Kiriwhakapapa 432

Or may be that should be Kiriwhakawaibotha.

A single spot-height right on the park boundary; in the middle of nowhere and on the way to nowhere. The map says it's on the edge of farmland 100m above the road and just a few 100m from the Kiriwhakapapa road end. Previous experience says it is probably covered in gorse.

The support crew agrees to a road trip one fine Sunday and we head over the Remutakas with the top down. I'm wearing my disreputable scrub trousers and am fully expecting an unpleasant scrub bash.


What:    Spot-heighting
Where:  Kiriwhakapapa
When:   31 March 2019
Who:     Solo

Map

Yep - that red line was it.  Faint purple lines are various previous trips

About 1:10pm I leave the support crew propped in the shade and wander back up the road a couple of 100m from the car park. In expectation of a hot grovel through gorse I have my best gardening gloves as well as scrub pants and boots.

Over dressed to kill

At the forest park sign it's easy to pop into the bush and get to the wee creek. So far so good - no sign of impenetrable gorse.

Sometimes trips go as feared, and you have a story to tell; sometimes they go as intended and you get that smug glow from effective execution of an immaculate plan; and sometimes they go as hoped - i.e. better than you deserved.

In this case it's the latter - a short way in I angle left and up slope. There's a bit of loose rock on the ground but the scramble is not too steep. The bush gets a little tighter towards the top but no gorse.

The top is unremarkable with no view and a single survey peg rotting away. It's taken all of 15 minutes to get here. There's not much point hanging around.

The peak

The scramble down is faster; 9 minutes later a slightly surprised support crew drags herself from the depths of some riveting yarn to apply chilled ginger beer to a barely warm 'tramper.'

The support crew hard at it

And that's pretty much that really. 11 or 12 spots to go now I think - some of them will be scrubby but most are remote and hopefully a little more interesting.

Otaki forks - 668

I thought I had explored the Otaki forks area as much as I ever would. That was until I noticed that on a previous trip up Rae Ridge to Dennan I missed a spot just off the ridgeline. It's ripe for a short day trip. And for taking the remaining tally down to 12.

I'm expecting fairly easy travel as there are lots of old logging trails buried in the bush around here - and Rae Ridge is a reasonably well known route. The only tricky bit might be the foot of the spur at the Waiotauru Forks - some of the faces are a bit steep around there.



The general vicinity




It's a hot sunny afternoon (1.50pm) as I leave the car and trot down to the river. It's at average flow so easily forded before a short jog across the flats on a reasonable foot trail to Sheridan Creek.

This time I will not make the mistake of following the markers up Sheridan Creek and bashing onto the spur - I cross the creek and find a clear trail with occasional ribbons leading onto the foot of the spur.

The humid air near the ground fills the lungs with the heavy smell of hot bracken. It's warm going until the scrub gives way to forest.

From spur - across Sheridan Creek and flats towards Otaki Forks

It's mostly good trails upwards although there's quite a bit of wind fall. Old tape markers of various colours are sporadically visible but it's pretty easy to lose the trail on the frequent wide sections of the ridge.

I'm scouting for the route when a patch of orange catches my eye - I make my way over and am surprised to see two hunters having a cuppa under a large tree.

This is only the second time ever that I have seen someone off a marked track (the other time was on the way up to Waitewaewae behind Manakau). We have a good chat and work out where each is going (them heading down after scouting up another spur) and ascertain that we both have some familiarity with the area. They are well spoken and relaxed that I've probably spooked anything they might have seen further down the spur (I hadn't heard anything).

I leave them to it and head on up to 668 with an unplanned diversion onto a side spur on the way. Although it's nice to have light footwear, the trail running shoes aren't really cutting it - they are too slippery on the hard stuff and provide no ability to edge into soft ground for purchase.

I hardly need the altimeter to confirm when to turn southwest leaving the ridge to head along a flat top towards 668.

There's a little bit of ground trail and on 668 the odd marker - I need the compass though to find the spur down. Once on it there is soon an old logging trial which comes and goes a bit but takes me mostly straight down. 

Pt 668

These are funny old relics - they are quite steep and the bush is only slowly reclaiming them. I assume because the soil was all scraped off. Animals and water have followed them in places and sometimes a marker indicates people have been through.

Old logging trail - believe it or not

The old trails have a habit of heading off in unexpected directions - a favourite trick being to dive steeply off the side of the spur and finish in a dead end. I assume these were side routes to rip the logs out of the gullies.

Towards the bottom the trail I'm following sidles left off the spur and angles down and into the Eastern Waiotauru (Snowy) River valley (i.e. heads east). I'm not sure how far up the valley it angles but I can't see a bench on the other side (there's one that you follow down to the river after crossing on the swing bridge).

Rather than follow trails that seem to want to drop down to the eastern branch river I find a bench that sidles back around the hill onto a large terrace near the forks. It's quite obvious on the map - almost circular so I wonder if there will be an old mill site - I don't see anything but only cover a fraction of it. 

I wander across the terrace heading in the general direction of down valley - not worrying too much about trails. There's a bit of a sharp drop off the foot of a spur and down to a lower terrace. From there I follow old trails and terraces before they run out. The marked track is somewhere on the other side but I'm not that keen on thrashing up through the lower slopes to find it, so continue on down the river bed. 

The slippery rocks in the frequent river crossings demand a bit of care in running shoes and eventually I reach a corner with a pool I'm not about to wade. A short mucky scramble up a steep bank through supplejack sees me on a spur and, in short order, the track.

Waiotauru River

After this it's plain sailing. I'm trotting across the grass flat with the old boiler when I see a couple of figures ahead - sure enough it's the hunters from earlier.  They've dropped down the spur and crossed the river to return down the track to the carpark.

We are walking back to the car park chatting a bit more about the local ridges and spurs when one asks if I'd done a blog - turns out they found some of my old posts when they were researching the area.

They have recently taken up hunting and have been coming in here - it's good to see the effort they're putting in and the enjoyment they're getting out. I'll have to remember that there are good examples of the breed next time I get grumpy at seeing hunters' rubbish on river terraces.

Around 6pm I'm back at the car, we chat for a bit longer then it's the long drive home.


All up a short and successful trip. There's plenty more day trips like this you could do in the area with the old trails giving something to explore. And after all's done - only 12 spots to go.

Otaki Headwaters

It's not so many years back that I would look at the map and think how adventurous the Ohau river system was. Two huts reached by travelling up the unmarked river bed - what if the river came up, or you missed the correct junction, or worse, wandered past the hut without seeing it?  Far safer to take the longer but marked tracks.

Now the river is a familiar and much more pleasant way to get into interesting country - and the tracks are just for a rapid exit when all the fun has been had.

The plan this weekend is to head up the South Ohau to the top of one of it's tributaries; drop over Butcher's Saddle into the headwaters of the Otaki River and find my way to five spot-heights which defy any rational connecting route.

On my intention's sheet I have described the trip as ambitious and the support crew is mentally prepared for me putting in a no-show on Sunday night.

The interesting bits - deer infested knob at arrow, camp at triangle

There's a good few cars in the park as I head out on a clear morning at 7am.

I make reasonably good time up the river arriving at the North/South branch junction at 8.20 and South Ohau Hut at 9.30.  There's a few terraces you can short cut across which save a few minutes - and if you pick the wrong one, waste you a few minutes navigating through supplejack. I usually get it right now.

Junction - Deception spur in middle

I haven't traveled the upper reach of the South Branch often and quite enjoy that, although smaller, it is a bit steeper and less sedate than the lower section.  I reacquaint myself with a hunters camp mouldering into the forest (it'll take a long time for thick black polythene to break down).

South Ohau Hut

South Ohau Hut is empty as I pause to fill in the log.

Butcher's creek has a wide rocky base with vegetation starting to recolonise but between the deer and historic rock coming down it is still quite open. It's quicker travel than I expect and I whistle past the correct junction to head up the wrong one.

After topping up from the wee stream I notice a bit of a smell and come across, first a deer leg in the water then a bit further up the rest of the deer (minus head), fortunately not in the water.

The stream I'm following heads in the right direction and remains open but gets steeper topping out in an eroding gully that I have to scramble out of. When I finally make the ridge it is 200m higher than the saddle. Oh well, on the track it is short work to get back to the correct spot.

Wrong route

The saddle is a more complex shape than the map suggests and I can't see any obvious trails heading south which is a bit surprising as this is an obvious connector route to the Otaki River. In the end I just pick a spot and bash on down. A trickle develops and becomes a stream and the stream heads over a waterfall. Fortunately, although mossy you can scramble down provided you don't mind a bit of sliding.

I emerge on a bend on the Otaki River about 11.40. I'm intrigued to see what it's like this far up. Most of us know the Otaki from driving across the braided mouth, a visit to Otaki forks, crossing on a swing bridge or maybe going off track up the middle section.

It's smaller up here (obviously) but clean, clear and still a good size. As I head up the valley there are occasional wee flats and cascades but no gorges and no swimming.

Side Stream

I exit the river bed onto a grassy terrace and see the south end of a ten pointer. It hasn't got wind of me yet so I take a step forward every time it faces directly away. When it finally twigs and crashes off into the undergrowth I am about 15 paces away. I'm not entirely sure what I would have done had I got any closer.

All too soon the pleasant wander up the river is over - the foot of the spur to 998 is obvious with a good size stream entering from the true left - there's a massive bolder in the stream bed a little up from the junction. It's 12.25 so, about 45 mins up from the bottom of Butcher's saddle stream.

Upper Otaki River

Lunch - bottom of spur

I stop for lunch and top up my water - I'm expecting a long hot climb and the spur looks a bit gnarly on the map.

It's a bit of a scramble to get onto the bottom of the spur from the junction - it might have been a little easier a little way up the side stream perhaps? Once on the spur it's a steady climb - no trail noticeable but pretty good going.

Breaking out of the bush onto a knob I'm shocked but not really surprised by the damage - it is churned up, flattened and chewed by deer. And four of the culprits are there. One heads up the hill and out of sight - two others and a fawn haver about 50 metres away waiting to see what I'm going to do. They crash off the side when I start closing the gap.

Deer knob - Te Matawai Hut on ridge behind

It's a steepish climb now but the deer have made trails that see me through the worst of the scrub then fade towards the top. It's a clear, hot day and I'm regretting not bringing sun screen or sunnies but at least have a long sleeved shirt.

The ridge is part of the Main Range; north is Pukematawai, Arete, Dundas and other peaks - south is Nicols, Crawford and so on. To the east, across the lovely glaciated Park Valley is the isolated Carkeek Ridge. One of the spurs brings back some sharp memories of a hairy climb down, and a scrub bash up into clag and flurries of snow.

Carkeek Ridge

Today though it is still and hot - the track is a little soft and shows the scars of the Te Araroa season. There's an awful lot more feet heading through here than there ever used to be.

It is so much easier wandering around up here when you're not in cloud. I can see exactly where my next spur departs and don't need map or compass to work out where to leave the track.

The tree line on this spur is just below the ridge and I am very pleased to slide into the familiar shade of gnarled and mossy beech. The plan is to follow the spur down to pt 855 - I'm expecting it has been travelled before as the bottom of the spur points directly at Butcher's Saddle and is an obvious route between the range and the Ohau. From pt 855 I'll return to 1020m to take a more tricky route down to pt 755 then the valley floor.

Soon after leaving the tussock there's a bit of a trail and someone a long time ago has marked the route with blue packing tape. Much of it is missing now and the rest is somewhat brittle. At a couple of critical junctions a more recent someone has left a tiny bit of pink tape. I make a mental note of the one I think might mark the spur to pt755.

There's a few spots where you have to cast about a bit to keep on the right spur but I find my way to 855 and have a bit of a sit down (a bit after 4pm) before the slog back up the hill. It shouldn't really be a slog but the legs are not quite as spritely as they were this morning.

It turns out my hunch was right - I take a bearing from near the pink ribbon and find myself on the correct spur. It sounds straight forward but it is tricky finding the right point to depart a relatively flat spur under canopy.

 Pt755

There's no real trail apparent and it's trickier to stay on course now. At one point I take a new bearing too soon but work it out and sidle out of a gully onto the correct route without too much lost time. A bonus of this is catching a few cups of water from a tiny trickle to supplement my dwindling water.

From 755 another bearing takes me down a spur to old terraces beside the river - near the bottom there's a faint trail marked with blue triangles indicating a pest monitoring line - it's not quite going my way so I leave it to its own devices.


The canopy is a long way above and it's starting to get dim but, although nice and flat there's no water here. I can either head south to Collie Creek or carry on to the river - the river wins out simply because my route in the morning is north and heading south just feels inefficient.

A few minutes later (6.30), at the exact point I clamber down the last bank, I find the perfect camp spot.

A large mossy space just above the river is as level as a billiard table and has a tree each side perfectly situated for hanging a fly. A circle of stones for a fire indicates I'm not the first to fancy this spot. This sounds pretty straight forward but finding a fly camp spot is virtually always an exercise in compromise. Candidates will either have an inconveniently placed root or no handy trees (a necessity when you have no poles).

I hang the fly high as the forecast is good then get on with making dinner (well, boiling water to stick in the dehy packet).

It's calm and mild and the soporific chuckling of the river has me dozing before dinner is ready. Over venison risotto I make my plans for the next day (up river, find spur, along ridge, down track).  I turn in with the last of the light and try to relax the cramps out of aching feet and legs.

There's no rain in the night, nothing that bites and just a gentle down-valley breeze in the early morning - just enough to require a corner of sleeping bag to be twitched across an exposed cheek.

As the morning light filters into the valley (the sun will take a while to follow) the head torch is initially required to get the billy going for breakfast. There isn't even a dew so the fly is dry and everything packs away tidily. An unbelievably civilised camping experience.

Yesterday was a little more productive in terms of distance than expected so I'm thinking I might even be out by 3pm today.

The map says it's a little over a kilometre to where I intend to start climbing out of the valley. I have the land marks in mind - stream on (my) left slip on left, stream on right, slip on right, stream on left and climb. It should take about half an hour travel time in the open river bed.

The river is small enough that I find spots to skip through without filling my boots - they're still wet from yesterday but it's nice to keep them a bit lighter.

The last slip is a big one - boulders and smashed trees have been carried across the river which was probably blocked for a while. It's still active so I don't hang about crossing the debris field to the stream on the other side.

A pause to fill the camel back and it's climbing time - just after 8am.

From the shape of the land this is not a route that people are likely to have taken previously and I am unsurprised to find no trails - it's reasonably open though under a good canopy - free of supplejack and kiekie. It's a steady climb up the side of the spur and onto the top of it at 780m.  From here it climbs more gently through 815 towards a junction and a turn westwards. There's a lot of windfall so not speedy progress.

The vegetation changes a few times and a bit of a trail develops over 1024 and the next wee knob. I wonder whether some of the changes are still related to the 1936 storm that smashed the forest in this part of the range.

Pt 1024

At 9.55 I'm at pt 1015 on the long Oriwa Ridge.  Last time through here was in the pitch black and it was a bit tricky - I'm hoping daylight will speed things up.

This is another one of those areas with fond and not so fond memories - the first time through (fond)was one of my early forays off track as part of a slightly harebrained idea of getting from Poads Road to Otaki Forks with no stream crossings (doable - although at the forks you have to cross at least one water course to get to the carpark). The second time (not so fond) was an aborted attempt to get into the Otaki headwaters resulting in the aforementioned late night staggering about off track in the dark.

Today, it's a warm calm morning and I can potter along and find the occasional piece of orange tape to guide progress.

Climbing out of the bush into the tussock I hear voices on the breeze and see a group of trampers at the memorial half a K away.

I divert to the top of Waiopehu (11am) just to confirm I've dunnit before dropping onto the track and down to the hut.

Top of Waiopehu

It's empty of course but the log shows that there have been a few people through.

Horowhenua Plains from Waiopehu Hut

Top up water, fill in log, admire the view and head off at 11.20. I'm now of a mind to be on the way home so although it's a pleasant track I keep as quick a pace as I can manage, passing a family, a couple and a man, son, dog combo before exiting the bush onto hot, dry farmland.

At 1.15 it's taken a little under 2 hours from the hut and 5 and a half from my campsite. A lot quicker than I was expecting and giving the lie to the 'ambitious' claim on my intentions sheet. The carpark is even fuller than when I left - I get changed whilst warding off three avaricious and completely unafraid chooks intent on exploring the car interior.

Postscript

I could quite happily head back to the Otaki headwaters. There's lovely little camping spots and the river is mostly pretty gentle from what I saw. Plenty of opportunity to explore spurs and I only followed a fraction of the river let alone side streams. There even seemed to be a more genteel variety of scrub then some parts not too far to the north. However this may just be due to the depredations of voracious quadrupeds.

The Ohau River was as enjoyable as ever and I didn't mind the extra climbing up Butchers Creek.

I contemplated following Blackwater or Makaretu Stream rather than the track out from Waiopehu Hut but had basically had enough by then - either would be a good option on a nice day with time in hand.

And of course - only 13 spot heights left now - maybe this season after all?