Pourangaki

This is a Ruahine trip from a couple of years back - in the times before I got sucked into working in the great COVID machine.  There are a few others on the drawing board from around that time that I haven't quite got around to tidying up ... 

Hut bagging isn't usually my thing but they are generally in interesting spots and often give a good focus to a trip.  This weekend I'm taking the Monday off and have my eye on filling in some gaps in the Western / central Ruahines - Kelly Knight and Pourangaki Huts and a circuit of the tops.  

Western Ruahine trips tend to be logistically complicated with the legendary landowner reluctance to give access. This weekend is further complicated by recent dampness making the rivers a little uncertain and a shaky looking forecast making the tops potentially inhospitable. 

I design a trip from the Mania road end (the next one north from the access point for Rangiwahia Hut) with plenty of assessment points and bail out options. The Palmerston North DOC office confirms that it is still public access across farmland so all systems are go. 

What:    Hut bagging and tops
Where:  Pourangaki
When:    5-6 September 2020
Who:     Solo

It's been a while since I've been up this side of the range and I have to pay attention not to breeze past the Haywards turn off.  A grey dawn breaks on the way up the coast and I pause for a second breakfast at the Fielding bakery (basic but good).

Up through Kimbolton to Peepoday, then onto gravel and into Mania road which winds up into the hills. 

It's not a big area to park with a few gates to keep clear of.  There's a couple of cars in already so I tuck in behind the shipping container. 

I assume these will be hunters as I'm thinking there aren't a lot of trampers likely to be choosing this track today.

9.05 - orange triangles lead up farm tracks through a few gates and eventually I step over a fading fence into scrub then bush.

A good track sidles along climbing gently through increasingly mature forest.

A couple of hunters and a wee dog are heading out - they've been down on terraces by the Pari Stream. One deer seen and no deer shot. One of them is a first timer and is quite voluble about the experience.  

Ten minutes later I bump into another solo hunter and another chat.  He notes that there was snow on the tops in recent days - this gives me a bit of pause as I'm a bit leery about reports of a southern face near Te Hekenga which might have a bit of an icy chute if conditions are wrong.

He hasn't seen the others but suspect they pushed the game away from him as he's seen nothing this morning. I wonder if he's at all concerned that he was wandering about in the same patch of bush with two others looking for something to shoot. 

I'm happy to know that they are now all behind me and heading in the opposite direction.  And there's plenty to be happy about here - it's beautiful big forest and a lovely track. It keeps flat for a good while before steepening for the leap upwards.  About an hour from the road end there is a hunters camp on the spur - not sure where they would get water.

It's calm but the clag soon hems the spur in - the sounds of the Pari drift up through the grey void to my left.

The slope eases and the track becomes wide and open - probably about 1100m.  Soon wee patches of snow start turning up - I wonder what it will be like 400m higher.

Breaking into the tussock, the tops are broad and fade to grey in all directions. A sign indicates three hours back to the road end (11.10). The foot pad comes and goes but I suspect it tends to follow towards the true right of the ridge.

There's a little bit of wind and the clag stays close.

The snow gradually gets thicker on the ground and as I ease onto the rounded top of the ridge the wind starts to make itself felt with occasional drifts of drizzle. From walking through snow I'm now walking on snow - there's little visibility.

The map shows two wee spurs bearing NE off pt 1635 - I can't see enough to pick the right one so just head on down towards the next saddle on the main ridge.  In retrospect - I was on the first (western and wrong) spur but easily transfer to the other on the way down.  Coming back, the eastern most has a foot trail and odd cairn but no marker at the top for where to turn. The landscape and veg are gentle enough though and the saddle is broad so there are no dramas.

Reaching the saddle there's a cairn - not sure what it's marking, possibly where to start sidling to reach the track to Triangle Hut.

The snow gets deeper and I lose any foot trail - soon I'm starting to have to kick steps as the slope  steepens. The wind rises further driving drifts of rain but apart from my feet I'm warm enough if I keep moving.

The slope eases to the top where a small wooden post bears an old tin plague - Maungamahue.

I plug on with my head down into the wind and rain. A growing sense of unease has me checking the map - I thought I had followed a bearing over the top before veering NW but it doesn't feel right. Plugging back to the top I recheck and confirm that I had indeed drifted onto a spur that would soon drop steeply into a fairly precipitous part of the Pari headwaters. 

A rain gauge looms out of the clag in the next wee saddle, followed by a gentle slope up to the next top. The land beyond drops dramatically into the headwaters of one of the Pourangaki River tributaries.  Right is the ridge to Te Hekenga and beyond to Sawtooth Ridge - left the ridge drops giving two marked routes to huts in the Pourangaki catchment. 

The navigational challenges continue - I make slightly better time than expected and overshoot the saddle to pt 1614 - dropping to a small stream (marked) and then having to kick up the snowy slope on the other side.

The wide tops are dimly visible through the clag and finally a single waratah emerges. I'm confident that I'm slightly west of pt 1614 so try to follow the stakes and an intermittent foot trail.

A word of warning - the stakes through here are sporadic to the point that I don't think it should be marked on maps as a poled route.  In the clag the next stake is seldom visible and in the snow the foot trail is quickly lost (probably not very obvious without snow either). 

For some reason a couple of poles lead you onto the left most spur coming off 1614 but the trail then switches to the right most - if you study the map carefully this is what is indicated.  I get a little way along the wrong spur before becoming suspicious and again crossing to kick up onto the correct spur.

The route remains confusing in the clag with the odd red herring thrown in by a dry stalk of spiky spaniard masquerading as a waratah.  I follow compass and nose to a weathered old sign and then a stronger foot trail leading through increasing scrub.  It's still not straightforward though with strong animal trails and thick tussock to confuse things.

Once into the trees though the track is easy to follow and drops fast. 

Kelly Knight Hut (3.35) is a standard number set in a wee clearing - I'm a bit distracted with the amount of daylight left to get up river to Pourangaki hut so don't pay it due attention. 

The log book shows a DOC visit two days before and no one else since mid March.  That's COVID I guess.  

After a short rest I turn my attention to the map to see whether Pourangaki Hut is on the cards. I've seen estimates of 2-4 hours up stream.  At the short end I should have daylight up my sleeve - at the long end I will be finishing the river travel by torchlight - not a prospect to relish.  I decide to plug on as I have a fly if needed and it means I'll have more options in the morning.  I get underway again shortly before 4pm.

I drop to the river bed just before the bridge to find the water level a little raised but running clear and looking quite doable.

There's not much to report about the up river section - wet feet and pretty straight forward.  Would be quite enjoyable on a hot day.  The lower reaches have enough map features to be confident about where you are but the side streams get sparse further up. 

The light is starting to flag when I reach a junction and have a momentary frisson of doubt that I might have over shot.  Two steps later I see a DOC marker up the true right branch and popping onto a rocky outcrop the swing bridge appears just upstream on the main river.

It's a little after 5.30 so it has taken a little over an hour and a half from Kelly Knight.  

 

Down stream from the Pourangaki Swing Bridge

Across the swing bridge the track climbs steeply onto a spur which levels and narrows to a knife edge where a sign marks the track down to the hut in a sizable clearing.  At 5.50 there's just enough daylight left to gather wood for a fire and set sopping clothes to dry - and with no-one else present I can spread out all I like.

The night is quiet barring a few heavy bands of rain and it's still relatively calm in the morning.  Clag wisps through the trees up slope, suggesting more of the same as yesterday.   

The forecast is a bit rougher today and I just don't fancy risking the long route around the tops - it's probably doable but the margins are a bit too fine for my liking and it seems entirely too likely that I will get across Sawtooth ridge only to be beaten by an icy south face approaching Te Hekenga.

I decide to head up the track from the hut to rejoin my route from yesterday at pt 1614 and assess whether it might be a goer to approach Te Hekenga from the west and bash down the spur to Triangle Hut.  It's a cold morning as I pull on almost dry clothes and get away around 7am. 

Plodding up I'm split between not wanting to miss another day exploring and the prospect of thrashing through snow laden leatherwood after being battered on the tops.  

The clag holds thick and the wind starts getting up.  Bands of drizzle come through.  On leaving the bushline I huddle in the tussock to pull on coat and balaclava.

These northern slopes are almost clear of snow - so the climb is steepish but straightforward. Near the top I get a brief glimpse of a sign a little way right along the ridge but don't bother heading along to it. I take a bearing and head for the saddle I missed yesterday.  

The snow is deeper on this side, but after kicking my way down I'm soon climbing a bare slope out of the saddle. 

On the ridge I follow my foot steps from yesterday - the rain and wind has eroded them and they are interspersed with what looks like the tracks of a largish mustelid that has come through since I did.  Pretty inhospitable territory I would have thought.

By the time I get to the top just short of Maungamahue, the cold wind-blown drizzle and increasingly numb feet have me a bit cautious about continuing into the unknown and unpleasant.  But to be honest, the decision to pull the plug and head back to the road end has more to do with comfort and being fed up with the view than risk.

I retrace my route past the rain-gauge and up to Maungamahue.

Leaving the top I drop a little low and have to sidle into the saddle but find my way back to the cairn without dramas. There's definitely less snow today.

There's a strongish foot trail up the eastern most spur out of the saddle, the wind rises and it get's damper. 

I have to concentrate a little harder following the trail to the bushline (it's always easier coming up) as it is mostly pretty faint with plenty of animal trails. Finally the sign comes into view and the spur narrows.  It's a mild relief to stop thinking about navigating and just potter on down into the forest.

Nothing else to report - I'm back at the car by 1pm for an early trip home.  It is pretty forest in the foothills here and worth a day trip in it's own right (not sure if there are any swimming holes in the Pari Stream but it would be worth checking). 

Postscript

Winter trips with marginal forecasts are always bound to throw up a few plan changes.  There's always that question about whether you should go or not. I tend to think that provided you've thought it through and have some credible contingency options, than a sketchy forecast doesn't necessarily mean a weekend at home. 

In this case, the conditions on the tops were more marginal than I expected - comprising more settled snow than anticipated and more wind and clag than forecast. This meant a bit more effort required on the Saturday and the decision not to head around the intended tops route on the Sunday.  

Mania Road is a good road end option - not much parking though. The tops the track leads to would be pretty benign in good weather - but, being broad, they can be a little tricky navigating in clag. Assume the route is unmarked and you won't be put out by the lack of marking.