A bit off track in the Orongorongos

The Remutaka range contains the populous highways and many huts of the mid Orongorongo valley, the bleak, eroded escarpments of the south coast, less traveled rugged ridges and deep cut streams running up to the rail trail and Remutaka hill in the north, and somewhere between, the rich protected forests of the water treatment catchment. Apart from the eastern parts towards Wainuiomata, there are relatively few marked tracks and plenty of scope to go off piste. 

What:    Solo navigation trip

Where:  Orongorongos

Why:     Practice navigation, explore some new ridges and travel the Whakanui track 

Map:     Link

The trip I have in mind this weekend is to skirt the edge of the water treatment catchment in the north, head down the ridge and over Orongorongo then drop and climb onto the Remutaka range to navigate to the Papatahi track then exit via the Whakanui track. Somewhat ambitious but there are a few plan Bs on the intention sheet that can be called up.

I had in mind that there was a track up through the bush from the back of Nae Nae somewhere to the 4WD track along the Eastern Hutt hills. The topo map shows one from Wilkie Crescent, so at 7.30am I leave the warm car and head between a couple of houses to what turns out to be a firebreak. 

The break climbs steadily and the valley floor opens behind with the sound of the suburbs waking up and a goods train drifting up. It turns out to be a firebreak that Eleanor and I explored on MTBs one summer in the late '80s when we checked out most of them along these hills. This break is particularly familiar, I spot the corner where I stopped and didn't get out of the toe clips fast enough; Eleanor only laughed a little bit as she fished me out of the blackberry patch. A bit further up is the steep section that, to her credit, Eleanor attempted to come down but ended up over the handlebars and a little dented.

About half an hour later on the ridge a left turn sees me following the solid 4WD track. A short distance along is the top of the track I had meant to take: a walking track from Rata Street.

Kodak photo stop - top of Rata Street track looking towards harbour
The locals clearly can't abide unmolested information boards 

It's cloudy and soon a cold drizzle sets in, but not quite enough to stop and get the coat out.  The track plods up to eventually give a view down a damp Stokes Valley before joining the ECNZ road.

I'll skip a few details here, suffice to say that there is a very long 2m high perimeter fence along a fair chunk of the catchment. It has possum traps at regular intervals and is well maintained with a good quality 4WD track along it. There is also a lot of pine, scrub, farmland and private property.

A magnificent fence

On one side is the fence and the mist shrouded valleys of prehistoric forest in the water catchment. On the other side, there is the orderly green of life style blocks and pines in Whitemans Valley. Land cover outside the fence is mainly farmland but there is also pine, scrub and private property.

 

At a bit before 10am the top of Devine is anything but. The track potters up and into a patch of bush and it's possible that it just misses the top but there didn't seem to be much of any note. A bit further along at 631 the fence is still there and it's over a kilometer further before it runs out at an unnamed knob above the watershed between the headwaters of the Orongorongo and Narrow Neck Stream.

Last views of Whitemans Valley

Mt somewhat Devine

I have noble intentions of avoiding the water catchment, so take a compass bearing and duck into the bush to follow the watershed down and up to the next ridge. Provided I stay on the outside of the watershed line I'm not in the catchment.  The Regional Council is quite justifiably proud of the catchment. It has been managed to control pests and is probably the best example of bush as it once was in the Wellington region. It is also part of a complicated water supply network encompassing bores in the Hutt, the catchments of the Wainui, Orongorongo and Hutt rivers and a complex distribution network. They periodically do tours into the catchment and it's worth signing up for one.

There's a bit of a ground trail but I quickly lose it and just follow a bearing. The terrain to the north drops steeply in to Narrow Neck Stream - keep out of there and my line is fine.  It's not too steep and before too long I'm climbing the other side with a slight trace of a trail and occasional bits of pink tape.

Spot height 730 is where I join the ridge line in dense forest. It's about 11.45 and there's a bit of ground trail which is relatively easy to follow when the ridge is narrow but when it broadens it's pretty easy to wander off line and there's little in the way of visual cues to find it again.

A southeaster is blowing damp cold air across the ridge and there's nothing to see but mist through the occasional break in the trees. At one point I drift off the ridge in the wrong place and have to extricate myself from a gully, wasting a fair bit of time. It is amazing how quickly you lose your sense of direction so a fair chunk of the time I wander along with compass in hand.

It's damp and mossy and through out the trip there is a lot of tree fall which frequently makes any ground trail hard to follow. It could be wishful thinking but it certainly feels like the bush is less browsed than in the Tararuas. There are a lot of indications of pest control, including V notch planks nailed diagonally on to trees in a number of places  - I assume to peel possums or some such thing.

What with wandering off track and stopping to add layers it is almost 2pm when I get to Orongorongo (the high point). Basically, it's claggy with nothing to see. It's low mossy bush and scrub with no view. At a few points it's easiest to crawl to move about. If there was a view it would be westward across the Orongorongo headwaters to a low ridge then a drop into the Wainuiomata East Branch, a row of ridges then Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt and the Harbour.  Maybe the windmills above Wellington and the Kaikouras beyond to the left. Or today ... mist.

It's still the edge of the water catchment at this point. I head on towards spot height 820 and then 805 where in theory I should drop off to the east over 589 to follow the catchment edge.  However the ground trail is stronger ahead and given the cold and short daylight hours now available it's safer to follow the ridge. Wairongomai Saddle will have to keep for another day.

The trail comes and goes but I manage to keep on the fading ridge, dropping eventually through untracked undergrowth to exit right on the junction between the Orongorongo River and the unnamed stream from Wairongomai Saddle.

Looking up Orongorongo River, the unnamed stream on the right.

It's 5pm, getting dim and I'm pretty tired. Heading up onto the Remutaka Range is out of the question now so I find a flat spot well away from the stream (it's part of the Wellington water supply after all) and set up my bivvy tent. The amount of fallen branches in this forest means a bit of care in choosing a site clear of aerial hazards.

Settling in for a comfy night ...

It gets dark quickly and I have the head torch on to finish setting up for the night. The intermittent drizzle has cleared and the southeaster is absent from the bottom of this wee valley. The light fades to dark and the world shrinks to the cramped quarters of the tent and a dehy meal for two. My feet slowly thaw and not long after 6.30 there's nothing for it but to turn in with the sound of the stream and the river drowning out the sounds of the bush. I had thought I might be lucky enough to hear a kiwi, but if there were any about they didn't wake me up.

The tent doesn't seem to get too damp from condensation and I have a gloriously long sleep. Just before 7 it's still dark at the bottom of the valley amidst tall trees but by the time I've broken camp it's light enough to head off about 7.40.

The original plan to head up onto the Remutaka Range and bash along the ridge to the Papatahi track and a steep descent to the Orongorongo River is not the smartest move as I'm pretty tired from yesterday and a day on the tops in weather like yesterday wouldn't be the best. I suspect the Council would prefer I didn't wade down the river (although the standard of treatment at the water plant is very high and would easily cope with my boots being rinsed in the river).

I decide to activate one of my contingency plans - to exit up a spur to the water supply access road. I choose a likely spur on the map and head off - to my surprise the spur has markers; not much ground trail to start with and a lot of tree fall on the lower slopes but the markers are frequent enough to keep on line and travel becomes easier further up.

The bush is varied and beautiful with some superb giants. Despite tired legs after yesterday it's only about 45 minutes up to the road which is wide and solidly built.

Water works access road - middle of nowhere

To cut a long story short, I navigate a route out of the catchment which turns out to be well used by pest control operators with an impressive number of rat and stoat traps.

It could be imagination but it seems that there is a lot more dead fall and undergrowth than in the Tararuas which makes the going a bit treacherous in places. The southerly starts in again so I'm happy enough to get to the high point on the ridge a bit before 1030, a nondescript knob amidst the trees and the point at which the track descends before climbing again but into somewhat improved weather, even vouchsafing views towards Wellington.

On the ridge

The high point - is tha' it then?

Wainuiomata and beyond

The cloud to the east has lifted and there's a few clearings so some good views across Wainuiomata and out to Wellington are revealed.

Same view, a little further along

There is a track I expect to meet when I leave the catchment area, and indeed I come across a wide, well benched track but not where it is marked on the map. However, it means I can relax and lope along with out worrying about navigation, footing or being poked in the face. The track is clearly very old and doesn't look very well used so I wonder what it was built for, in between contemplating the second mistake I'd found on topo maps recently.

With half an eye on the altimeter I gradually realise that the track has not climbed where it should have. Odd. The compass confirms I am on a slightly different heading than expected. Odder. Still it's going down into the right valley so let's see where it goes.

There are plenty of traps along the way with eggs held in a cradle of nails - clearly irresistible to stoats. The track sidles then drops and finally zigzags down a narrow ridge. I'm hoping I wont be popping out in the water catchment. Just before the bottom there is a sign identifying this as the "Pack Track" then the track ends abruptly at a non-descript gravel patch at the end of a side road.

Bottom of the Pack Track - not much to see.

To cut a long story short - I have come out in the catchment and now have the potentially embarrassing task of exiting past various gates, signs and buildings. I don't meet anyone so no lengthy explanations are required.

The final thing is to organise a pick up. There's no cell cover until the Coast Road where I discover that home command is asleep on the job so it ends up being a long 11km of road walking.

So ... ticks in the box for Orongorongo, circumnavigation of a large part of the catchment, navigation practice, another night in the Macpac bush cocoon ... not so successful in terms of avoiding the catchment itself, knocking off the Remutaka ridge to Papatahi, the Whakanui track and hearing kiwi.

Plenty of unfinished business for another trip or two.

Quoin Ridge

Every tramp has its moments, whether it's the views, a physical or mental challenge, a particularly stunning area of bush, or interesting people. Rarely, a tramp will stand out for many reasons - this is one of those trips.

What: Navigation trip up Quoin Ridge and around to Elder hut, return down spur into Eastern Hutt catchment and down river to exit.
Where: In and out at Kaitoke Waterworks
Why: Navigation practice, two new huts, explore Quoin Ridge and Eastern Hutt River.
Who: Solo
When: 4-5 June 2016

The main range of the Tararuas is largely well tracked and traveled apart from in the south where the tops peter out down from Alpha via Quoin Ridge and eventually into the water catchment at Hutt Forks.

My memory (from the '80s) is that you were not permitted to go into the area at all. As teenagers we would look longingly across from Marchant Ridge at this terra prohibita and vicariously enjoy the tales of trampers that had gone in there anyway. So it's pretty much remained as unfinished business for three decades. With a good forecast, a free weekend, and a bit of navigation practice under the belt I'm finally set to knock the bugger off.

Looking at the map, and reading a few reports from other trips, I figure that navigating up the ridge and returning the short route down a spur will be the most straight forward. This will give the experiences of travelling the length of the ridge, dropping down the spur, visiting the Eastern Hutt Hut, and returning down the river. The only remaining question is where to spend the night. I haven't been to Elder Hut before so that becomes Plan A but it seemed a bit of a stretch in limited daylight hours so Plan B is the shorter trip to Alpha Hut.

I'm a little late leaving, after some last minute problems with a leaking camel back, so it's 7:40 on a decidedly crisp morning as I leave the car next to the information shelter just inside the Kaitoke Park gates. There's a sign to the Norbert Creek Loop and a good quality 4WD track heads off across the paddocks before splashing across Farm Creek and up the hill. The view behind is of white frosted paddocks and dacron mist in the Pakuratahi Valley. The Hutt Valley is already enjoying the full sun.

Near the top of the first hill looking south(ish)

The rules

The Norbert Creek turn off is well sign posted and is just before where the road levels and heads under shady beech forest, before topping out (about 400m climb), then dropping into the valley beyond. The road ends at a well marked walking track down to the Hutt River.  A few minutes later at the river there is a large sign noting where to find the track on the way back, and a well trodden path heading up river to the swing bridge. The bush is rich and dense with punga crowding in around the track.

Sign to find exit to Kaitoke

First view up river

About an hour after leaving the car I'm gingerly picking may way up slippery, frosted mesh onto the bridge. There's a view up and down river from the middle; a good excuse to pause for a few photos - however it will be a while before the sun makes its way down here so it's still a little dim.

On the other bank there is a choice of up or down river. The map shows the route as being left and down river to reach Quoin Ridge but, after reading a trip report from TTC, I'm heading to the spur above the gorge for what looks like a more graded route to the ridge.

The track is well marked and easy to follow through lush bush. It's lovely and flat for 300m then it dives into a creek and climbs 160m to the top of the spur. Someone has left pink tape at various points along the route: once to warn of a wasps nest, and another marking some mistletoe. There's two wee pink plastic squares on a tree, and a ground trail  marking where my route leaves the track at the top of the spur, about 30 minutes after leaving the bridge.

Pretty easy to find the start of the route

The ground trail comes and goes, and there are few markers remaining on trees, but it's generally pretty obvious where to go: up. Coming down it might be a little easy to drift off the spur near the bottom. Just before the top there is a bit of scramble through some fallen trees, on the other side is the ridge top and more pink markers. The route along the ridge has a more obvious ground trail and at this point there are a number of orange markers indicating the normal route down to (or up from) Hutt Forks.

Where the Spur meets Quoin Ridge - through the wind throw to the left
Looking south down ridge

It's good travel through forest and I hardly need to use the compass, even when the ridge levels off. Occasionally the forest thins into scrub and tussock - one section is marked with a sign warning about sticking to the track to protect sensitive vegetation. It's harder going in the scrub and easy to lose the route but overall pretty good travel and the brief openings give increasingly stunning views to Wellington, Wairarapa and parts of the Tararuas not hidden by Quoin and Alpha.

Translation: please try to find the few remaining markers
while you feel guilty about what you might be stepping on

Briefly out of the bush and first view across to Marchant Ridge

And looking across the western part of the catchment and Maymorn Ridge

The top of Quoin is open and there are small patches of snow. It's like a large, rounded and very soggy cushion; apart from the ice on the puddles. The views are panoramic and spectacular, although I am most interested in getting a look down across the Quoin Stream catchment at the spur I intend to descend tomorrow. It looks great from this angle! The clouds just to the west are less welcome, although there's virtually no wind, so they are just hanging around and don't look threatening.

Top of Quoin; peaks along Southern Crossing behind

The spur running down from the left. Quoin stream somewhere below
From top of Quoin 

There's a saddle to negotiate which proves to be the trickiest travel on the ridge - it's possible that I missed the track dropping off the east of the ridge into the trees as it's a bit of a struggle through scrub and grass. It's also longer than it appears from the top, taking over an hour to get through.

The climb out of the saddle is onto a knob south west of spot height 1308: the top of the spur of interest. Try as I might, I can't see the hut in the forest below (it turns out to be painted green and sits in quite a small clearing). Across the valley is the long undulating top of Marchant Ridge.

Looking back at top of Quoin

The snow underfoot thickens during the final walk up to Alpha and a sign marks the transition from the catchment to the forest park.  It's absolutely quiet apart from the sca-runch of my steps and occasional skitters of melting ice. Across the valley, the ridge from Aston to Elder drops from the snowy tussock into dense, dark bush. There's still plenty of day left so it looks like plan A is on.

Destination: Aston on right with ridge running over knob and down to Elder on the left 

Regional Council hands over to DoC, or vice versa

There is a tarn on top of Alpha, and others at various points up the ridge, but many were a bit manky looking so I'm glad I carried my own water and for future reference wouldn't rely on getting water on the ridge.

Alpha is where my route joins the well trodden Southern Crossing. I have to admit I have never climbed the few meters off that track to the top of Alpha, mainly due to the close proximity of a warm hut and the state of the weather on most previous occasions. This time I stop for photos, lunch and check in with home base to confirm that I'm continuing to Elder.

Top of Alpha looking south

Top of Alpha looking north, false spur ahead

Over fruitbread, salami and cheese I sit on a rock soaking in the sun and the views: snow on the peaks and sun on the plains. At about 1:20 it's 5 hours 40 since leaving the car.

Aston is under the edge of the stubborn cloud which isn't moving and I don't really want to be stumbling around in mist when the light fades so I keep on. No-one has been through since it snowed so I have the pleasure of breaking the crust and cracking icy puddles. The snow is a bit thicker on the way up to Aston but presents no difficulties beyond the need for careful footing above some of the steep southern slopes. The shape of the ridge from Alpha to Quoin becomes apparent close to Aston but I'm still a little surprised by how long it took.

Looking back to Alpha (left) and ridge down to Quoin

On Aston

The Southern Crossing keeps going but I'm heading off to the left

An hour after stopping for lunch in the sun on Alpha I pause for photos in the cloud on Aston. There's still very little wind so it's not unpleasant. I resist the temptation to continue around to Atkinson and instead follow the markers over the edge for the steep descent. Once off the tops the track is easy to follow through typical mossy forest - it's absolutely lovely.

Ridge to Elder as the cloud starts breaking

Elder hut

Around an hour twenty after leaving Aston I pop out of the bush to find Elder hut just below, tucked in behind the knob. It's a pretty new and tidy four bunker, well built and double glazed. There's an older gent in residence who has come up the long and winding ridge from Renata. But the log book indicates no other visitors in recent weeks.

Two is a good number for the size of the hut and he's good company. We chat about this and that as we prepare our respective meals. He's doing an interesting line in DIY dehy, whilst I am staunchly light weight: penny stove and Back Country eaten from the pouch. We are both quite happy to settle down for the night in the pitch black by 6.30.

It's a cold night and I have tights, socks, two tops and a hat inside my bag to keep it at bay. The obligatory excursion to the nearby long drop in the wee smalls demands a brief and chilly pause to view the stars and the lights of the Hutt and Wellington in the distance, as well as diverse small towns on the Manawatu plains. The lights show an oily sway with the air movement across the distance, although there's no wind here.

Mercifully my companion is not a snorer and we are both surprised to find that it is a little after 6.30am when we wake in the predawn light. Outside it is cloudless, decidedly crisp and again the views are captivating, this time the snow on Taranaki catches the sun and Ruapehu looks impossibly close.

Kapakapanui catches first light

I'm first off, as he has an easy day to get down the ridge and is in no hurry. The sun is still well hidden just before 8 although it is colouring the horizon and touching the hills around Kapakapanui. A steady pace sees me at the top of Aston in a little over an hour. I note three figures on the ridge line from Alpha and they arrive at Aston shortly after me. A couple and a single have overnighted at Alpha and are heading to Maungahuka, Neill Forks and out to Waiohine via Cone (single) and Totara Flats (couple). A good trip to do some day. They have crampons which I suspect they will be needing before the top of Aitkinson. The snow is harder after the cold night and the ice on the puddles is much thicker making it a little skatey in places.

Top of Aston has a view today - Quoin on left, Hutt and Wellington in the distance

At Alpha 45 minutes later it's a bit early for a break but it's so clear and the views are just to good not to stop for a bit. East is the Wairarapa Plain bordered by wrinkled hills rising to the Haurangis in the south, the slips on Mt Matthews in the Orongorongos are visible. The view also extends to the Hutt, truncated by perspective and separated from Wellington by a wedge of harbour. Beyond and above, the snowy Kaikouras hover. The eastern peaks of the Tararuas lurk in the distance to the north and close by the dress circle curves around to Atkinson.

The dress circle without cloud

Marchant Ridge - Mt Reeves on ridge behind

Ridge down to Quoin, Rimutaka range on horizon

Dress circle again - note Kapiti Island on left

North over top of Alpha - Holdsworth will be in the middle there somewhere

I follow my foot prints from yesterday down the ridge to the top of the spur. It's a simple descent to the bush line with a bit of a ground trail to follow. I lose it before the bush edge at 1000m and elect to follow down the side of a clearing to 900m after a couple of abortive sorties beneath the canopy.

1100m on the spur - Rimutaka range on horizon

 It's a pretty mixed bag with dense undergrowth in places, a few areas where the spur is not so clear, and others where the ground trail is obvious and travel is fast. The compass gets a fair amount of use but I think it would be pretty straightforward in the other direction. There are quite a few old black tunnel traps with pink tape markers - they look fairly recent until I note that a piece of tape wrapped around a tree is riddled with neat little holes where the bugs have exited the tree over some considerable time.

At the bottom it's the work of a few minutes to cross the river and find the hut on the opposite terrace. It's taken a little under an hour and a half to descend 800m so not exactly rapid travel. The hut is catching a bit of midday sun but the clearing is still frosty.  A standard 6 bunker, it is in good condition. The last log entry is over a month ago and the entries are uniformly for people on day trips.

Eastern Hutt hut

Over lunch I study the map and figure that it will be under 90 minutes to the top of the gorge where I have to find the track over the spur. Rather than map watch the whole way I'll just fossick along for an hour then work out where I've got to.

I try to follow the left bank for a bit but it's not working so I revert to the river, crisscrossing down valley.  The river is mostly fairly closely hemmed in by trees or the valley sides and I end up mainly either in the river or in dense bush on a terrace, so there's not a lot in the way of views apart from along some of the longer stretches of river. The bush is stunningly beautiful; rich and thick which makes it a little tricky to navigate, although on some of the true right terraces there is a bit of a trail that speeds things up. At one point there are some markers that take you high above the river to avoid a swifter section. The river itself is clean and fast flowing, with a few swifter sections which require care or avoiding.

A few footprints in the river bed reveal that someone has been through with a dog in the last few days, and there are some old muddy prints on the terraces, but otherwise it is relatively devoid of signs of people.

After an hour I work out I'm pretty close to the spur and have my first crossing where I judiciously decide to use a branch. It's the only one during the day where I had any concerns and the next crossing (within 100m) is fine. A spur off spot height 790 serves as a progress marker as it descends to the gorge from the Marchant side. But I'm in the bush when I realise I have passed the final clearing and have joined the marked trail. A short backtrack takes me to the clearing, which has a large sign indicating the track up the spur. I guess you could miss it if you were in the river, but all up it was pretty straight forward and about 80 minutes from the hut.

Ya can't really miss it ...

The track is now obvious and well marked, I'm soon at the top of the spur and the turnoff from yesterday. It's familiar now so and within an hour I'm at the Norbert Creek intersection. Two joggers heading down the road are the first people I've seen since morning and stop for a brief chat.

The last view

The Norbert Creek track drops steeply through a little bit of scrubby growth, past a couple of startled foreign hikers, then into open forest. It's well marked and drops down a spur, then sidles along terraces before finally dropping to, and crossing, the stream in the soggy bottom of the gully. It's about 25 minutes from the top to the start, then a short walk back down the road to the car, arriving just before 4.

All up, I was quite chuffed to have achieved everything I had set out to do, in gorgeous weather and with stunning views. I have been wanting to travel Quoin Ride and the Eastern Hutt catchment for many years and picking up two new huts was a bonus. There's plenty of scope for some more exploration of the Eastern Hutt but I'll probably leave it for a bit - maybe in summer with more daylight hours for a leisurely trip the length of the valley.

Times

Because the weather was so good I managed to get a lot of photos and have been able to take the times off these. The times are probably a bit quicker than a group will manage, as this was fairly lightweight, solo travel with just the occasional stop for photos and navigation. However, when I say light weight - I did discover that I had lugged in a ground sheet, second spare pair of socks and a merino top that I hadn't removed from my pack from last weekend - damn!

Saturday
07:40    Depart carpark at first information shelter on Water Works Road Kaitoke
08:15    Norbett Creek intersection near top of first hill
08:35    End of road
08.38    River
08:41    Swing Bridge
09:10    Top of spur above gorge
09:40    Quoin Ridge
11:35    Quoin
12:47    Top of Spur to Eastern Hutt hut
13:17    Alpha  (lunch)
14:18    Aston
15:37    Elder

Sunday
07:55    Elder
09:00    Aston
09:43    Alpha
10:31    Top of spur
12:08    Hut
12:30    Dep hut
13:50    Bottom of spur
14:10    Top of spur
14:29    Bridge
15:10    Norbert intersection
15:33    Start of Norbert track
15:50    Car park