Peak

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

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

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


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

A few random spots to get things started

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

Pt 409

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

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

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

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

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

Peak - blue line is a previous trip

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

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

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

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

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

Peak

or 890

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

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

A brief view

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

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

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

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

Ngamaia

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

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

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

What:      Navigation and spot-heighting trip

When:     9-10 June 2018

Where:    Behind Eketahuna

Who:       Solo

Map:

The whole trip

Start and finish

Middle bits

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

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

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

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

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

But first, pass a puddle on your right

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

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

Ridge to Herepai

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

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

Putara hut site 

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

980m altitude

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At last a view east

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

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

Home sweet ...

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

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

Morning light

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

Spur running from 597 (on right) to 815

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

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

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

Junction between my unnamed stream and Puketurua Stream

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

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

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

Scrub - for a change

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

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

Up spur - probably from pt 815 or thereabouts

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

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

The spur snaking down and to the left

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

Subtle signs of the spur top

South west towards the real tops

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

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

Putara road end's down there

Southish towards Herepai Ridge - spur up from yesterday in between

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

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

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

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

Postscript

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

Taramea Stream

This post was going to be called 'Peak' - but that didn't quite eventuate ...

I've rabbited on about the hills behind Shannon before ... in a nutshell: scrub, hydro dams, and more scrub. You'd think I'd've learnt by now - you have to allow much more time than you think to travel off track in these parts.

This is the second in what is proving to be a series of trips into the interior to polish off the various points on the scrubby ridges and spurs around the Mangahao dams.

The mission is to wander through the little corner of the Tararuas defined to the north by the Mangahao gorge - which bears the dire warning: "River subject to rapid flooding." If that is not enough, it is renowned for its scrub, there are no marked tracks and no official road end in the east. In short, like someone clasping a handful of pamphlets on Lambton Quay, it sends the signal: 'avoid eye contact and do not approach.'

All going well (which you can assume won't happen) Sunday will see me sauntering over 'Peak' and down a curving spur back to reservoir two.


What:     Spot-heighting trip and explore around Taramea Stream
Where:   Near Mangahao River and Burn Hut
When:     26 - 27 May 2018
Who:       Solo
Map:

I park in the traditional spot by the dam to reservoir two. It's cold out but not raining, the breakfast pie from the Olde Beach Bakery in Waikanae is helping ward off the chill.

The floodway is spilling even more vigorously than last month and there is an actual river down stream. Across the dam is a grassy bank, scattered shards of pink indicate that someone has been shooting clay pigeons - hopefully not when anyone was coming up the track.

About 8.25 I enter the  bush.

The familiar track follows the river then ducks up a spur to pt 657 before there's any need for the map. A gap in the bush gives a view south, up the unnamed stream valley (below Burn Hut) to what has become a sunny day and peaks dusted with snow (possibly around West Peak).

A dot on the spur to the left is Burn Hut, and there's snow somewhere in the distance

When the track breaks out of the bush I start scanning for trails running north east along the flat topped ridge to pt 730. The planned route heads north east along the ridge that forms the west side of Taramea Stream, at some point I'll drop to the stream and climb the east ridge to follow it SSW to the head of the valley.

One of the track marker poles has tin wrapped around it, on the assumption that this is marking something important I slip off the track and into the scrub (no trails to be seen). I think it's about 0945.

Looking north - scrub

The scrub starts low with occasional animal trails but inevitably gets thicker and higher. I briefly pick up an old cut trail but this seems to drop too far east so I leave it to plow my way up to 730. This turns out to be an undistinguished scrubby knob (surprise!). I take a bearing and struggle on for 695. At times there is a bit of a trail on the east side of the ridge which gets me to the lump between 695 and 675.

730 - scrub

About now there's a brief period of cold rain. There's no view to be had in the high scrub so I take a bearing over the lump and start dropping through more thick scrub - too far left as it turns out. Sorting myself out I gain a bit of relief with a higher canopy on the NE of the spur where it flattens out.

Here things speed up with a ground trail and some very old spray markers. When this starts dropping I back track and bash to the spur top and pt 630. There's a wee clearing and sunlight. It's 1pm so time for a bite.

A little damp but the sun's back on pt 630

Back in the bush I backtrack up the trail but it disappears soon after the point I found it. More scrub bashing. At 675 I've had enough and rather than head further through the tangle, drop as directly as possible to Taramea Stream.  It's the usual sort of jumble of rotten, mossy logs on the steep valley side but it least it's not scrub.

The stream is a good size - and there are occasional glimpses of sun on large old trees on the eastern slope. At 1405 I'm starting to watch the clock - if it's good going on the eastern ridge I might have enough time to head north to pick up two spot-heights near the Mangahao River - but probably not.

I pick a random spot about 20 minutes down stream and climb a wee spur to the ridge. There's reasonable forest cover but in the 25 minutes to get to the top I've decided that time will be tight even if I don't divert north - the two spots will have to wait for another trip (probably from the eastern side of the range).




Ridge top - reasonable sized forest

At this point the ridge has a high canopy so going is good. Ground trails come and go and I don't see any signs of people. Inevitably, there are scrubby patches, often there is a bit of a foot trail on the east side but these soon peter out. There are a few clearings where wind has got in and knocked a strip of trees over. The further up (south) I get the worse it gets. A few pink ribbons below 730 raise hopes briefly but they soon disappear, as does any trail they might have been associated with.

Wind throw clearing

At pt 730 I stop and look up the ridge at the intervening scrub and figure it's a mugs game to keep fighting through - time for plan B. During trip planning (i.e. 6am when I was heading out the door) the support crew asked; 'what if you don't make it up the ridge?'  To which the reply was an airy - I'll just drop to the stream and follow it up to the hut - it will be impossible to miss!  Time to put that confidence to the test.

The scrub is not so keen to relinquish my tender flesh - it's a bit of a battle through bushlawyer before I can reach the trees and start dropping down the mossy slope.

The stream is smaller than earlier but still appreciable, I turn up stream (south) and make as good a time as I can in the remaining light. The river bed is reasonably wide and not gorgy, there's a few spots requiring a bit of a clamber but nothing dramatic.

The air is cold and soon, with headlight on, I'm breathing downwards to avoid the clouds of exhaled vapour. The world narrows to the section of stream in my head light. It gets tighter and the trees close in.

Towards the head of the valley I'm basically wading up the slot of the (now) small stream as it runs through cutty grass and leatherwood. My somewhat loose plan is to follow the stream til it runs out and if there is a choice, bear right to hit the saddle below the hut.

Something odd about the outline of a leatherwood's tortured branches makes me pause and look back at it. On closer inspection, one of the branches has been sawn through - many years ago. I haul myself out of the water and find more cut branches. There's an old track heading upwards.  It proves to be easy to follow and, as I climb, the close scrub gives way. No longer hemmed in there is a strong sense of emptiness and a wide, dark sky. The wind is decidedly cold accentuating the feeling of space. It's exactly the feeling you get climbing out of a cave on a dark night.

A large animal or two crash off through the scrub.

In the dark it's hard to tell directions and I'm intrigued as to where I will pop out. To my surprise the first thing I see are the water tanks on the back of the hut. The climb was probably only 60-70 meters but they would have been hellish meters if it was not for the track.

It's about 1815, the hut is empty, and I'm wet and cold. The rain sets in shortly after I arrive and I am doubly pleased to have found that track. With dry clothes and the billy on I'm on my way to setting things to rights - now to see to those blocks of ice that are passing for feet. The hot billy does the trick as I wait for the dehy to soak.

There's reception here so texts are possible, but I'm careful to conserve the battery as I haven't brought a power pack. With a full stomach and warm feet I select a book from the hut library (two books and a pile of old magazines) and read by candlelight before an early lights out.

Wind and hard rain buffet the hut and I'm just warm enough in my three season bag. I wonder drowsily what the next day will be like.

The day greets me with a weta in the sink. Releasing it back to the wild I look out at high cloud and no rain. It's decidedly cold so there may have been a bit of procrastination before finally donning wet gear (0820).

The track to the ridge is wide, I glance at the scrub hemming it on the left and for a third time am pleased to have found the old track in the dark. At the ridge there is, in theory, a short (600m?) hop along to Taramea. There are occasionally animal trails to the west of the ridge top but it's mostly scrub bashing and hard going.

At Taramea I stand chest deep in scrub and contemplate the surroundings. Down ridge is pt 730 and the limit of my travel last night - looking at the scrub it was a good call to exit to the stream - it would have been hours of pitch black misery to come up here. I find out later that Taramea is the name of wild spaniard - fortunately I did not have to contend with that as well (I assume it used to be plentiful here but the regenerating scrub may have out competed it).

Taramea

I make slightly better route choices on the way back to the track but it's still hard going. Eventually popping out pretty much bang on where the track from the hut hangs a right (south) to skirt below the ridge - leaving the swathe of the old track that follows the crest. It's 0935.

It's a quick zip around to pt 853, the map shows the track running over the knob - but it doesn't, and so the next round of scrub bashing starts.

The map shows a gentle descent to a saddle then a climb to Peak. I'm not even half way down to the saddle when it becomes clear (once again) that I will not be making my deadline if I have to bash through this stuff all the way to Peak and over (I'm supposed to be helping the parents shift in Tawa at 4pm). 

A deer bounds over the scrub about 50m ahead before stopping to check me out - once still, it merges into the landscape, becoming invisible. If I had a gun I would probably shoot it purely out of spite for the ease with which it negotiates this horrific vegetation.

My bail out plan is to drop into the stream running north east from the saddle (well, it worked last night didn't it!). Once again, the scrub band runs a long way down the slope and there's a lot of swearing required before I finally can duck beneath the canopy. It takes a bit of compass work and casting about to find pt 640 (there is no way I'm leaving that as an orphan). When I finally get on to it, the spur is well formed with reasonably open forest. Trails come and go but no real evidence that any are from human traffic.

The spur pops me into a clearing that gives quick access to the lower slopes and a last bit of a scramble down to the stream. It's a good size here and the valley is surprisingly wide and not gorgy. It's mostly scrub so feels open. At 12.45 it's touch and go to get out and to Tawa by 1600.

As I potter downstream it starts to rain and the river stones get decidedly slippery. The stream is quite navigable although the force of the water increases with each side stream.

As always the travel is slow and it takes longer than you expect to travel the distance on the map. Towards the bottom the valley narrows and the sides steepen and become more forested - at one point a steep spur in the rain and mist looks like something from Te Urewera.

The stream becomes more gorgy requiring a few sidles and occasionally a wet midriff. It's better than I had feared but the curved wooden bridge is a welcome sight about an hour after leaving the spur.

Signs of civilisation

It takes half an hour to whistle back along the track to the dam with the river on the right looking even more river like than yesterday.

I'm still finding the flood way a novelty

Wet kit and pack are quickly relegated to rubbish bags in the boot and I'm soon heading for Tawa (arriving about 1610 so how's that for timing?!).

Post Script

10 spot-heights knocked off, legs and hands covered in scratches, and numerous bruises. Not quite the haul I had in mind but not bad. The cold southerly front was relatively benign saving it's most savage efforts for the dead of night.

My best advice is that if you have to travel in these parts - stick to the stream beds or study the vegetation carefully before choosing a ridge or spur.