When you drive over the Remutaka Hill Road you may (or may not) cast an eye north at the opposite slopes and wonder what's behind them. They are part of the Tararua Forest Park, but it's a bit of an outcast - a ridge defined by the Tauherenikau river as it veers sharp left towards the Wairarapa. The north faces have some decent bush but a lot of it is regenerating - so it's tough travel.
Today I'm intending to explore the toe of the ridge where the Tauherenikau River retires to the plains.
What: Spot heighting nav trip
Where: Above Tauherenikau Gorge
Who: Solo
When: Monday 22 October 2018
Map
Underhill Road runs north east from Featherston, between the railway and the hills. It turns into Bucks Road and eases around the toe of the ridge to a stop at Bucks Road Campsite. At 10.30 it's a late start on a sunny day.
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| Bucks Road Campsite |
There are a few marked tracks although not much in the way of signage that I can see. I overshoot my turn and come to a grassy clearing on a terrace above a bend in the river. Across the river is the Taits Stream valley and possibly Mt Reeves on the horizon.
Retracing my steps to a stream I bash up slope to join the Tauherenikau Gorge track. It zigzags up the hill then sidles on a good bench with a view over a section of the river that is in the process of turning itself into an oxbow.
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| Tauherenikau River, Tait's Stream valley beyond |
The first order of business is to follow a long spit of land to a lone spot height above a bend in the river.
At the last moment before leaving home I chucked in a pair of those cotton gloves with rubber hands - they are heavier (hotter) than I would like but I drag them on as it looks like they might be useful.
There are signs that there was once a trail and in places an old fence. It's more manuka and regenerating bush than gorse now and not rapid travel. At 11.40 I'm sitting at spot 198 with no view.
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| 198 |
Half an hour later I'm back at the saddle on the gorge track. I figure I'll just bash up the 180m to the track on the ridge line. Not the smartest choice. Tight manuka and scrub gives way to tight gorse and it takes almost 1 hour 20 before I'm lying sweating, bleeding and panting in a shady corner on the ridge track. My sleeves are dotted with blood and I am very glad to have those gloves.
It's 1.30 and still just one spot height down for the day.
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| Really is past time to get new boots ... |
The ridge line track has orange markers and follows a grassy corridor through scrub. It runs past Mt Frith and all the way to the Remutaka road summmit. It is in need of a little TLC but is not too bad. Today there are views north to the ridges around Tauherenikau (889) and west up the Tauherenikau valley.
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| Looking up Tauherenikau Valley |
On approaching pt 505 I discover the map doesn't match the track (or vice versa). The map shows the route joining an old 4WD track and traveling over the top of 505. On the ground the track sidles just below the ridge line to the north. I bash up slope and discover the 4WD track, it's completely gorse clogged. After a bit of thrashing around I bag 505 and turn my sights to 386 which is down a side spur. It's 2.30 and in this country I'm starting to get conscious of daylight and water.
The navigation from 505 to 386 is tricky and it's high scrub degenerating into gorse in the approach to 386. By the time I arrive arrive it's 3.45, my water is low and I'm exhausted.
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| View from 386 |
I don't know about you, but I've whistled through Featherston often enough but never given much thought to where the Tauherenikau River runs after it leaves the ranges (apart from crossing it near the race course). From this angle it cuts a wide shingle swathe across the plains with a very small railway bridge in the middle distance.
After a long rest I decide I can't bear the thought of forcing my way back up that slope. The bush in the gully looks a little higher so I angle down and around the slope aiming to pick up the track north east of 505. With a bit of luck there will be some water on the way.
It's hard to say if it was easier or not - let's just concede it wasn't the same scrub as before. And I did find a trickle buried in windfall to slowly fill my camelback.
It takes an hour and a quarter to crawl and crash up through the scrub to the track. At 5.02pm the day is getting short but I console myself that it is mostly downhill now. I'm also hoping that there might be a trail when I leave the track again for 318. No chance - more gorse and scrub.
I'm ducking and crawling through high scrub when the end of a dead branch finds the gap above my glasses and embeds itself into my left eye. It's agony, I drag the piece of wood out (probably a silly move) and curse through gritted teeth. An exploratory probe indicates the eyeball hasn't exploded and the offending timber has been removed. Nothing to be done then but keep going with a visual limp.
I've slightly overshoot the side spur to 318 and have to backtrack a little. Fortunately it is low gorse and grass up to the knob so relatively benign. The sun has just set behind the ridge and I climb back into the last of it as I approach the knob. 6.35pm.
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| From 318 |
The carpark doesn't look that far away. But there is a thick band of gorse before I can get into the higher bush in the gully. I crash down until I can finally walk unmolested. At the bottom comes the final indignity; swampy flats covered in blackberry. I eventually find a way through without loosing too much more blood. As I scrunch along the gravel licking my wounds the call of a cuckoo carries on the still air. My first confirmed 'sighting' of the year - not such a bad end to the day.
After this trip the tally stands at 79 spots to go. There's another day or two in this neck of the woods though which I am not looking forward to.
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