Pohangina - top gorge hut

A third weekend to explore a little further afield in the Ruahines. This time with the sights a little further north.

The terrain is still not familiar, so trip planning is solely based on covering a reasonable selection of landscape rather than any strategic goals such as huts, spots, or rivers.

I have my eye on where the Oroua River exits the range in the west. There are two road ends close together (Limestone Road and the one just to the north that leads to Alice Nash Memorial Hut), they offer plenty of scope for weekend loop trips. 

The plan is to get into the headwaters of the Pohangina River where the Ngamoko and Ruahine Ranges come together - there's a few huts in the area and it's mostly tops or marked tracks. 

Oh yeah - and my watch batteries have gone flat so I'm without the altimeter which should teach me to be a bit less lazy with my navigation.

What:     Tramp

Where:   Limestone Road - Top Gorge Hut Pohangina River

When:    12-13 October 2019

Who:      Solo

Maps

Up before 5am and on the road - I'm expecting about a two and a half hour drive and two fullish days tramping. As it turns out, it takes more like three hours and I think East Pohangina Valley Road wasn't the quickest route. Still, it's a lovely drive albeit long and windy. 

There's a large and empty carpark at the end of Limestone Road where I kit up and head off across farmland in bright sun at 8.45. The track dives into forest on an old farm (or logging) track which drops to Makiekie Stream before climbing on single track to a terrace. A wide and well formed track then meanders through beautiful, mature rimu and beech forest.

At the first marked intersection I turn right and sidle through forest and clearings until the track takes a sharp left and starts a gentle climb (it looks like a track heads right and I note there is a hut marked nearby, but probably out of the park). The slope steepens and the occasional view spot is an excuse to get my breath back. The most notable event is what I think is my first cuckoo of the year - there was just one rising shriek and no other calls all weekend so I can't be sure.

The next marked intersection gives the option of dropping down to Makiekie creek to complete a loop or heading up Shorts Track to the ridge. A sign indicates 1hr 30 to the carpark the way I've come - it's taken 50 minutes uphill so the allowance is generous.

Occasionally there's a post by the track with a letter or number on it. I assume there is some exercise associated with these but they are pretty old and there's no obvious explanation.

I potter on up with the sun coming and going and wisps of clag drifting across the ridge. There's little wind.

The slope eases well before the top with a section bordering on boggy. Old warratahs mark the way to an equally old rain gauge at the top. Although there is no sign, the ground trail is pretty clear and there isn't an obvious trail continuing south down the range (the old maps show one) so it should be ok to find your way down this way in low vis. I stop to admire the view between drifts of cloud before heading north towards Toka. It's still calm and a little after 10.30 - about 1hr 45 from the carpark.

North from the top of Shorts Track

More signs mark the top of Knights Track (the other way up and a good loop track option) and a short time afterwards Toka (1519m and a little before 11.20). Although a trig is marked on the map there isn't much of it left. A couple of wee patches of snow are nestled near a tarn to the east of the peak.

Top of Knight's Track

Toka

Sign marking the route north of Toka

The clag comes and goes and although visibility is seldom below about 100m, the surrounding features are mostly invisible.

A weaker foot trail drops into the saddle north of Toka then climbs to a knob above the spur to Toka Biv. I'm doing ok for time (11.50) so decide to head down to check out the biv. Three old warratahs mark the top of the spur.

The clag has closed in so I take a bearing (no ground trail apparent) and set off through the tussock and past a wee cairn. A spur soon forms and I pick up a foot trail. The trail comes and goes but the best bet is to follow the bearing and stick to the spur. I drop a bit too far left and have to scramble back onto line through grass and low scrub. If you stick to the sharpest part of the spur with the gully to your right the foot trail will reappear.

Knob where to depart for Toka Biv

The slope eases and the trail sidles on the south side of a wee knob. Soon after, the spur drops again towards the marked plateau. The hut comes into view tucked into the hill at the west side of a basin with tarns. The trail has faded again and I make the mistake of making directly down slope for the hut - the route degenerates into scrub. The better route is to keep following the spur until it flattens and a warratah marks where the trail drops left into the basin.

Toka view - Basin with Biv to the left

I scramble out of the scrub just above the toilet at 12.15. And what a toilet it is.




Toka loo

Toka loo view

A short distance away the biv is tucked into the leatherwood. It's weather beaten and I've heard that DOC is no longer maintaining it - it looks like it. Still, it's a sheltered spot for lunch and to study the map. The last visitors were in May.

Inside, there are signs of damp but the two mattresses seem ok and a large plastic bin is keeping the log book and a few other essentials dry.

The location is superb. The hut sits in a natural amphitheatre - it probably doesn't have much of a view (hard to tell today) but there is a sense of seclusion and isolation.

I take a bit more care on the way up and find there is a trail pretty much all the way up the most obvious part of the spur. At the top it's 1.20 so I've spent an hour and a half on my lunch diversion but I'm happy to have taken the time and effort.

The clag is continuing to come and go but it's still calm. The ridge gets a but more lumpy through the next section with one knob on the approach to Tunupo requiring a bit of a scramble (there may have been a bypass on the east but I stuck with the direct line).

Tunupo (1568m - 2.20pm) is at the top of the track up from Alice Nash Memorial Hut. I expect the next section to be reasonably well traveled and am not surprised to see a bit of a foot trail develop. There are stoat traps every 100m or so which are useful for gauging progress.

The ridge is more benign now with gentle ups and downs, the cloud lifts enough to show snow on the tops of the Whanahuia Range (to the north) and the ridge ahead. I had a mild concern that with the visibility and the rolling slopes I might overshoot my turn off - however there is a sign close by the highest point so you should be able to find it in all but the very worst weather.

It's 3.10 pm and I take a moment to sit and plot my next move. I figure if I can get to the hut by 5pm then I'll stick to plan and continue to Longview Hut.

There's no discernible foot trail on the flat face that the sign points down so I take another bearing and set off into the clag. It's a couple of hundred meters before the gentle slope starts to steepen and I can finally see that I am actually on the spur. After that it is pretty straight forward. The tussock and scrub soon give way to intermittent trees, before the track finally dives into forest.

The spur emerges from the clag

The track starts dropping into forest 

The track hasn't been cleared for a long time and is pretty rough in places. There's plenty of cutty grass and I'm having to be careful with my footing. I see colour and movement ahead and get nervous that I might be creeping up on hunters - it turns out to be a couple of trampers navigating gingerly down.

It's good timing as, shortly after we meet, the track flattens then starts angling left off the spur. The foot trail is difficult to pick and the DOC markers become notable by their absence. Six eyes means we manage to mostly follow the route but it isn't easy on a mucky slope with little effective marking - in the end I give up and just bash straight down to the river.

The river is small enough that I can skip through with dry socks to the hut, which is through some saplings and up a little on a terrace. As I arrive a bit of drizzle sets in - 4.10ish.

Top Gorge Hut is a four bunker that has been done up. It has a concrete floor and a fireplace rather than a log burner but has been beautifully lined out with some nice finishing touches like a mantelpiece. The two other trampers are close behind as I settle in for a snack and fill out the log - I'm within my time window so I note my intention to head up stream to climb to Longview Hut.

The others are in one of the local tramping clubs and have been resetting traps on the way across from the road end by Alice Nash Memorial Hut. They agree about the state of the track from the ridge (if it's marked on the map the track markers should be maintained) and had the same short period of uncertainty coming off the tops to find the spur down.

I'm flicking through the log and note that Jean Garman has been through and comment that I've seen her name in plenty of log books here and in the Tararuas (usually written with a sparkly pen) - there's an amused snort from the chap who points out that Jean is, in fact in the hut.

I'm tickled to finally meet her and to acknowledge the work she has done in maintaining huts (regular clean up trips to Mangahao Flats to name just one). I've also found plenty of trip reports from her in their club newsletter when I've been researching trips - indicating that she has both a spirit of adventure and supports others to get involved. And she helps out with SAR and whio protection - what a legend!

I'm starting to regret my decision to head to Longview for the night. I'm aware of two routes from here to the Ruahine Range and, based on some internet descriptions, am a little uncertain about the difficulty of my chosen route via the headwaters. Adam and Jean dispel the concerns then point out that there is a third way which is closer and quicker. My plan immediately changes - I'll stay here the night and pop up to the ridge in the morning - Longview can keep for another day. This means I can take advantage of their considerable experience in the Ruahines.

There's a wide ranging conversation during the evening, assisted in small part by a cup of the home made mango wine that Adam has lugged in.

In the morning we say good bye about 7.45 and I find my way to the biodiversity track up to the ridge. DOC is reasonably keen that people don't follow these trails or confuse them with tramping tracks. It's good advice as they will often not go where you expect them to or suddenly stop - and sometimes the trail will be of variable quality to say the least.

It looks like someone has been through to cut the trail reasonably recently, it takes me through mature forest and then, unmolested, through the leatherwood belt.  On the way up there are a few windows out to a mostly sunny morning and across to Ngamoko Range where I came along yesterday.

Animals clearly use the route and I find a leatherwood trunk that shows neat chew marks of varying ages. I hadn't really thought of it as a palatable species.

The trail breaks into low scrub then takes a surprisingly long time to meander over the rounded top of the ridge and to the track - 8.30.

This is another wide swathe with traps at regular intervals. I note a few have been triggered but they are screwed down too tight for me to open with my fingers. I turn south along the lumps and saddles through intermittent clag and sunshine.

Random rock  - all of about 1m high

There's a section where the track needs a little bit of TLC but only one point where the route is not so clear: it drops from forest across an open shingle area and the marker has disappeared where it re-enters the bush - in the clag it takes a moment to find the right line but no dramas.

At 9.15 I reach the track that drops to Makaretu Hut, and then again at 9.55, then the Ngamoko turnoff at 1020. The second Makaretu track is not on my map and looks like an old route (more about that on my next trip). I note that DOC has changed the time estimates on some of the signs.

Makaretu 1

Makaretu 2

Track to Ngamoko Road

Back (north) along the ridge the clag is drifting up from the east but the west is clear.

After Ngamoko Road, the track sidles then drifts down through scrub before dropping sharply down a spur to Leon Kinvig Hut, arriving a bit before 11.

Another tidy hut on a terrace just above the river. With some nearby flats it's a perfect setting with the sun streaming down. I take the time for a spot of lunch and browse through the log before ambling across the river in bare feet. The log has plenty of reports of whio sightings and notes from people that have traveled the gorges up and down river.

Hut out of sight across river

A large triangle marks where to scramble on to a steep spur which climbs quickly away from the river. The track gang has been through here too so there's no undergrowth to contend with. With time in hand I just quietly grind out the climb. Once the track clears the bush the remaining amount of the 700 odd metre climb to Toka is all to apparent.

The view up

The view down

This time I have a bit of a view from Toka, about 1hr 45 from the bottom. Not before playing about on a small patch of snow though.

Northish

A few minutes later (1.30) I'm back at the intersection with Knight's track and this time follow the route down.

This time with some backdrop

Down Knight's track

It's hot enough that I'm quite pleased when the trail finally drops into forest. It's steep in places but a good track.

At 870m the track drops off the side of the spur and gets a little mucky before popping out into a clearing by the Makiekie stream - this would be a perfect lunch spot for a day walk.

The track out from here is wide and easy. I potter along to the intersection with Shorts Track where I rejoin my route in from yesterday.

A veritable highway

It has taken a bit under an hour and a half from the ridge when I wander into the carpark a bit before 3pm. This time I follow the road through Apiti and Kimbolton before nicking across to Ashurst via Colyton - easier than the road I came up but I suspect still not the quickest route around Palmerston North.

Home by 6pm despite it being the end of the school holidays, not bad.

Postscript

A useful road end and a good weekend loop (or figure of 8). The tracks from the road end are good and well signed. the tops route is less travelled from Toka to Tunupo but only the one challenging wee scramble just before Tunupo as noted. The diversion to Toka Biv is less used with a couple of spots where the ground trail is easy to lose - it's worth a visit though (it would be tempting to follow the spur to the river but I couldn't find a reference to anyone doing this online and didn't want to risk the scrub).

North from Tunupo is good going with a sign to indicate the track to Top Gorge Hut. Note that finding the spur can be a trick in low visibility and the track down the spur is pretty rough in places - particularly at the bottom where it leaves the spur top and the markers dry up.

Top Gorge Hut is solid - I imagine it could be a bit cold with an open fire and concrete floor. There are three routes from here to Ruahine Range - two are described on various websites, the third is a newer Biodiversity trail.

Good travel along the Ruahine Range back to Leon Kinvig - again, well signposted. The climb out from Leon is steep whichever way you are travelling.

Despite traveling on tracks just the two others seen for the weekend - and great that one of them was Jean (not denigrating Adam in anyway - it's just that I recognised her name).