It doesn't help that it is a kind of tricky area to get to without having to commute through familiar territory. However, after a bit of thought I come up with a plan that will knock off three areas I've been itching to get to. Crudely speaking, I want to find an interesting route from Wainuiomata to Papatahi, follow the ridge north to Waiorongomai hut, head up into the Waiorongomai Saddle and to Orongorongo, then north along the range to drop down to Whitemans Valley.
The weather has been a bit wet and rain is forecast so I'm aiming to cross the largest river en-route at a bridge and avoid others.
What: Nav trip
Where: Rimutaka Range
Why: Fill in three missing pieces
When: 18 February 2017
Who: Solo
Map: Map
Saturday - Wainuiomata to Waiorongomai
Wainuiomata is dark and quiet at 6am as I study the map board in the park at the end of Hine Street. My torchlight reveals a somewhat different lay out of tracks to my map but I quickly hatch a plan - head up a spur just short of Jonah Lomu track, follow it up to 492 then 644 and the Whakanui track. Somewhere along the way I should meet an unmarked track that I struggled down in the dark in November.
There's no indication of a turnoff from the public track but once into the regrowth there seems to be a bit of a path of least resistance. Something called the Sledge Track is marked on the topo map but it must be sometime since it was used. After about an hour it's light and I've joined a track with markings that I'm pretty sure is the route up from Nikau Creek. And a little under an hour from there I'm at the main track.
I hadn't entirely meant to come down this track last time and in daylight I see why - the main track takes a left turn and the Nikau track goes straight ahead. In the dark I had missed the markers and had walked past a stoat trap and onto the wrong track which has quite a strong ground trail at that point.
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| Whakanui track goes left - step around the trap for Nikau Track |
It's a claggy day and the forecast is for a bit of dampness but not too bad. On Whakanui East track the going is quicker as it drops to a saddle then climbs to point 800 arriving about 8.40. There's some pretty clear notices around here about the water catchment so I carefully avoid these and take a vaguely described route that follows one of a number of possible spurs eventually arriving at the Orongorongo river near the marked bridge about an hour later.
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| Orongorongo River - a bit up and coloured |
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| View south - probably into Boulder Creek |
A little under 2 hours after leaving the bottom I'm pleased to be rolling over the shoulder onto the flat ridge top near 890. I take a bearing for the track but in retrospect should have headed a little further onto the ridge as I end up sidling along and through a bit of scrub and windfall.
My route is north from here so heading south to the Papatahi Track is a bit unnecessary and it's 6-700m out of my way (and back). However, it would be sort of irritating to know that there was that little bit of ridge that I didn't traverse. 25 minutes later I hit the track and follow it up to the top of the ridge.
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| Papatahi Track near the ridge line |
It's 12:50 and almost 7 hours in when I leave the track and start working my way north. The route starts in open, mossy beach with a bit of a ground trail but pretty soon there are tree falls and clearings where tracks seem to vanish. I follow the compass and generally get along alright although it is slow going. There are a few tricky bits where ground trails lead off in the wrong direction and with no visibility I'm completely relying on the compass and retaining a healthy suspicion of my sense of direction.
There is a tricky bit on the wide flat ridge top leading to 860. In the clag I mistake an area of tree fall for the edge of the ridge and waste time skirting around it and veering left. I sort myself out, head through the fall zone and am soon worming through tight high scrub near 860.
My technique, if it could be described as such, is to keep towards the east of the ridge. It probably makes little difference - no matter what line I follow it eventually ends up struggling through scrub and climbing over fallen trees.
Just an aside about this - 'climbing over fallen trees' may sound sort of innocuous - but imagine that they have been piled up by a crazed loon on a bulldozer and left to rot amidst tight scrub. You can easily find yourself perched on a slippery trunk 10 feet in the air facing the prospect of plummeting into a patch of bush lawyer.
After sidling around 815 I take a bearing to find the correct spur down but manage to veer off and start down a spur towards a tributary of the Manganui River. Fortunately I work out what's happening after only losing 50m height.
Heading towards 720 there is quite a strong ground trail and evidence that at some point (a long time ago) someone even trimmed a bit of scrub. This a a decision point. I plan to drop into Oreore Stream but there are a number of options. I note where the bush edge is marked on the map and decide to follow the spur to the saddle before 480. It's about 6.40 - just under 6 hours from Papatahi Track and a bit over 12 hours from setting out.
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| Near 720 - not much view today |
It's not too bad travel at first. A few steepish scrambles but pretty soon there is a trickle and I can top up.
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| Pool in the upper Oreore - possibly not normally present |
Travel down stream is slow. There are frequent rotten tree falls and scrubby branches blocking the way. At one point I find myself climbing through large fallen pines clogging the stream - sure enough on the hillside above are tall pines. There are also patches of buddlia. This place is seriously weed infested.
I try not to watch the clock as daylight wanes and the stream torture continues. There's little to mark progress as the valley runs straight between undistinguished sides and it's impossible to tell which side streams are marked on the map. With all the rain during the day the stream is up but not large enough to be a worry.
Eventually the ground to the right of the stream flattens and there are options to find easier routes - not that there seems to be any. Arriving back at the stream after one such diversion it's double the size. This is good news indeed as it means I've reached a major confluence and the hut is less that half a Km away, although in the pitch black I figure I will take the more straight forward but slightly longer route of following the stream down to the river and around to the hut. Let's not dwell on the fact that in the end with the parsimonious marking I manage to circle completely around the hut before eventually homing in. Mercifully it is empty.
It's just after 9pm - 15 hours on the go. I've been in a stream for the last two hours and rained on intermittently all day - everything apart from the inside of my pack is saturated. It's not cold though so I don't bother lighting a fire and just hang things up after wringing the worst of the water out.
Someone has put a bit of corrugated iron in the fire place to protect it from the rain dripping down the chimney but it is awash and the floor around the fire place soaking so it's lucky I'm not after a bit of heat. The ping of drips on the iron are a rhythmic accompaniment to getting a dehy dinner together.
Sunday - Waiorongomai to Whitemans Valley
It's not raining in the morning but still cloudy and dim under the trees as I head out about 6.50. The plan is to climb the spur towards Waiorongomai Saddle then up to Orongorongo then further north. I don't fancy wading in the river for a start so I take a bearing from the hut and strike out through the trees. I soon hit the buddlia and scrub around the stream and swear my way west to the base of the spur.
At the confluence I pick a spot and sure enough there are a few bits of ground trail that come and go through the messy lower slopes before reaching more open beech and some solid trails heading up. It's steep but pretty good going. The valley to my right is drowned in clag but the sounds of streams and waterfalls drift up. There is a apparently a large water fall and at one point there looks like a ground trail heading down across rocky outcrops and the sound of crashing water - I have no idea whether you can see the water fall from the spur but it would be good to be up here on a clear day.
I'm not racing up but trying to keep a steady pace and minding my business when a section of track in front of me suddenly scrambles to its feet and bounds away. A large billy goat with horn tips about a meter across stops about 7m away and we look at each other for a few moments trying to work out who is more surprised. Had I been a hunter his long pause would probably have proved fatal.
As the spur flattens at the top I bear right with the aim of finding a spur up to 589. I had thought to head through to the saddle itself but figured there wasn't going to be a lot to see. I don't see any particular indication of tracks but it's not too bad bashing up. The trees are quite low at the top so I can easily climb through and spot where the next section of the spur runs.
A strong ground trail runs most of the rest of the way up but I lose it short of 805 and end up bashing across the scrubby clearing and into tight low trees and scrub. After this however there is a reasonable ground trail and if you keep your eyes open it often by-passes some of the scrubby bits. In this fashion I potter happily along promising myself a bit of a break at Orongorongo.
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| Orongorongo |
It's 10.30 and time for a bite. The 'peak' is thoroughly unremarkable and with the cloud there isn't even a prospect of a view. I still find it intriguing - it is not the highest spot on the ridge (by 4 meters) but it bears the name of the river which gives it some significance.
There's a very interesting spur running south east with a faint trail - I figure it would be a good option to come up from the hut although fairly steep at the bottom. Maybe another day.
The plan now is to head towards 791 (where I left this part of the range last week to cross to Bawbaw) and find a spur to follow down to Whitemans Valley. I keep heading north along the ridge with generally few problems finding the route.
It's about 12.15 when I realise I must be just past 730. This is the point where I gained this ridge on a previous occasion having walked across from NaeNae. Since then I've done a bit more navigation and it's interesting to think back on how it was almost intimidating to reach this point and contemplate the completely unknown territory ahead.
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| Looking north to a clearing past 730 - they don't make names like that anymore |
The ground trail comes and goes as I drop to the saddle then start climbing up the ridge towards 791. It takes a while but eventually I know I'm on the long flattish part of the ridge. The only challenge now is to find the right spur down. The day has cleared so there are occasional views which help but doesn't stop me from making a rooky mistake.
My original plan had me passing 791 and taking a spur down to a ridge above Huia stream then dropping to the stream to exit to the road. On the day though I decide that the faster route would be a spur short of 791 to Narrow Neck Stream. Here's how it transpired...
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| Looking NNE down the length of Narrow Neck Stream |
I was over relying on my altimeter which you can normally get away with but when you are on a long very shallowly climbing ridge it is a pretty crude way of finding a spur. I was too lazy to do what I should have done which was to head along to 791, calibrate, take a bearing and back track to the correct spur. So I ended up heading down what became a rapidly descending, untracked scramble to drop into a creek way earlier than intended (have I said before how creek travel is much slower than spurs?).
The creek descends steeply through a narrow rocky bed but mercifully no waterfalls. As I get lower some strong animal trails develop which speeds things up somewhat. Soon there are old logging tracks, stands of manky pine and what looks like stock tracks. It definitely has the feeling of being on the edge of farm land. Soon I'm stepping over a fence and pottering along on smooth grass.
Just before I hit the marked 4WD track down the gorge I wander across a paddock with a pervasive smell of rotten carcasses. Then I notice the bones scattered around and shortly after that a muddy patch delineated by boulders where some large pigs are mooching about. It looks like someone has figured that feeding old stock to the local pigs makes the hunting a bit easier.
The 4WD track is wide and well formed. It winds up and down above the stream and eventually crosses to deposit me by a series of gates to a house. I'm a little nervous at this point as I would have liked to ask permission and I couldn't help but notice that one of the gates threatened to prosecute anyone with the temerity to trespass.
Oh well. I head up and knock on the door to apologise for my trespasses. They are somewhat bemused (you've come from where!?) but fine with it and I guess they figure there is bugger all to do about it now. Duty done I walk the final few meters of manicured gravel to the road through a light rain. All going well the support crew understood my directions from the top of the ridge and is waiting by the bridge - otherwise it's going to be a long walk (she did and she was).
At 4 pm it's taken a bit over 9 hours - but I reckon you could easily trim a few off that by taking a more direct route and not taking the wrong spur.
Post Script
The ridge north of Papatahi is nowhere near as bad as the bit between Papatahi and Matthews but it is a bit of a proposition. It's pretty much like the rest of the range - the established beech forest is easy going but there are a lot of wind fall clearings with fallen trees and scrub that is hard to negotiate as well as areas of regenerating bush that is low and tight.I didn't really like Oreore Stream very much. It is quite navigable with no appreciable drops but doing this trip again I would probably head through Waiorongomai saddle and down the spur - the scrub, pine, nettle and buddlia was just not that pleasant.
Climbing up the spur towards Waiorongomai saddle was fine and I would be quite happy repeating this at some point. First though it would be good to take the more direct spur from the hut to Orongorongo. There's plenty of other options to check out in this area.
The route north along past Orongorongo is pretty good going - better than a lot of the rest of the ranges with the usual caveat about clearings etc.
The drops down into Whitemans Valley are probably best done after consulting with the relevant landowner if you can work out how to contact them. Failing that it's not too far to the Mt Climie road.
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