Remutaka - Pylon Track

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remutaka hill road

Pakuratahi

Other side of the Remutaka road

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Angela in the wilderness

Lake Wairarapa with some foreground

Heading back from pt 712 - contending with the wind

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

Still looking down on the hill road

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

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

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

Post script

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

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

A Sunday road ride

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

Between the first and second puncture

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

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

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

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

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

Kaipaitangata

This weekend I have my eye on another stream in the eastern Tararuas - Kaipaitangata.  It's a pretty nondescript looking corner between the Waiohine ridge (above Totara flats) to the west, Mangaterere and Holdsworth to the north, Mt Dick to the south and the scrappy farm and forested foot hills of the Wairarapa. It also happens to be the source of Carterton's water supply. I swear I am not going out of my way to paddle in people's drinking water but when you think about it, it's somewhat inevitable.




Large scale

Many communities in the Wellington region rely on drinking water supply catchments in (or bordering) forest parks. Indeed, the four cities in greater Wellington would be somewhat screwed if they couldn't - the Hutt, Wainuiomata and Orongorongo catchments providing the bulk of their water.

In the not so distant old days, water supplies from bush catchments were often not treated. Initially, public health risks may not have been as well recognised or understood, but affordable treatment technology continued to be a barrier for smaller communities until relatively recently. Some still being untreated late in the 20th century due to cost (and probably a degree of denial).

During the first half of the 20th century the tendency was to manage risk by excluding the public from the catchment, but as treatment technology became more affordable restrictions tended to be relaxed. The recognition, however, remains enshrined in the public health drinking water grading system that catchment use restrictions provide another barrier to contamination. As a result, the upper Wainuiomata and Orongorongo rivers are still fiercely sign posted and, in places fenced - and recreational users are firmly requested not to over-night in the Hutt River catchments in the southern Tararuas.

Catchment land was often owned by the Forestry Service or a local authority (remember Water Boards before the CIA got hold of the term?). Catchments were also often significant access points into forest parks and introducing restrictions could create tensions between recreational users and health and water authorities.

Kaipaitangata Stream, where water is drawn for Carterton, is a case in point. In the 1950s the Health Department was apparently insistent that where the community could not afford treatment the public should be excluded from the catchment. For Kaipaitangata it meant re-routing the track to Sayers Hut (near Totara Flats). I discover afterwards that Tararua Footprints refers to the old route and some of my trip coincides with it.

If you want to read more about similar issues around developing tramping tracks there's a book by Pete McDonald. But for now, it should be sufficient to explain why there are a couple of gates and a sign suggesting this is not a place you should be.

Incidentally, the other things Google throws up about Kaipaitangata is that the Council is looking at establishing a manuka plantation for honey instead of pines - not surprising given they lost money on the harvest from the pine block.  I can't find any explanation for the name.

What:    One day nvigation trip and spot-heighting
Where:  Kaipaitangata Stream catchment
When:   18 November 2017
Who:     Solo
Map:   

Close up

It's a little after 7am under gloomy skies as I park the car near the first gate at the bottom of the access road to Mt Dick. There's a ute there already and dog prints in the gravel indicating someone has got up earlier than me. Hopefully they're not trigger happy.

Although it is supposed to be a day trip I have packed for an over-nighter as I have suspicions that it could be quite scrubby and slow going.

And there's a big gate around the corner that backs it up

The track - a bit mixed

Past the second gate the stream curves around the foot of a spur running north to pt 605 where an old map shows a logging track. Although it has dropped off the recent editions, it's still there albeit a bit overgrown in places. A large mob of goats (10+) scatter up the track ahead of me.

Across the gully to the west another spur leads up - in retrospect, I suspect it is the route of the old Sayers track.  I hear some gun shots from that direction at one point.

The vegetation isn't pretty: pines and scrub although some sprays of white flowers do their best to provide interest. The periodic views are equally uninspiring - the back of Mt Dick's head, cut over pine blocks and scrubby ridges.

It takes about 1 hr 15 to get to pt 605 where there is nothing to see but an old tape marker and more scrub. A light drizzle starts.









The intended route is somewhat convoluted, dropping into wee saddles and zig zagging to follow the ridge top. At 605 I take a bearing to find my way to the next saddle but as I go a ground trail becomes firmer. It becomes easy to lose in the frequent scrubby sections but in many places it looks like at some point in the past it has had a lot of foot traffic (this is probably after I join the old Sayers route).

Clag has gathered around the hills making the navigation trickier.

Down the spur toward the Wairarapa,
the back of Mt Dick's head on the right

Someone has been here before

As the morning progresses the vegetation gets better - from marginal regrowth around pines to scrub. There's an old fence at 605 perhaps indicating regenerating farm land. After 517 it's pretty much forest. I'm intending to pick up spot height 667 so drop through a slope of rotting logs and moss to a tiny stream. There's a steep climb out to reach a long flat ridge top and point 667. Here there is a good ground trail indicating that hunters may come up from the Mangatarere Valley road end. An old but sharp hunting arrow caught in a tree confirms the hypothesis.

Pt 667 - another one down

Back on route, it's a steady climb through increasingly cold and wet clag to pt 810 on the ridge above Totara Flats. The last time I was here was the inaugural midwinter waiohine steeple chase. 

The view from Pt 810

It's midday and cold in the clag so with rain coat on I keep going - picking up the old trail along the ridge which has periodic markers and is reasonably well traveled. Towards Waiohine (pt 818) there's a bit of a clearing in the weather and I come across the pest control lines I saw last time. The stoat traps don't seem to be baited or set and I don't have a posidrive so am unable to rectify the situation. 

This time there is a bit of casting about required to find the top of the spur that runs down to 690 - there's no trails to speak of but I manage to find my way to the wee saddle and the knob. No views and unremarkable but you could probably drop into the upper Kaipaitangata if you were of a mind.

Looking NW from Waiohine - Cone ridge in the middle distance drops 
to the location of Totara Flats Hut. Sayers Creek runs away in foreground

The weather clears as I potter south along the ridge, the odd deer, rifleman and once a kaka wheeling overhead provide some distraction. The weather clears and there are a couple spots with views westward.

A bit of concentration is required to find a route to 445 and it doesn't look like anyone has bothered to follow the last steep scramble to the stream. It's not very big and as I turn to follow it out I wonder if it gets a bit of a stretch during a dry summer. In deference to the good Cartertonites I do my best to keep my feet out of what is destined to become their drinking water.

Carterton's watersupply

It's a pleasant wander down valley and the stream is pretty enough.  Prints indicate the hunter and dog from this morning have been up this way. About forty minutes later the headworks for the supply come into view and from there on it is an amble out on a gravel road. 

Upper water intake

Water works

It's 4.30 so I have plenty of light left when I reach the car and the afternoon is decidedly hot. I'm pleased to have got around without any significant navigation problems.  As expected the foothills have a lot of scrub but further up the forest is pleasant and appears to be fairly lightly frequented. It's an interesting alternative for getting to Totara Flats or even to follow the Waiohine ridge through to Holdsworth.  

Six new spot heights and some countryside that I would not otherwise have thought to visit.  A successful day.

Waiohine area part 2 - Beef Creek

Day two mopping up spot heights in the Waiohine gorge area begins with a leisurely breakfast at brother number one's home in Carterton. It's a little difficult summoning the resolve to leave the warmth for what I suspect the day will bring.

The planned foray is into a scrub infested corner of the forest park between the Waiohine road and Mt Dick. I am not expecting it to be pleasant at all - so, the question is why bother? The answer: an unusual concentration of six awkwardly located spot heights. 

What:   Navigation day trip

Where: Beef Creek

Who:    Solo

When:  15 October 2017

Why:    Tidy up some loose ends

Today's loop on the right - yesterday's efforts on the left

Looking across Beef Creek from Mt Dick the impression is of regenerating scrub with few patches of forest. I'm hoping that hunters have carved out a few routes because if they haven't there will be plenty of scratches and little enjoyment.

There's a wee layby below the Devil Creek ford. I park up and, around 8.20am, check out the creek, quickly deciding that this is not the best route. A detour up the road to a gate has me first passing an old shearing shed then up onto a sheep paddock via a handy style.

There's a farm track up to the next terrace at the foot of the spur - I scan the face for any sign of a track but can't see anything. However a gate is suggestive so I cast around and find an overgrown track to the left of the gate. Someone a while back has cleared a path along the track which zigs, zags and zigs up the face of the spur. It starts to rain.

There's a plateau at the top and a bit of a trail which I find and lose and find again. The rain settles in and it gets colder.

The scrub is in the process of shifting to bush so it's pretty dense to push through and in a rare few patches it's starting to open up under the canopy. But mostly it's just hard work and easy to lose the old trail. The rain strengthens and briefly changes to hail.

At the ridge top I'm hopeful of a cut track but no such luck. There's a very old fence line through the scrub and an old trail that comes and goes. It's not far to the spur I want to descend but hard to gauge location and progress so I overshoot - resorting to climbing a tree to get my bearings. Back at the correct spot a bearing takes me to the spur and it's encouraging to see some old bait bags stapled to trees - someone has been here before ... some time ago. Another positive development is the rain easing.

It's a tricky descent. The spur is complex and the trail is mostly illegible. Somehow though I drop into a clearing in the saddle before a short climb to 317. Three spots down for the day.

I head north to follow the spur down to a junction on the creek, there's no real trail down but some strong animal trails at the bottom which help progress. From here it's a creek bash, but at least the rain has completely cleared and the sun is making its way down to the valley floor.

Looking at the catchment I'm expecting a dark, dank stream choked with rotten tree fall. What I find is a shelving floor - mossy gorges and a gentle stream - mercifully relatively clear of overgrowth and log jambs.  Not really pretty but it has some character.

I count the junctions, and watch the compass and time to make sure I don't pass spot height 294 - the sole purpose for being down here. At about the expected time an unmarked stream comes in on my right. From the map there is only one place it could be coming from, so I strike directly up the untracked bank to scrabble to the top of a knob - 294 and four down. It's about 1.15.

294 - not a lot to see

 
 At this point the day takes a decided turn for the better. The knob is mossy with sparse trees and an old fence that gives every indication of going my way.  It's also a chance to check out the surrounding hills and enjoy a bit of sun.  I briefly contemplate dropping to the stream again and heading up another spur to just south of my next target spot height - but it's a departure from my stated intentions so I follow the fence and start scrambling up the steep wee spur.

The thing about old fences is that you expect that they will be easy to follow. I've found that they only are if enough people have had the same thought, or if it used to be beside an access road. Neither apply here - however a few animals have followed the spur so it's not so bad.

Towards the top I stray left into more open forest but keep working upwards until I pop out on the track to Mt Dick (1.55). Here the forest is tall and open. I whistle up towards pt 581 and cast around a little to find my way around the top of the Beef Creek catchment to follow the true right side south - back towards my starting point.

Mt Dick track - not much to see but I am heading over there

It's good fast travel with a mostly strong foot trail to just short of 532, then it starts to get scrubby again. 532 (about 2.40) gives some nice views of my travels from yesterday afternoon (I can see where I went wrong) but also marks the trail becoming a bit easy to lose so it's a bit slower getting to my final spot at 510 (6 down).

Came down that ridge yesterday - view west(ish) over Devil Creek 

Scrubby territory - looking south

I completely lose the trail on the climb after 510 but am confident that I've found the spur I came up in the morning - damned if I can find where I walked though.

On the trip down, at about 400m, I drift onto the left hand spur which turns out to have no trails on it. It's three kinds of tough going visiting various indignities on the body. You sort of get used to the odd poke in the eye but whilst extracting myself from some enthusiastic bush lawyer I manage to poke myself in the ear and once up the nose - far enough to make the eyes water.

The wrong spur deposits me to a stream - following a bit of a hunch, I cross and sidle back on to the plateau emerging directly onto my track from the morning. Just the zig, zag, zig to go.

The grass is impossibly green in the late afternoon sun and the paddock is extremely nice to walk on - with out any noticeable tendency to rend flesh or poke sensitive bits. It's a nice amble in the afternoon sun over the style and past the old shearing shed to get back to the car about 5pm.

Postscript

I don't recommend repeating this route, or at least wait 50 years until the bush is a decent height. As a rule of thumb the further north you are in the catchment the better the bush.

If you take your time there are trails to be found (and easily lost) up the 228 spur. Trails on the ridge between 510 and 481 are variable and the scrub a bit unpleasant. The spur down to the creek via 317 is tricky and any trail difficult to follow. The creek itself was pretty good travelling. There are probably three options to get to 294 - the side creek to the west is quite close to the saddle so you could probably get up that way, otherwise follow the stream around the base and come up to the saddle from the other side. Travel from the saddle to the knob is easier than the way I came up (from the south).

The spur to the ridge is partially trailed and a bit of a grunt. Quite doable though. From the top around the top of the catchment to point 532 is pleasurable going - you need to keep your eyes peeled to pick the right spot to leave the Mt Dick track though. After that the scrub starts again. There have been old efforts to cut a trail but it is easily lost - someone may recut it though. Don't take the left hand spur on the way down to 228.

Cattle Ridge loop

It has been quite the week, from four hours at the top of Wainui Hill in the wee small hours, feeling the aftershocks roll through, to a day watching the turbid Hutt River crawl up the stop bank. A bit of a tramp is surely indicated.

There's a stretch of the Ruamahanga River that I have been meaning to explore. The major river systems in the east of the Tararuas trace a line from Eketehuna to Kaitoke and I haven't got around to travelling the section from Roaring Stag Hut to the bend at Cleft Creek. It's not marked on the topo map but it's a known route and there's a reference in Tararua Footprints, albeit a little light in detail.

This weekend there was only one day available for a trip (after visiting Iona's most impressive weaving exhibition on Saturday), so I figured with an early start I could build a day trip around an exploration down river.

What:   Day trip
Where: Ruamahanga - Cattle Ridge Loop from Putara
Who:    Solo
Why:    Check out Ruamahanga River and Cattle Ridge
When: Sunday 20 November 2016
Map:   Map

The alarm goes at 4am after four hours sleep and I pour myself into the car for the 2 hour drive. The Putara Road End is tucked into the hills behind Eketahuna at the head waters of the Mangatainoka River. It's been a bit of a mecca for trampers over the years as the kick off point for the SK (look it up!). Unlike the hob-nailed boots that have walked this way before, I have the good fortune of not having to catch the rail car and a taxi to get here.

Morning at Putara Road End

The sun is well down the hills at 0640 as I leave the car at a relatively crowded car park (4 cars). The track is good along the river, up to the junction then the long amble down the ridge to the flats near Roaring Stag Hut.

Foot prints on the track indicate that there are a likely to be a few people at the hut. Sure enough there are two parties in when I arrive, an hour 45 after leaving the car. It's shaping up to be a sunny day.

The view from Roaring Stag

From here it's tiger country. I follow the track down to the Manuka Flats where the Cattle Ridge Track hives off west. At first I try to find tracks across the flats, but pretty soon the flats run out and it's a question of picking ones way along the river bank. The rain during the week means the river is up somewhat, so there's a bit of wading required when it carves in against the bank. There's quite a few slips along the way, some of which have been recently active. At times there are terraces that can be followed, but I don't see any evidence of trails or pink ribbons and inevitably end up in the river again.

Another slip

With the river up it's a bit slower going than expected, with a few sketchy scrambles on unstable erosion scarps required to avoid deep bits. Eventually the river enters a short gorgy section. There is no way I'm going to try to cross, as the river is deep and swift. There are enough hand holds on the rocky bluff and foot holds under water (no idea how deep it is) to clamber and float along the edge and around the corner - keeping well clear of the main current.

On the other side I find a slip as indicated in Tararua Footprints and scramble up. However, I find a large creek, which I quickly realise can't be Cleft Creek, so have to drop down another slip to the river - disturbing a deer on the way.

Random stream that is not Cleft Creek

Shortly after, yet another slip presents and I nip up to a series of old terraces. It's pretty easy travel but I can't find any indication of tracks. I potter along keeping the distant sound of the river on my left until I come across what is undeniably Cleft Creek. Undeniable as it is at the bottom of a large ... well, cleft. It's quite pretty, with clear water tumbling between steep mossy banks amidst mature forest. A few deep pools discourage me from looking too hard for a way down. Somewhere on the opposite side is the main track in from the Ruamahanga Road end.

It takes a while to follow up stream on the old terrace before I find a route down just before an old erosion scarp.

Another slip

It's further still before I look back and see an orange triangle. At some point the track has joined the creek. Two minutes later the route leaves Cleft Creek and starts climbing a side stream. It's taken about two and a half hours from Roaring Stag Hut. I think it would be somewhat quicker with a lower river, less chest high water, and fewer unnecessary excursions into the bush.

Cleft Creek looking down stream - first orange triangle on right somewhere 

Junction on Cleft Creek - route heads right

The side stream rapidly becomes a lot smaller but it is fairly easy and open travel. Marking is a little variable, and there are a few points where a little vegetation clearance or another marker wouldn't go amiss. I rock past the point where the track hives off up a spur towards the saddle, finding it beside an almost invisible tributary when I return looking for the last marker.

The track to Cow Saddle is also poorly marked in one section, where it traverses around the slope to the final short climb to the saddle. Approaching the saddle though, the ground trail is clear and in the saddle itself the turn off for Cattle Ridge is elegantly indicated by a classic old wooden sign.

Cow Saddle

It's about 11:40 so I figure time is going ok and there's no need to take the bail-out option back to the Ruamahanga Road end. There's a small matter of a 700m climb, though. It becomes rapidly clear that there hasn't been much track maintenance through here for a while. The track is covered in wind-fall, most of it small stuff that would be easily cleared with hand saws, and the occasional large tree that's created a bit of a mess.

Where's the track?

I've never been up this track before. It climbs steadily and is pretty easy to follow. It slowly opens unfamiliar perspectives on familiar Tararua features. Shortly before leaving the bush line I'm a little surprised to cross an active little stream - it looks big enough to possibly even be present in summer.

Down the Waingawa River - Cow Saddle to the left

Cow Saddle through to Te Mara on the horizon
Blue Hut would be just to the left somewhere

The track exits the bush line and works up through the scrub into tussock country. The bare tops start to dominate the horizon: Table Ridge to the south-west, gradually revealing more and more of Tarn Ridge at the headwaters of the Waingawa, the bush clad Blue Range in the east and Tawhero in the north east.

Spur up to Cattle Ridge - Ruamahanga River runs towards Mt Bruce (right of centre)

The wind gets a good run up out of the Waingawa head waters and slams into the spur, but then eases as the track climbs in the lee of Waingawa.

Approaching the top - looking north along Cattle Ridge

Approaching the top - SSW to Waingawa
That could be Banister behind?

Um, I think that's Table Ridge on the left

An hour and a half after leaving the saddle, Cattle Ridge is as round-topped as the map promises. Today it is quite clear to the east but the cloud lurks high above and thick around the peaks on the main range to the west; a strong cold wind cuts across (WSW?). We should stay clear today but I could imagine it being pretty bleak up here in clag.

Down the Ruamahanga

The top - Waingawa to Bannister on left, Dundas to the right with its head in the clouds

It's easy travel but cold enough that after a bit I give up and put my rain coat on - although the sun is coming through the wind is pushing me around a bit. The ridge top undulates along but I am waiting for the notch between Pukekino and Pukeroa. It is apparently about 100m down and up through tussock and spiky Spaniard.

Further along Cattle Ridge looking back 

Probably Bannister

There seems to be more of a foot track towards the east side of the ridge and down into the notch - not much though. There's a bit of scrub and quite a bit of Spaniard - some of it brown and tough, some green, soft and more flexible, but still spiky. I try to avoid stepping on it - partly because running shoes don't give much protection - but also I have a bit of a soft spot for it. We have few enough plants and animals that bite, sting or poison that we need to take care of those that do.

In the notch looking back

In the notch looking forward

Annnnd, looking across the notch to Pukekino

Cloud on the main range - spur to Dundas Hut almost visible just above shoulder

First view of Cattle Ridge Hut (dot on spur in middle)

Once the route from Dundas Hut joins Cattle Ridge there are markers, cairns and a ground trail so it is quicker going. Soon after the track heads off the east side of the ridge and down to the hut. There are a bunch of foot prints in the mud so someone has been through today.

Main Range panorama from near the end of Cattle Ridge
East Peak at right end - clouds magically gone again

It's taken a bit under an hour and a half to traverse the ridge to the hut and it's nice to get in out of the cool. This hut has been the source of a bit of controversy, with plans to remove it the subject of some criticism. There's a new wood shed, supplies for repairs and a new deck - slow going but a good start.

The log book indicates that a group of runners have been through doing the Dundas Circuit in a day - quite a trip.

Cattle Ridge Hut - not that pretty but there's a bit of work being done.

Next is the knee crunching descent to the Ruamahanga, almost 700m below.  It's a nice wee track down through scrub, then into forest, arriving at the river an hour after arriving at Cattle Ridge Hut.

Roaring Stag way below
Probably Tawhero behind 

Roaring Stag Hut

It's around 3.30 as I wander into the hut. An older couple have come in for a couple of days and have already read the log book, as they ask if I'm the bloke that had signed through earlier. They look set for a good couple of days with great weather in a comfortable, empty hut. Look most old school trampers they are thoughtful about their environment - he asks whether he should take a hand saw up Cattle Ridge tomorrow (not needed) and has already noted some of the rubbish around the hut that he will carry out.

After a short chat I head off, with the afternoon sun filtering through the canopy. It's a bit over an hour to the junction, then about 45 minutes to the road end I bump into a couple that have come down from Herepai Hut, after deciding not to head up and over to the Mangahao River because of the weather on Saturday.

The Junction

I wasn't expecting to be getting back to the car in daylight so it feels like a bonus to be hitting the road around 5.30pm.

I can feel that I've had a fairly active day and am sporting a few more minor bruises, scrapes and punctures, but nowhere near the beating from some of the recent bush bashing trips. However, it's a few days before I stop making old man noises every time I go to stand up.

The river section was a little more complicated than I expected, due to the high flow and a few unnecessary scrambles. I wouldn't like to do it in the dark. The track up to Cow Saddle needs a little attention to the markers, and the track up to Cattle Ridge definitely needs a tidy up. Cattle Ridge was really enjoyable - the views are great and it's a nice amble on a good day.  Don't expect a beaten track though. The track down is steep but pretty good and the track out is good apart from a fair amount of winter mud up to the junction.

A good day trip.