What: Navigation trip; north to south the length of Blue Range
Where: Eastern Tararuas
When: 25 June 2016
Why: Practice navigation, first visit to Blue Range hut, self inflicted one day challenge
Who: Solo
Map: click here (without GPS track).
Blue Range is a pretty obvious 'below the tops' route with plenty of options for trips based around Blue Range hut, the Kiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki road ends and various eminently navigable spurs. Browsing through some old trip reports (links at the end for those interested), I found the fateful words "... to traverse it in a day would be a fine challenge." Up until that point I had been perfectly happy planning a weekend scramble around the Tararua foothills with a night in Blue Range hut.
Beyond the (mostly dated) trip reports and what I could see from the map, I had no idea how long it would take so packed for a light overnight tramp with a bivvy bag should I get caught out. Brother number one once again very sportingly agreed to drop me at the bridge over the Ruamahanga before Mt Bruce after we parked my car at my intended destination: the road end where the Mitre flats' Barra track emerges.
The forecast was for a reasonable Saturday degenerating into rain and gales early evening and a miserable Sunday - an added incentive to get through in a day.
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| Flash new sign at start of track |
At 7:30 it is light but not yet sun up as I trot along the farm flats skirting the base of the hills (don't head towards the river). Where the terrace runs out, the farm track dives upwards over a spur. I happily follow the track upwards on auto-pilot through an open gate. A few minutes later I belatedly realise that I've left the usual route. I keep going though (a little guiltily as I should have notified the farmer) as I quickly figure I'm on a more direct route to my target spur.
The rising sun colours the slope above and at the right moment I pause to watch it rising above Mt Bruce. Despite the forecast it's looking to be a cracker day.
It's pretty easy to follow my nose upwards over spot heights 565 and 495 with just a couple of glances at the map to confirm where I am. There are old blue triangles on a couple of gates so this route has been used for access to the range in the past.
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| Dawn over Mount Bruce |
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| From 565 to 915 - the route upwards (Cattle Ridge on skyline to right) |
The fence line and farm tracks lead up to a gate at the edge of the pasture and continues beyond but largely overtaken by regenerating scrub. As the map indicates, it leads up to 598. The rest of the way up the spur to 915 there is a fair amount of pushing through Manuka/Kanuka. There is plenty of pig and other game sign and trails and Mr Pink-tape-man has been through at some time. I have a bit of a struggle through the scrub at times and suspect that the going would have been easier off the south eastern side of the spur in more mature bush. There are occasional rocky open spaces providing views but most of the time is spent in worming through scrub that is thick on all sides and overhead.
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| Looking back down the spur from somewhere above 598 |
Reaching the forest is a relief and the pace picks up markedly. There is a lot of pink tape along the top of the ridge towards 915 which would be quite handy coming in the other direction but not really needed today. I'm not 100% sure whether it was marking the way to my spur or to one of the others.
With large trees around and the canopy far overhead there are few views to be had from now on, apart from sporadic glimpses of the ranges to the west. At times clouds spill ominously over them but at the next look are gone again.
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| A bit cloudy in the west |
It's pretty good going along the ridge, easy to follow and often with a reasonable ground trail. I potter along at a good pace until I figure I'm on 915 with a clear ground trail ahead dropping as I am expecting. However I take a breather and haul out map and compass which inform me that I'm about to head off at 90° to my course. Fortunately no time lost but a reminder how easy it is to lose direction under the canopy.
I don't recall any other dramas along this part of the range, the trail comes and goes but travel is generally pretty good. It's a little hard to work out which spot height you've got to and which knob is unmarked but progress is pretty steady.
Approaching the clearing above Blue Range hut I find and lose the pink tape. The marked clearing is patchy dracaphylum and isn't quite as I am expecting it. In retrospect when I first hit it, instead of ducking back into the bush I should have crossed and found the hut track just beyond. As it is, I waste a few minutes skirting the edge of the scrub until I hear voices and, popping my head out of the scrub find that I'm a couple of metres from a woman standing on a large boulder. We're both somewhat surprised.
The boulder gives a view across to Mitre and surrounding peaks - all without a scrap of snow. The track is just beyond and it's a few minutes down to the hut arriving at 11:30, four hours after setting out.
Blue Range hut is a treasure. The first thing you notice is the colour - the bright sky-blue stands out cheerfully from the bush just before you notice the second thing, a large red sign incongruously declares this to be a tow away area. Someone has decorated the hut with various signs from a (hopefully) defunct hospital. It's not until you get around the other side of the hut that the third thing strikes you - a splendid view north and west to Cattle Ridge and parts of the main range peeping around it. And there is a picnic table at which to sit and enjoy it all.
Inside the hut is old but dry and tidy.
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| The very Blue Range Hut |
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| "Do not enter when surgery is in process" |
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| "Social Workers Office"A bit rude - there's no apostrophe! |
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The woman and her companion turn up as I sit down to lunch and we chat - they are from Massey and both are foreign students. One of them has done a good amount of tramping in the area but I detect is a little disapproving of people that hive off the marked tracks causing untold ecological damage. I figure that the loading rates in these parts of the Tararua's are not such that this is a source of serious degradation but it is a fair perspective.
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| Lunchtime view. Cattle Ridge - various main range peaks centre right |
It's a seriously pleasant spot so it's about 50 minutes before I drag myself away with full camel back and stomach. The boulder is too good a spot to ignore on the way past so I pop off a few more photos before continuing towards Te Mara.
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| Looking north along Blue Range on the right The range on true left of the Ruamahanga is on the horizon |
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| Te Mara and boot - both at 1104m |
A short way along the track to Kiriwhakapapa road end dives down the hill, I continue upwards following the track to Cow Creek. Someone has marked where the route to Te Mara leaves the track so I don't need compass and map. It's a reasonably well traveled route and I arrive at the top a little over 30 minutes after leaving the hut. The actual top is a little further on than I expect and is marked with a steel stake and a horse shoe.
A little later there's a bit of a clearing a bit past spot 995 which provides a view across the valley and along Blue Range.
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| Mitre on the rightLooking west from the ridge a little south of 995 |
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| And south down the ridge, Bruce Hill ahead |
Around 2.10 I'm at the top of Bruce Hill and text base to say that I'm going alright and have a tricky bit of navigation coming up but think I know where I'm going. It's looking good to make it out in daylight - famous last words.
I think I know where I went wrong and will digress to relate the details as a somewhat embarrassing but salient lesson. Bruce Hill is near the boundary between my maps which makes it a little tricky to get a picture of the local topography. There is a well traveled and marked route (plastic bottle tops and old metal markers) south east down towards 535 which I followed a short distance before realising I had gone a little far. Returning a ways back along the route I took a compass bearing and headed down towards what I thought was the ridge but dropped between my desired ridge and a wee spur at grid reference 109782.
This left me thrashing around in a gully unable to see through the canopy to determine whether my ridge was to the left or right. Hearing running water I had a brain wave - it could be one of two streams which run in different directions - I located the stream and took a bearing of the direction in which it was running - concluding that it was the stream at 107784 - in retrospect I had found the stream well above where it is marked on the map at a point where it runs along a similar bearing to the other stream.
On the strength of the stream direction I sidled around on to the wrong spur but was suspicious about the rate of fall and lack of ground trail so eventually climbed a tree (any idea how few climbable trees there are in mature forest?). Sure enough, there was my ridge 300m back the way I had come. A further thrash across the gully and back up to the ridge and I was on my way again - somewhat late, chagrined and battered.
Just before 4 pm I reach a point with a cairn, a bottle on a stick and a metal marker. People have not wanted to miss this place over a fair period of time - I assume this is the southern most height 865 marking a route down to Mitre Flats. I keep on my ridge with the lowering sun streaming under the canopy reminding that there is precious little winter daylight left.
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| Camo-cairn |
I'm surprisingly sore now from pushing through tough-bugger little saplings of kanuka, beech and, worst of all, totara. After a day of it your hands and knees are fair knocked about - leather gloves and chaps may not be such a bad idea.
The route heads on and down - a little tricky to find on the face of the ridge at times (going down is always hardest!) and there are a few occasions when Mr Pink-tape-man is very helpful in the gathering gloom.
I find my way down to the scrubby clearing at point 688 - basically the end of the range and tantalisingly close to my objective - and promptly lose the ground trail. It's tough pushing through the scrub but at least lighter than under the trees. I find one piece of pink tape but there's no apparent trail. Eventually I hazard a guess and follow a bearing back into the forest but drop further west than intended into a gully. I'm not particularly bothered as it doesn't really matter which down direction I take.
It's now difficult to see anything under the trees but given the forecast I'm not about to bivvy down for a wet and miserable night-out. The last straw is a branch flicking my glasses off, I find them by braille but it's past time to crack out the light.
A bit of care is indicated bush bashing down the gully in the dark. Initially I avoid the lush and slippery stream margins but eventually it's safer to follow the stream through supple jack rather than the loose boulders on the sides. I keep an eagle eye out for where the Barra track crosses the stream and in the end spot it easily enough (missing it isn't an option as there's a bit of a drop into the river). It's quite a relief to be able to relax and amble along the well formed track with the sound of the Waingawa drifting up from below.
It's 4-5 km from the stream to the carpark, much of it on gravel road so although it's a mild evening (despite the forecast) I'm pretty happy at 6:30 when I finally reach the car. Next - hot shower and dinner.
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