East Tararua clean out

So the plan is to visit four road ends and complete a final mop up of the remaining spot-heights in the Eastern Tararuas between Kaipororo (near Mt Bruce) to Featherston.  These are mostly in the foothills - that marginal land hovering on the edge of the forest park. Somewhat prone to gorse and scrub but generally not as bad as you find further north.

The weather forecast is miserable with a southerly front forecast - but there's no open tops or rivers to contend with so I'm just expecting to get a bit cold and wet. And even that will be transitory as the plan involves staying in the comfort of brother number one's place.

What:    Navigation, spot-heighting daytrips

When:   13-14 October

Where:  Blue Range and Waiohine

Who:     Solo

 

Roadend 1: Ruamahanga

At 7.10am I climb the style by the "No hunting, dogs will be shot" sign. It's grey with a cloud ceiling hovering around 900m.  Occasionally a flake of snow drifts out of the sky and the bush above 800m has a white dusting. It's not warm.

North end of Blue Range filling the nip

It's a bit of a boring potter along farm tracks for a start.  I stop to disentangle a sheep with it's head stuck through a mesh fence - it's been there for a while judging by the churned up mud.  It's not hard to get it out - all it really needed to do was find reverse.  It trots off with it's lamb in tow.
 

Lambing is well underway and may explain the sign on the gate. It also means a bit more care moving around the farm.

The track pops over a spur then traverses farmed flats before hitting the bush edge (and a private hut). Four deer startle from about 50m away and trot rapidly away shortly after I hit the flats. A few minutes later I see movement on a scrubby face and see another herd, they emerge one by one from the scrub - they've seen me and are wary but regroup before moving off up the face. 6 becomes 8 and then 12. Still they keep popping out of the scrub until I've counted 26.  I wait for a couple of minutes but that's all. I think the farmer needs to rethink his no hunting policy.

The huts mark the transition from farmland with a bit of scrub, to scrubland with a bit of grass. Three more deer trot off and hurdle a fence as I round a corner.

Nameless stream

The bush gets thicker until finally the park boundary and real bush.  It's pleasant going and the rain is still holding off.

Navigation is easy for the moment - I'm heading for the stream that drains the valley below Blue Range Hut - it's big and impossible to mistake. It's 8.40 and I take a few minutes to sit and study the map for the next bit.

Just before the Blue Range Hut stream

The climb is a bit scrappy across rotting forest floor for a bit but then gets drier and more open.  There may be a bit of trail but not so as you'd notice.

The first spot height for the day (9.25am) is also where I see the first dusting of snow on the ground.  At 635m it is lower than I was expecting. It gets steadily thicker as I climb. It's about now that I remember that the holes in my left boot make them less than desirable snow attire. The ground ferns have soon covered my lower extremities in cold slush.

The snow starts as a dusting, then clumps on the ferns with the ground still dark, then coats the sticks on the ground forming a black and white matrix, before finally creating a solid white layer. I stop taking photos before I reach the ridge as the southerly makes the top a far from pleasant place to linger. It's about 10.20am.

635

More snow

And more ...

Getting towards the top

Starting to get cold feet

The snow is not deep on the ground yet but I'm not about to wait around so navigate to my spur and a route down to the next spot.

 

There is a bit of pink tape but it's hard to see and I lose it shortly after dropping off spot 875. I rely on the compass to get me down to a large forested plateau where I nominally call that I've reached spot 618. This is the last one for this part of the trip. 

I'm well below the snow now and strangely reluctant to climb back into it to try to navigate to the north end of Blue Range. Instead, I bash downwards until I connect with a farm track and navigate a tortuous route through freezing rain around the toe of the range to the official track from earlier in the morning. A curious herd of young beef decide I'm more interesting than standing around in the rain and take some discouraging to stop trailing along behind.

By the time I've scrambled in and out of scrub and gullys and climbed farm tracks the sun is starting to put in an appearance.  I wouldn't say I was dry by the time I get to the car at 1.35pm but I'm a sight more cheerful than 3 hours ago.

Back at the car - a different day



Cleaning out the north end of Blue Range

Road end 2: Mikimiki

I decide to push daylight and head to the Mikimiki road end - it's probably going to be a longer walk than Kiriwhakapapa but it will give me a fighting chance of getting the two shorter trips done on Sunday.

The sun is still breaking through when I leave at 2.10pm.  The track is an old logging tramway so it's a solid base and easy going.  There's an extra bridge that's not on my map but I work out the correct one and head off track.

There are indications that people have been through, and I suspect a tramway or old road may have come in here. At one point an old rusted cable is wound around a large tree.

I find my spur and clamber up slope to the ridge. So far it's good forest (with some exotics mixed in), and easy, albeit cold and wet, going. As usual  there is a bit of a trail along the ridge although not what you'd call strong. It doesn't take long before the forest breaks up into scrub and then patchy pasture. A little before 4pm I've climbed out of the saddle and have views of where I've come from, of the Waingawa River to the south and of cloud on the ridges above.

Looking back along the ridge

Down the Ruamahanga
Holdsworth road end behind saddle on left

It's good going now following farm tracks around ridges and up to the high point for this section: Dagg.  The map is a bit uncertain about vegetation and where tracks run but it all turns out to be easy to the top.

From the top I find a 4WD track down but can't find a marked side track.  A bit of bush bashing and I'm soon in regenerating scrub with enough grassy patches to wend a way down. Across the valley the two final knobs for the day are basking in bright afternoon sun.

The old trail is still there and takes me on a zigazag course across the face, into a gully and dense forest. I cross the stream and climb to spots 560 then 600; breaking into scrub again on the way up.

The trails are in the process of disappearing - you can generally find them on the ground but some are being dropped off the later map versions.  From 600 the trail is somewhat overgrown but still quick going and it looks like hunters use it. The are views across the valley north to the points I intend to explore tomorrow above Kiriwhakapapa.




South from near 600 to the face I came down
A bit of a Dagg above

Tomorrow's business in the middle distance (615 and 613)

The track abruptly drops onto steep hillside pasture. This is a block of land we looked at buying a few years back with the idea of turning it back to bush on the boundary of the forest park. It looks like it didn't sell as the farmer is still running stock on it. I walked over enough of it at the time to know the quickest way to the bottom and the car.

It's 5.40pm on a clear sunny afternoon.  I head for Carterton arriving just in time to shower and decamp to the Wairarapa Deerstalkers annual prize giving and auction. But that's another story.

Final wander down to the car

Saturday arvo wander - part of Sunday at the top

Road end 3: Kiriwhakapapa

In the morning I have a fairly leisurely get up.  It's a beautiful morning - the expanse of horizon visible from the house makes the rising sun look small.  There's a light frost across the Wairarapa.

Janne, horrified at the idea of me putting on soaking kit in the morning has prevailed - even scrub pants are now bone dry after a night in front of the fire.

It's 8.40 by the time I leave the Kiriwhakapapa road end. Mist is curling off the grass and a lone camper van is drowsing in the sun.
.
I head straight off the track and up the hill. I'm exploring a sort of island; separated from the park by the Old Tramway Track between Kirikiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki road ends. There's no trail apart from a few very old bits of red tape. A bit of scrub on the upper reaches is of a more benign sort - a lot of animals have been wandering around up here. The map underestimates the amount of clearings though - scrub and gorse are taking over.

Clearing on the way up - weather coming in from the south

By the time I get to the top (9.50am) the temperature has dropped and rain is blowing in from the south. The going speeds up though as there is a large bulldozed track along the ridge. Frequent goat bones suggest someone comes up here shooting.

Whakapapa (735) - looking towards 725
The weather has arrived

It's less than 10 minutes to the next knob (725). Unfortunately the track heads off towards the Mikimiki road end. I bash 200m down a steep scrubby face into mixed bush. It's a little tricky but in the saddle I hit a not so old fence with an overgrown trail beside it. This leads up and over 613 and 615.

These two spots don't look like they are in the park but I'm a bit suspicious about the file I was looking at so chucked them into the trip just in case.  They also make an elegant loop trip to the saddle on the old tram track between the two road ends.

At 613 I whistle past where I should turn off and have to back track and take a bearing.  I'm soon on a gently shelving ridge top in tall forest. I know when I'm just about on the track whey I see a plastic container tucked into a hole in a tree - a geocache.  Five metres later I'm on the track. It's 11.20 and a little later than I thought I would be so I trot out to the car taking just under 20 minutes..




Sunday morning loop (Saturday arvo at bottom)

 

Road end 4: Waiohine

The day is clearing again and the roads are dry as I head for the Waiohine road end. There are plenty of cars in the park at 12.45.

The river is clear and the sun is shining as I trot across the swing bridge. This should be a straight out slog up the track, climb the knob and straight out again.  I haven't been along the track for many years though and am surprised how much work has been put into it.  There's quite a few scrambly bits across steep crumbly slopes but overall it's in good nick despite it being the tail end of winter.

I idly wonder whether there will be many people on the track, then click that this is the exact time that overnighters at Totara Flats Hut will be heading out - half to Holdsworth and half to Waiohine.  Sure enough I see 14 people on the way in. It's a bit weird having to share the outdoors with other people.

I keep a good pace up as I intend to make a dinner appointment in Tawa - the tail end of the southerly chucks the odd shower through but just as much sun. There's no navigation needed for a start: follow track to cone saddle intersection, cross bridge, climb spur.

It takes an hour to get to Makaka Stream. The spur turns out to be steep for a start and no tracks that I can see. It takes me up to an impressive plateau in mature forest.  My altimeter has drifted (probably as the front has passed) so I head to the next climb before I'm prepared to accept that I'm there. 

It's a slightly unsatisfactory end to my eastern Tararua spot heights (more on this below) - the plateau is impressive but doesn't really have a spot you can sit on and say - this is it. However, I wander across enough of it to consider it well and truly bagged before plunging back down slope. The mucking around means it's 3pm before I get back to the stream.

Is this it??

I come out bang on the bridge and motor back to the road end. Two hunters coming in (probably for a morning shoot on Totara Flats) are the only traffic. I manage to keep the same pace taking an hour to get out by 4pm.

For the second day in a row I'm out in time to get home for a rapid shower and head out for dinner. It's been a bit of a busy weekend but, with a bit of an effort, I manage to keep my end of the conversation up before heading home for a good sleep.

Mostly on-track for a change 

Postscript

On studying the maps afterwards I make the horrific discovery that I missed a spot. 432 near the Kiriwhakapapa road end is marked as being in the forest park on the edge of farmland. I am pretty confident though that it is covered in gorse with no grass in sight. Buggrit - will have to keep for another day.  By my count - 83 spots left to visit with 40 of them being in the northern Tararuas.

Blue Range and around about

What with one thing and another it's been weeks since I've been tramping. A rotten forecast precludes most of the areas on my list - tops and rivers will be places best avoided in the promised conditions. There is however one place I have been storing up for just such an occasion...

In the foothills of the Tararuas somewhere north and west of Masterton is Blue Range. At various times I have wandered down it, past the top end of it (along the Ruamahanga River) and parallel with it (down the 'SK Valleys').  It's a great place for those with a compass and a bent to leave the path well trod (although sufficient people have done so to form some pretty well worn grooves in places). In the course of these excursions I have always noted the unnamed stream running north from Blue Range hut to the Ruamahanga River and thought that it and its eastern ridge would be well worth an explore. 

I can't find much on the intranet apart from a trip report on Windy Hill tops traversing part of the eastern ridge, but I find no reference to the stream. Casting a calibrated eye across the map I figure that a loop to the hut is easily done in a day followed by a wander back to the road end via Rovers Hill (TTC did a nice wee day trip to Blue Range hut and exiting this way). All going well it might even be achievable in a day (finishing under lights). To make things a little more challenging I'll head clockwise; i.e. down the ridge and up the stream - the trickier direction of travel for both.

What:    Navigation trip
Where:  The stream north of Blue Range Hut that really should have a name
Why:     New territory and a bit of a challenge navigating down a ridge and up a stream
Who:     Solo
When:   30 April 2017
Map:      See below, small bit missed off in the north, near the mouth of the stream

At 7am the clag is low on the hills and there is one large camper van in the car-park. I've not come in at Kiriwhakapapa before and am impressed with the pretty wee valley and tidy camp spot. The tracks are also well formed.

Kiriwhakapapa Road end

About 7.20am I head into the quiet, damp bush along a wide track that follows an old tramway. Shortly, my route heads off to follow Reef Creek north passing through an impressive grove of Redwood.

There's been a bit of rain but the track surface is very good. After a while the wide track changes to a more familiar tramping track and climbs a spur about 600 vertical meters to an intersection. Right to Blue Range Hut or left to the Waingawa River. It's taken about an hour of very pleasant walking.

Blue Range near spot height  978

The track winds up and starts to follow the edge of the catchment, skirting below Te Mara and reaching the high point of the day, around 1050m.  The occasional break in the canopy confirms that although the rain is holding off it won't be for too long - and there's not a huge amount to see.

The 'view' probably the base of spurs leading up towards Mitre and other peaks

Along the ridge from 910m there is a loud whirring as a flock of birds explode from the canopy above. I can't tell what they are but there are large groups forming and coursing through the tree tops. Possibly preparatory for migration? - although it seems somewhat late in the season.

Otherwise there's not much in the way of bird life for the rest of the day apart from the odd Kereru noisily lumbering off, the high pitched twit of a rifleman and a far off tui.  Possibly a kaka too but I'm not so sure what they sound like.

I'm leaving the formed track just as it starts to drop towards the Waingawa River so reckon it will be pretty easy to find the right spot. Sure enough it's hard to miss - there's a DOC sign making sure you don't accidentally continue to wander along the ridge.

Waingawa left - unmarked ridge track continues to right

The ridge route is a common way to get to Cow Saddle so there's a good ground trail for the 0.3km to 970.  After that it gets a bit less clear. I note a couple of old markers and someone has numbered some trees but little else.

Tree H 171, what ever that's about

There's a few spots where the trail wanders away from me, particularly approaching 790 but nothing too dramatic. I potter along happily to 595 checking the compass periodically. The toe of the ridge doesn't have a well defined line so I just follow the compass and choose the path of least resistance. There's a few scrambly bits but nothing difficult. There's a bit of a soggy area on the flat at the bottom but about 11.40 I'm on the Ruamahanga River track pretty much where I was aiming for - about five minutes from the stream.

Tiny wee toadstools of the decidedly blue variety

Thoroughly unremarkable piece of track but a welcome sight none-the-less 

The track drops to the stream which is tea coloured with beer foam in the eddies. I stop for a bite to eat during which no-one passes - hardly surprising given the forecast. The rain gently starts to set in.

The stream is up but not formidable however the navigation promises to be tricky. The stream flows in a reasonably straight north east direction with lots of tributaries. The trick will be telling which side streams are marked on the map and which aren't. There's little chances of any views to surrounding landmarks, and average speed will be hard to judge (stream travel is generally slow).

I'm planning to try to count side streams, take bearings on the longer stretches, note the directions of bends and alignment of stream confluences, and guess that rate of travel is likely to be between 1 to 2 km/h.  Good theory but a fair amount of the way I'm not 100% sure whether I'm here or there on the map.

Despite the rain the stream valley is pretty. It shelves gently up with occasional terraces. There's a few log jambs and boulders to clamber over but nothing difficult. The biggest risk is injury from slipping on the slick rocks. After an hour I am nursing a wee collection of bruises - I'd have to say this type of travel probably carries a higher risk of injury than most others.

There are a few areas where I think there is a ground trail on a terrace but it's pretty hard to tell as there is a lot of animal sign and I see no markers.

I work out where I am near my target spur but mistake an unmarked stream for one on the map so end up heading up one spur early. There's no worries though as it will either reach the hut or Blue Range - either way I'm relaxed. The lower slopes are typically manky with the trees opening out further up. It's not too steep and around 300m to the top.

At the top I follow the range briefly south west then take a bearing and strike across to the spur with the hut, arriving a bit after 3.10pm (there was just one scrubby bit on the traverse).

It's a great wee hut with a nice feel to it but I figure there is enough daylight left to get me close enough to my destination to be able to finish by torchlight. I stay long enough for food, water top-up and fill out the log book (including a comment on my previous entry).

A bit soggy at Blue Range hut

View from outside the hut

It's raining steadily now and pretty much keeps it up for the rest of the afternoon. I check my head-torch is handy and take a bearing back to Blue Range.

There's a good ground trail along the ridge with just a bit of kanuka and totara that has a tendency to poke you in the face or be tougher then expected to push through.

I don't notice any markings between 810 and 927 to indicate the spur towards Rovers Hill but don't have any real trouble finding it - electing to over shoot slightly and pick it up on back tracking.

A ground trail becomes apparent as my route drops to a saddle then winds over 810 and onto Rovers Hill (with one very old marker noted en route). It's getting decidedly dim so I pause to form a plan of attack for when I inevitably lose the ground trail. The land form is simple but I don't want to drop into Reef Creek any higher up than necessary.

Just past Rovers Hill a morepork (and the inability to see the ground) signals that it is time to break out the torch. I manage to follow the trail for a surprisingly long time, then lose it, find it again, before losing it permanently around 650m, about 300m vertical to the creek on a not too steep slope.

Bashing down, supple jack is a constant irritation and the ground is periodically loose and rocky. I trend left across the slope aiming to hook up with a marked creek. This provides slightly firmer footing and periodically the sight of a cray fish scuttling away from the light.

It's a relief to reach Reef Creek but it doesn't provide pleasant travel. The rocks and logs are slippery in the rain and tricky to clamber around in the dark. Eventually a stream joins from the right - if I am where I think then the track should cross it quite close to Reef Creek. It feels like a long scramble before I see some old boards in the stream bed and shortly after, a track marker.

The wide and beautiful track allows bruised and weary legs to swing along at a better clip than has been possible for a good wee while.  The rain drifts through the torch light. It's not long before the huge trunks of the redwood grove emerge from the gloom glowing pale in the light. Wide and straight they are an improbably orderly sight after the chaos of  the native bush.
 
A sign announces that it is 0.1 km and 10 minutes to the car park - that's pretty slow travel!

At about 7.15pm and almost 12 hours after leaving, I squelch across the car park to chuck wet gear into the car. The camper van has been replaced by a caravan - I leave them for the prospect of hot soup and a hot bath at home.

Despite the rain, a great wee day trip - the rain was no great hardship but I could be tempted to head back up the stream in better weather.

Blue Range

It was about Wednesday that I realised that Blue Range was the perfect trip I've always wanted to do. It's not that I've had my eye on it for some time (I hadn't), that everyone raves about it (they don't), or even that it promises spectacular views (it doesn't). It was just that I had been casting about for the next nav trip and the area looked promising, a few trip reports on the web pretty much confirmed that it would be perfect for where I was at - after that I just couldn't wait for the end of the week.

What: Navigation trip; north to south the length of Blue Range
Where: Eastern Tararuas
When: 25 June 2016
Why: Practice navigation, first visit to Blue Range hut, self inflicted one day challenge
Who: Solo
Map: click here (without GPS track).

Blue Range is a pretty obvious 'below the tops' route with plenty of options for trips based around Blue Range hut, the Kiriwhakapapa and Mikimiki road ends and various eminently navigable spurs. Browsing through some old trip reports (links at the end for those interested), I found the fateful words "... to traverse it in a day would be a fine challenge." Up until that point I had been perfectly happy planning a weekend scramble around the Tararua foothills with a night in Blue Range hut.

Beyond the (mostly dated) trip reports and what I could see from the map, I had no idea how long it would take so packed for a light overnight tramp with a bivvy bag should I get caught out. Brother number one once again very sportingly agreed to drop me at the bridge over the Ruamahanga before Mt Bruce after we parked my car at my intended destination: the road end where the Mitre flats' Barra track emerges.

The forecast was for a reasonable Saturday degenerating into rain and gales early evening and a miserable Sunday - an added incentive to get through in a day.

Flash new sign at start of track

At 7:30 it is light but not yet sun up as I trot along the farm flats skirting the base of the hills (don't head towards the river). Where the terrace runs out, the farm track dives upwards over a spur. I happily follow the track upwards on auto-pilot through an open gate. A few minutes later I belatedly realise that I've left the usual route. I keep going though (a little guiltily as I should have notified the farmer) as I quickly figure I'm on a more direct route to my target spur.

The rising sun colours the slope above and at the right moment I pause to watch it rising above Mt Bruce. Despite the forecast it's looking to be a cracker day.

It's pretty easy to follow my nose upwards over spot heights 565 and 495 with just a couple of glances at the map to confirm where I am. There are old blue triangles on a couple of gates so this route has been used for access to the range in the past.

Dawn over Mount Bruce

From 565 to 915 - the route upwards
(Cattle Ridge on skyline to right)

The fence line and farm tracks lead up to a gate at the edge of the pasture and continues beyond but largely overtaken by regenerating scrub. As the map indicates, it leads up to 598. The rest of the way up the spur to 915 there is a fair amount of pushing through Manuka/Kanuka. There is plenty of pig and other game sign and trails and Mr Pink-tape-man has been through at some time. I have a bit of a struggle through the scrub at times and suspect that the going would have been easier off the south eastern side of the spur in more mature bush. There are occasional rocky open spaces providing views but most of the time is spent in worming through scrub that is thick on all sides and overhead.

Looking back down the spur from somewhere above 598

Reaching the forest is a relief and the pace picks up markedly. There is a lot of pink tape along the top of the ridge towards 915 which would be quite handy coming in the other direction but not really needed today. I'm not 100% sure whether it was marking the way to my spur or to one of the others.

With large trees around and the canopy far overhead there are few views to be had from now on, apart from sporadic glimpses of the ranges to the west. At times clouds spill ominously over them but at the next look are gone again.

A bit cloudy in the west

It's pretty good going along the ridge, easy to follow and often with a reasonable ground trail. I potter along at a good pace until I figure I'm on 915 with a clear ground trail ahead dropping as I am expecting. However I take a breather and haul out map and compass which inform me that I'm about to head off at 90° to my course. Fortunately no time lost but a reminder how easy it is to lose direction under the canopy.

I don't recall any other dramas along this part of the range, the trail comes and goes but travel is generally pretty good. It's a little hard to work out which spot height you've got to and which knob is unmarked but progress is pretty steady.

Approaching the clearing above Blue Range hut I find and lose the pink tape. The marked clearing is patchy dracaphylum and isn't quite as I am expecting it. In retrospect when I first hit it, instead of ducking back into the bush I should have crossed and found the hut track just beyond. As it is, I waste a few minutes skirting the edge of the scrub until I hear voices and, popping my head out of the scrub find that I'm a couple of metres from a woman standing on a large boulder. We're both somewhat surprised.

The boulder gives a view across to Mitre and surrounding peaks - all without a scrap of snow. The track is just beyond and it's a few minutes down to the hut arriving at 11:30, four hours after setting out.

Blue Range hut is a treasure. The first thing you notice is the colour - the bright sky-blue stands out cheerfully from the bush just before you notice the second thing, a large red sign incongruously declares this to be a tow away area. Someone has decorated the hut with various signs from a (hopefully) defunct hospital. It's not until you get around the other side of the hut that the third thing strikes you - a splendid view north and west to Cattle Ridge and parts of the main range peeping around it. And there is a picnic table at which to sit and enjoy it all.

Inside the hut is old but dry and tidy.

The very Blue Range Hut

"Do not enter when surgery is in process"

"Social Workers Office"A bit rude - there's no apostrophe!

The woman and her companion turn up as I sit down to lunch and we chat - they are from Massey and both are foreign students. One of them has done a good amount of tramping in the area but I detect is a little disapproving of people that hive off the marked tracks causing untold ecological damage. I figure that the loading rates in these parts of the Tararua's are not such that this is a source of serious degradation but it is a fair perspective.

Lunchtime view.  Cattle Ridge - various main range peaks centre right

It's a seriously pleasant spot so it's about 50 minutes before I drag myself away with full camel back and stomach. The boulder is too good a spot to ignore on the way past so I pop off a few more photos before continuing towards Te Mara.

Across to Mitre 
(I think it's the peak on the left)

Looking north along Blue Range on the right
The range on true left of the Ruamahanga is on the horizon 

Te Mara and boot - both at 1104m

A short way along the track to Kiriwhakapapa road end dives down the hill, I continue upwards following the track to Cow Creek. Someone has marked where the route to Te Mara leaves the track so I don't need compass and map. It's a reasonably well traveled route and I arrive at the top a little over 30 minutes after leaving the hut. The actual top is a little further on than I expect and is marked with a steel stake and a horse shoe.

A little later there's a bit of a clearing a bit past spot 995 which provides a view across the valley and along Blue Range.

Mitre on the rightLooking west from the ridge a little south of 995

And south down the ridge, Bruce Hill ahead

Around 2.10 I'm at the top of Bruce Hill and text base to say that I'm going alright and have a tricky bit of navigation coming up but think I know where I'm going. It's looking good to make it out in daylight - famous last words.

I think I know where I went wrong and will digress to relate the details as a somewhat embarrassing but salient lesson. Bruce Hill is near the boundary between my maps which makes it a little tricky to get a picture of the local topography. There is a well traveled and marked route (plastic bottle tops and old metal markers) south east down towards 535 which I followed a short distance before realising I had gone a little far. Returning a ways back along the route I took a compass bearing and headed down towards what I thought was the ridge but dropped between my desired ridge and a wee spur at grid reference 109782.

This left me thrashing around in a gully unable to see through the canopy to determine whether my ridge was to the left or right. Hearing running water I had a brain wave - it could be one of two streams which run in different directions - I located the stream and took a bearing of the direction in which it was running - concluding that it was the stream at 107784 - in retrospect I had found the stream well above where it is marked on the map at a point where it runs along a similar bearing to the other stream.

On the strength of the stream direction I sidled around on to the wrong spur but was suspicious about the rate of fall and lack of ground trail so eventually climbed a tree (any idea how few climbable trees there are in mature forest?). Sure enough, there was my ridge 300m back the way I had come. A further thrash across the gully and back up to the ridge and I was on my way again - somewhat late, chagrined and battered.

Just before 4 pm I reach a point with a cairn, a bottle on a stick and a metal marker. People have not wanted to miss this place over a fair period of time - I assume this is the southern most height 865 marking a route down to Mitre Flats. I keep on my ridge with the lowering sun streaming under the canopy reminding that there is precious little winter daylight left.

Camo-cairn

I'm surprisingly sore now from pushing through tough-bugger little saplings of kanuka, beech and, worst of all, totara. After a day of it your hands and knees are fair knocked about - leather gloves and chaps may not be such a bad idea.

The route heads on and down - a little tricky to find on the face of the ridge at times (going down is always hardest!) and there are a few occasions when Mr Pink-tape-man is very helpful in the gathering gloom.

I find my way down to the scrubby clearing at point 688 - basically the end of the range and tantalisingly close to my objective - and promptly lose the ground trail. It's tough pushing through the scrub but at least lighter than under the trees. I find one piece of pink tape but there's no apparent trail. Eventually I hazard a guess and follow a bearing back into the forest but drop further west than intended into a gully. I'm not particularly bothered as it doesn't really matter which down direction I take.

It's now difficult to see anything under the trees but given the forecast I'm not about to bivvy down for a wet and miserable night-out. The last straw is a branch flicking my glasses off, I find them by braille but it's past time to crack out the light.

A bit of care is indicated bush bashing down the gully in the dark. Initially I avoid the lush and slippery stream margins but eventually it's safer to follow the stream through supple jack rather than the loose boulders on the sides. I keep an eagle eye out for where the Barra track crosses the stream and in the end spot it easily enough (missing it isn't an option as there's a bit of a drop into the river). It's quite a relief to be able to relax and amble along the well formed track with the sound of the Waingawa drifting up from below.

It's 4-5 km from the stream to the carpark, much of it on gravel road so although it's a mild evening (despite the forecast) I'm pretty happy at 6:30 when I finally reach the car. Next - hot shower and dinner.

Post Script

The one day challenge was met although if I had left half an hour earlier and not got ... mislaid, I would have got out of the bush in daylight. All up - a grand adventure but probably smarter to do with summer daylight hours to work with.  Blue Ridge hut is great and there's any number of trips you could do around the range.

Websites

Windy - Rua to Te Mara

Windy - Mitre, Bruce

TTC Bruce lookout

TTC Kiwiwhakapapa-BruceHill-TeMara

TTC - TeMara, BlueRange

WTMC - Kiriwhakapapa Nav