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.
When: 9-10 June 2018
Where: Behind Eketahuna
Who: Solo
Map:
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| The whole trip |
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| Start and finish |
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| 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.
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| There's a turn on the right here (facing down spur) |
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| Putara hut site |
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| 'Trees are shelter, do not cut this side of the hut' |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Looking east - pt 708 is in there somewhere if you know where to look |
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| 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.
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| Just short of the main ridge - looking south at the wrong spur from yesterday |
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| 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).
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| Subtle signs of the spur top |
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| 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.
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| Putara road end's down there |
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| 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.
