Putaputa Shelter

Janine has her sights on another hidden hut and is keen to rope in a few punters to share the risks and rewards.  

Putaputa  Shelter has caught her eye - it's on a stream by the same name close to Kaitoke but not exactly easy to access.  It has its meandering headwaters in the confusing flat topped ridges between Kaitoke and the Akatarawa Road.  There's old forestry tracks that run nowhere in particular, and (from experience) it's easy to get mislaid.  The stream gathers itself and cuts deeply SE to join the Hutt River in the gorges between the headworks (where a large chunk of Wellington's drinking water is collected) and the treatment plant at Te Marua.  

The Maori dictionary has a few definitions for putaputa that don't give an obvious reason for the name - variations on a group of people emerging; to be riddled with holes; and openings (or pores).  

Somewhere along the stream is the wee A frame Putaputa shelter. There appears to be three main options to get to it:

• via the Ridge Track and down the spur which emerges opposite the stream, cross the Hutt River and a roughish trip up Putaputa Stream; 
• an old sidle track on the true right from the Flume Bridge at the Kaitoke waterworks;
• climb the ridge NW from Pakuratahi Forks to pt 641 and drop to the shelter.  

We don't want to risk getting to the river and not being able to cross so scotch that one; the sidle track seems a little hit and miss and I'm not confident that we will be on our timing with a largish group if we have trouble route finding; - so that leaves the ridge route. This also has the advantage that I've been through before and know that barring a bit of rough stuff at the bottom it's pretty good travel.

What:    Hut bagging
Where:  Putaputa Shelter near Kaitoke 
Who:     Angela, Callan, Laura, Janine, Mike 
When:   3 April 2022

We gather in the car park by the Forks on a fine Sunday morning at 9.30am (a little delayed due to someone forgetting their boots - not me!). 

Crossing the (to me) brand new swing bridge, we follow the tourist loop to the Flume Bridge.  I'm pretty sure the route up to the ridge starts further back but I want to have a look at the bridge and see if there is a route up the spur.  It turns out that the bridge is closed and, with the work on the surrounding slopes, I decide not to drag the group up that way.  It's entertaining to see the acrobatics that the work crew are managing on a cliff face with a small digger. 

Back up the track a short way I pick a likely spot and we thrash up through fairly mucky stuff to eventually emerge in open beech above the bridge.  In retrospect, there is a better entry point where a marked pest control line leaves the track.

I cast around but there are a lot of animal trails so I can't see any obvious trail along the gorge.  As we climb the spur we start to come across old spray marks on trees signaling that we have joined the informal track. 

As we climb on to the ridge proper, the bush becomes more mature and it's quite beautiful travel.  A bit of inevitable windfall keeps us guessing at times but it's as good going as I remember.

I'm expecting to see some marking to indicate the spur when we get to pt 641 - we don't see any so just take a bearing and bash a course down slope.  This drops us into a wee gut with a trickle of water - a bit of head scratching and I take us across and onto the spur proper - probably at about 550m.  There's a foot trail here - it looks like it meets the ridge in the saddle between pt 638 and 641 so we (I) were a little hasty leaving the ridge.

We drop to where the spur flattens as marked, and then face a final steep wee scramble down a bank to the shelter.  

The shelter is as per the photos and in good nick.  There are no obvious reasons for it to be here but it has served our purpose - an excuse to get into a corner you would not usually bother to explore.

We have lunch and consider options.  It's 2.50 and, although I am keen to explore the stream and gorge route, I don't think it wise given the pace we have managed.  Even returning the way we came I think we might be cutting it fine with daylight and park closure times (someone thinks it is 6pm at this time of year).  

We agree to head back the way we came and arrange for the hares (Laura and I) to take the car keys and race ahead should we need to ferry cars out of the park before the gates close.  

This time we manage to follow the informal trail all the way to the loop track with only a bit of casting around on the way.  Oh, and one deviation onto the wrong spur where the ridge splits at 550m - quickly identified and corrected with a thrash across the wee gully.    

We've kept an eye on the clock and decided to keep the group together - this is vindicated by our arrival time of 5.40 at the cars.  It always makes me a bit nervous splitting a group, as there are so many ways things can go pear shaped and without the ability to communicate between the two parties outcomes become quite unpredictable.  Sometimes it is just better to take the known hit of leaving a car for later pick up or having a long walk.  

All up, an enjoyable adventure close to home and still a couple of options to explore another day.