace above a bend in the river. Across the river is the Taits Stream valley and possibly Mt Reeves on the horizon.

Retracing my steps to a stream I bash up slope to join the Tauherenikau Gorge track. It zigzags up the hill then sidles on a good bench with a view over a section of the river that is in the process of turning itself into an oxbow. 

Tauherenikau River, Tait's Stream valley beyond

The first order of business is to follow a long spit of land to a lone spot height above a bend in the river.

At the last moment before leaving home I chucked in a pair of those cotton gloves with rubber hands - they are heavier (hotter) than I would like but I drag them on as it looks like they might be useful.

There are signs that there was once a trail and in places an old fence. It's more manuka and regenerating bush than gorse now and not rapid travel. At 11.40 I'm sitting at spot 198 with no view.

198

Half an hour later I'm back at the saddle on the gorge track. I figure I'll just bash up the 180m to the track on the ridge line. Not the smartest choice. Tight manuka and scrub gives way to tight gorse and it takes almost 1 hour 20 before I'm lying sweating, bleeding and panting in a shady corner on the ridge track. My sleeves are dotted with blood and I am very glad to have those gloves.

It's 1.30 and still just one spot height down for the day.

Really is past time to get new boots ...

The ridge line track has orange markers and follows a grassy corridor through scrub. It runs past Mt Frith and all the way to the Remutaka  road summmit. It is in need of a little TLC but is not too bad. Today there are views north to the ridges around Tauherenikau (889) and west up the Tauherenikau valley.

Looking up Tauherenikau Valley

On approaching pt 505 I discover the map doesn't match the track (or vice versa). The map shows the route joining an old 4WD track and traveling over the top of 505. On the ground the track sidles just below the ridge line to the north. I bash up slope and discover the 4WD track, it's completely gorse clogged. After a bit of thrashing around I bag 505 and turn my sights to 386 which is down a side spur. It's 2.30 and in this country I'm starting to get conscious of daylight and water.

The navigation from 505 to 386 is tricky and it's high scrub degenerating into gorse in the approach to 386. By the time I arrive arrive it's 3.45, my water is low and I'm exhausted.

View from 386

I don't know about you, but I've whistled through Featherston often enough but never given much thought to where the Tauherenikau River runs after it leaves the ranges (apart from crossing it near the race course). From this angle it cuts a wide shingle swathe across the plains with a very small railway bridge in the middle distance.

After a long rest I decide I can't bear the thought of forcing my way back up that slope. The bush in the gully looks a little higher so I angle down and around the slope aiming to pick up the track north east of 505.  With a bit of luck there will be some water on the way.

It's hard to say if it was easier or not - let's just concede it wasn't the same scrub as before. And I did find a trickle buried in windfall to slowly fill my camelback.

It takes an hour and a quarter to crawl and crash up through the scrub to the track. At 5.02pm the day is getting short but I console myself that it is mostly downhill now. I'm also hoping that there might be a trail when I leave the track again for 318. No chance - more gorse and scrub.

I'm ducking and crawling through high scrub when the end of a dead branch finds the gap above my glasses and embeds itself into my left eye. It's agony, I drag the piece of  wood out (probably a silly move) and curse through gritted teeth. An exploratory probe indicates the eyeball hasn't exploded and the offending timber has been removed. Nothing to be done then but keep going with a visual limp.

I've slightly overshoot the side spur to 318 and have to backtrack a little. Fortunately it is low gorse and grass up to the knob so relatively benign. The sun has just set behind the ridge and I climb back into the last of it as I approach the knob. 6.35pm.





From 318

The carpark doesn't look that far away. But there is a thick band of gorse before I can get into the higher bush in the gully. I crash down until I can finally walk unmolested. At the bottom comes the final indignity; swampy flats covered in blackberry. I eventually find a way through without loosing too much more blood. As I scrunch along the gravel licking my wounds the call of a cuckoo carries on the still air. My first confirmed 'sighting' of the year - not such a bad end to the day.

After this trip the tally stands at 79 spots to go. There's another day or two in this neck of the woods though which I am not looking forward to.

East Tararua clean out

So the plan is to visit four road ends and complete a final mop up of the remaining spot-heights in the Eastern Tararuas between Kaipororo (near Mt Bruce) to Featherston.  These are mostly in the foothills - that marginal land hovering on the edge of the forest park. Somewhat prone to gorse and scrub but generally not as bad as you find further north.

The weather forecast is miserable with a southerly front forecast - but there's no open tops or rivers to contend with so I'm just expecting to get a bit cold and wet. And even that will be transitory as the plan involves staying in the comfort of brother number one's place.

What:    Navigation, spot-heighting daytrips

When:   13-14 October

Where:  Blue Range and Waiohine

Who:     Solo

 

Roadend 1: Ruamahanga

At 7.10am I climb the style by the "No hunting, dogs will be shot" sign. It's grey with a cloud ceiling hovering around 900m.  Occasionally a flake of snow drifts out of the sky and the bush above 800m has a white dusting. It's not warm.

North end of Blue Range filling the nip

It's a bit of a boring potter along farm tracks for a start.  I stop to disentangle a sheep with it's head stuck through a mesh fence - it's been there for a while judging by the churned up mud.  It's not hard to get it out - all it really needed to do was find reverse.  It trots off with it's lamb in tow.
 

Lambing is well underway and may explain the sign on the gate. It also means a bit more care moving around the farm.

The track pops over a spur then traverses farmed flats before hitting the bush edge (and a private hut). Four deer startle from about 50m away and trot rapidly away shortly after I hit the flats. A few minutes later I see movement on a scrubby face and see another herd, they emerge one by one from the scrub - they've seen me and are wary but regroup before moving off up the face. 6 becomes 8 and then 12. Still they keep popping out of the scrub until I've counted 26.  I wait for a couple of minutes but that's all. I think the farmer needs to rethink his no hunting policy.

The huts mark the transition from farmland with a bit of scrub, to scrubland with a bit of grass. Three more deer trot off and hurdle a fence as I round a corner.

Nameless stream

The bush gets thicker until finally the park boundary and real bush.  It's pleasant going and the rain is still holding off.

Navigation is easy for the moment - I'm heading for the stream that drains the valley below Blue Range Hut - it's big and impossible to mistake. It's 8.40 and I take a few minutes to sit and study the map for the next bit.

Just before the Blue Range Hut stream

The climb is a bit scrappy across rotting forest floor for a bit but then gets drier and more open.  There may be a bit of trail but not so as you'd notice.

The first spot height for the day (9.25am) is also where I see the first dusting of snow on the ground.  At 635m it is lower than I was expecting. It gets steadily thicker as I climb. It's about now that I remember that the holes in my left boot make them less than desirable snow attire. The ground ferns have soon covered my lower extremities in cold slush.

The snow starts as a dusting, then clumps on the ferns with the ground still dark, then coats the sticks on the ground forming a black and white matrix, before finally creating a solid white layer. I stop taking photos before I reach the ridge as the southerly makes the top a far from pleasant place to linger. It's about 10.20am.

635

More snow

And more ...

Getting towards the top

Starting to get cold feet

The snow is not deep on the ground yet but I'm not about to wait around so navigate to my spur and a route down to the next spot.

 

There is a bit of pink tape but it's hard to see and I lose it shortly after dropping off spot 875. I rely on the compass to get me down to a large forested plateau where I nominally call that I've reached spot 618. This is the last one for this part of the trip. 

I'm well below the snow now and strangely reluctant to climb back into it to try to navigate to the north end of Blue Range. Instead, I bash downwards until I connect with a farm track and navigate a tortuous route through freezing rain around the toe of the range to the official track from earlier in the morning. A curious herd of young beef decide I'm more interesting than standing around in the rain and take some discouraging to stop trailing along behind.

By the time I've scrambled in and out of scrub and gullys and climbed farm tracks the sun is starting to put in an appearance.  I wouldn't say I was dry by the time I get to the car at 1.35pm but I'm a sight more cheerful than 3 hours ago.

Back at the car - a different day



Cleaning out the north end of Blue Range

Road end 2: Mikimiki

I decide to push daylight and head to the Mikimiki road end - it's probably going to be a longer walk than Kiriwhakapapa but it will give me a fighting chance of getting the two shorter trips done on Sunday.

The sun is still breaking through when I leave at 2.10pm.  The track is an old logging tramway so it's a solid base and easy going.  There's an extra bridge that's not on my map but I work out the correct one and head off track.

There are indications that people have been through, and I suspect a tramway or old road may have come in here. At one point an old rusted cable is wound around a large tree.

I find my spur and clamber up slope to the ridge. So far it's good forest (with some exotics mixed in), and easy, albeit cold and wet, going. As usual  there is a bit of a trail along the ridge although not what you'd call strong. It doesn't take long before the forest breaks up into scrub and then patchy pasture. A little before 4pm I've climbed out of the saddle and have views of where I've come from, of the Waingawa River to the south and of cloud on the ridges above.

Looking back along the ridge

Down the Ruamahanga
Holdsworth road end behind saddle on left

It's good going now following farm tracks around ridges and up to the high point for this section: Dagg.  The map is a bit uncertain about vegetation and where tracks run but it all turns out to be easy to the top.

From the top I find a 4WD track down but can't find a marked side track.  A bit of bush bashing and I'm soon in regenerating scrub with enough grassy patches to wend a way down. Across the valley the two final knobs for the day are basking in bright afternoon sun.

The old trail is still there and takes me on a zigazag course across the face, into a gully and dense forest. I cross the stream and climb to spots 560 then 600; breaking into scrub again on the way up.

The trails are in the process of disappearing - you can generally find them on the ground but some are being dropped off the later map versions.  From 600 the trail is somewhat overgrown but still quick going and it looks like hunters use it. The are views across the valley north to the points I intend to explore tomorrow above Kiriwhakapapa.




South from near 600 to the face I came down
A bit of a Dagg above

Tomorrow's business in the middle distance (615 and 613)

The track abruptly drops onto steep hillside pasture. This is a block of land we looked at buying a few years back with the idea of turning it back to bush on the boundary of the forest park. It looks like it didn't sell as the farmer is still running stock on it. I walked over enough of it at the time to know the quickest way to the bottom and the car.

It's 5.40pm on a clear sunny afternoon.  I head for Carterton arriving just in time to shower and decamp to the Wairarapa Deerstalkers annual prize giving and auction. But that's another story.

Final wander down to the car

Saturday arvo wander - part of Sunday at the top

Road end 3: Kiriwhakapapa

In the morning I have a fairly leisurely get up.  It's a beautiful morning - the expanse of horizon visible from the house makes the rising sun look small.  There's a light frost across the Wairarapa.

Janne, horrified at the idea of me putting on soaking kit in the morning has prevailed - even scrub pants are now bone dry after a night in front of the fire.

It's 8.40 by the time I leave the Kiriwhakapapa road end. Mist is curling off the grass and a lone camper van is drowsing in the sun.
.
I head straight off the track and up the hill. I'm exploring a sort of island; separated from the park by the Old Tramway Track between Kirikiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki road ends. There's no trail apart from a few very old bits of red tape. A bit of scrub on the upper reaches is of a more benign sort - a lot of animals have been wandering around up here. The map underestimates the amount of clearings though - scrub and gorse are taking over.

Clearing on the way up - weather coming in from the south

By the time I get to the top (9.50am) the temperature has dropped and rain is blowing in from the south. The going speeds up though as there is a large bulldozed track along the ridge. Frequent goat bones suggest someone comes up here shooting.

Whakapapa (735) - looking towards 725
The weather has arrived

It's less than 10 minutes to the next knob (725). Unfortunately the track heads off towards the Mikimiki road end. I bash 200m down a steep scrubby face into mixed bush. It's a little tricky but in the saddle I hit a not so old fence with an overgrown trail beside it. This leads up and over 613 and 615.

These two spots don't look like they are in the park but I'm a bit suspicious about the file I was looking at so chucked them into the trip just in case.  They also make an elegant loop trip to the saddle on the old tram track between the two road ends.

At 613 I whistle past where I should turn off and have to back track and take a bearing.  I'm soon on a gently shelving ridge top in tall forest. I know when I'm just about on the track whey I see a plastic container tucked into a hole in a tree - a geocache.  Five metres later I'm on the track. It's 11.20 and a little later than I thought I would be so I trot out to the car taking just under 20 minutes..




Sunday morning loop (Saturday arvo at bottom)

 

Road end 4: Waiohine

The day is clearing again and the roads are dry as I head for the Waiohine road end. There are plenty of cars in the park at 12.45.

The river is clear and the sun is shining as I trot across the swing bridge. This should be a straight out slog up the track, climb the knob and straight out again.  I haven't been along the track for many years though and am surprised how much work has been put into it.  There's quite a few scrambly bits across steep crumbly slopes but overall it's in good nick despite it being the tail end of winter.

I idly wonder whether there will be many people on the track, then click that this is the exact time that overnighters at Totara Flats Hut will be heading out - half to Holdsworth and half to Waiohine.  Sure enough I see 14 people on the way in. It's a bit weird having to share the outdoors with other people.

I keep a good pace up as I intend to make a dinner appointment in Tawa - the tail end of the southerly chucks the odd shower through but just as much sun. There's no navigation needed for a start: follow track to cone saddle intersection, cross bridge, climb spur.

It takes an hour to get to Makaka Stream. The spur turns out to be steep for a start and no tracks that I can see. It takes me up to an impressive plateau in mature forest.  My altimeter has drifted (probably as the front has passed) so I head to the next climb before I'm prepared to accept that I'm there. 

It's a slightly unsatisfactory end to my eastern Tararua spot heights (more on this below) - the plateau is impressive but doesn't really have a spot you can sit on and say - this is it. However, I wander across enough of it to consider it well and truly bagged before plunging back down slope. The mucking around means it's 3pm before I get back to the stream.

Is this it??

I come out bang on the bridge and motor back to the road end. Two hunters coming in (probably for a morning shoot on Totara Flats) are the only traffic. I manage to keep the same pace taking an hour to get out by 4pm.

For the second day in a row I'm out in time to get home for a rapid shower and head out for dinner. It's been a bit of a busy weekend but, with a bit of an effort, I manage to keep my end of the conversation up before heading home for a good sleep.

Mostly on-track for a change 

Postscript

On studying the maps afterwards I make the horrific discovery that I missed a spot. 432 near the Kiriwhakapapa road end is marked as being in the forest park on the edge of farmland. I am pretty confident though that it is covered in gorse with no grass in sight. Buggrit - will have to keep for another day.  By my count - 83 spots left to visit with 40 of them being in the northern Tararuas.

Ruahine trapping - again

WTMC have trapping lines in the Northern Ruahines (Makororo catchment).  There's some whio in the area and the trapping aims to keep mustelids (weasels and stoats) to numbers where the ducks can breed.

Periodically my name comes up to lend a hand and it's nice to get out and do some 'tramping with a purpose' (other than the perfectly acceptable purpose of having fun and getting covered in scratches).  This weekend however, one of the hands in question is a bit dodgy on account of having been smashed against a tree sometime in the previous weekend. 

Handling the traps requires a little bit of brute force and dexterity so I'm a bit worried that I'll be a liability, but decide that with only three on the trip I can't leave the team in the lurch.


What:    WTMC trapping trip
Where:   Upper Makororo - Northern Ruahines
When:    6-7 October 2018
Who:     Matt, Katy, me
Map:

Matt and I get away early (4pm) for the five hour drive. We manage the complicated navigation instructions and arrive in the dark about 9pm. Sentry Box Hut is empty and we quickly settle in to be briefly woken when Katy (team leader) arrives from Taupo about an hour later.

It's a relaxed start in the morning; emerging from pits at 7.30 - an unheard of lie-in. But Katy is in charge and we figure she knows what she's doing. Once up and fed we divvy up the group kit and set out on the first order of business - a bracing 700m climb to the ridge line. It's calm but starts raining lightly on the way up - and that pretty much sums up the weather for the day.

Given my hand and Katy and I both wanting to do the A24 line for the first time, we split at the ridge. Matt heads left for Parks Peak then down to Upper Makororo Hut for a there-and-back trip up the Totara Spur trap line. Katy and I turn right and start checking and rebaiting the DOC 200 traps along the ridge (these are the wooden boxes with a steel crush trap inside).

The baits are shredded rabbit and look a little like squares of fudge - if the fudge had hair, bone and teeth in it.

I quickly discover that despite having to do the fiddly and brute force bits with my left hand, I am more than quick enough and can hold up my end of the work. Katy is aiming to climb Aoraki in December so is fit and we whistle along at a good rate. We find two varmints - either wee stoats or big weasels.

The best sort of mustelid

We stop at Aranga hut (derelict and a bit manky) around midday for a bite. At this point we click that Katy's watch is still on pre-daylight saving time. Hence the leisurely start and, from now, the need to watch we don't run out of daylight.

On the tops we find the odd wee bit of snow sheltering in the lee of scrub and, although claggy, visibility is about 100m. We follow the map and instructions to trap 97 where we have to veer off the track and onto a spur. Fears that the intersection will be tricky are unfounded as we quickly find a trail of pink ribbons that lead off the flat top, and around onto the spur. We start descending through high grass between low density beech trees. 

The first A24 is on the bushline and we check it together to compare notes. It's pretty straight forward: open the top and check the bait (clean and clear as needed), trigger the trap, replace and date the cylinder if needed, reassemble, and record any gas replacement before heading for the next trap. Any carcasses are scavenged so there are no kills to record although there is sometimes some remains that indicate the traps are doing something.

The vegetation on the spur is interesting - there are large areas of rigger growth with dense saplings of similar age - possibly indicating a historic storm or fire or ... The spur top is often broad without an obvious crest but the trap line is well ribboned so we don't miss any traps.

A pause for a bite in beautiful totara forest and we are joined by whiteheads, a bush robin and a warbler. This is what it's all about!

The bottom of the spur dumps us rapidly down to the stream - I manage not to go A over K despite dodgy wrist and boots.

The traps continue down stream at 100m intervals. I'm quicker over the boulders so check most of the traps while Katy catches up. It's a pretty valley with a few deepish pools that would be nice on a hot day. We don't see any whio though.

Katy shows how it's done

It's late afternoon by the time we get to the hut - somewhat soggy but happy to have knocked off 55 A24s and 35 DOC 200s. Matt turns up a little later much to my relief as I wasn't really wanting to head off up the spur to look for him.

A green curry from the WTMC recipe book serves well for dinner (nicer than dehy), and we turn in as dark falls. Another good nights sleep as there are no snorers in our party.

The morning starts with a climb again. I take the baits and keep ahead of the other two; checking and baiting up to the ridgeline and Parks Peak Hut. My light weight pack is certainly paying off.

We regroup once on the way up and again at the hut. The trip along the ridgeline is quick and we just manage to husband our baits to complete the line.

Arriving Parks Hut

We take the descent at a careful pace and there are even views for a change.

Matt provides foreground interest at Rocky Knoll
Wakarara Range in the distance

At Sentry Box Hut we sort gear into the appropriate places and head for the cars - clean clothes and time to say good-bye to Katy. Getting away before 1pm means it's an easy trip home arriving in daylight.

Despite my initial concerns my wrist stood up to the abuse and my boots didn't let me down in front of others.