Tawhero

Tawhero is a tree (similar to kamahi).  And also a minor hill (981m) between the Ruamahanga and Makakahi catchments to the south of Kaipororo (near Mt Bruce on the east side of the Tararua range) - it's not the objective of the exercise today but is the only named point for this trip. 

This will be my third (and probably last) visit to the catchment. This first time ended with a salient lesson in navigation and a little too exciting exit down the swollen Makakahi river. The second time was just a few weeks back.  This time I'm aiming to explore some spots on the south side above the Ruamahanga, and pick up the spur I missed first time around.

What:    Navigation and spot-heighting daytrip
Where:  Kaipororo area - north eastern Tararuas
When:   1 September 2018
Who:     Solo
Map:

Tawhero in the scheme of things

A day in the bush - purple line is a previous, somewhat eventful trip

A van is already at the road end and a ute pulls up as I'm getting ready - first time I've seen anyone here. A pack of dogs leap out and set about being dogs - investigating all things sniffable and generally larking about. I quickly work out he is heading across the river whereas I have designs up river - so we won't get in each other's way.

I haven't put my boots on for a good month and am somewhat put out to discover that a dead mouse has taken up residence. This explains the whiff in the car and interest from one of the dogs. It's cloudy and cool but not looking like rain.

At 7.25am I head up the well-formed road and past the gate.  It's quick work to get to the end of the trails marked on the map. I took some photos and noted timing on the way back so here's some gratuitous pictures to prove it.

Gate at end of public road 

5 minutes later, turn right to cross a wee stream in a culvert

2 minutes later - beehives. Cross the turn-around
area and keep heading up track

After a parking area with beehives the track soon turns sharp left and dives up hill.  I want to go up river not uphill, so smash down through regrowth.  It's mixed going with some old forestry tracks which come and go and the odd overgrown fence.  (On the way out I note that an old trail runs off before the beehives - this would be the smart pick if you are going up river).

2 minutes later - track heads left, steeply up hill

25 minutes from the car I've crossed the creek I struggled down last time and started up the spur.  It took a lot longer to get to the carpark from here last time in the dark with the river up.

The bottom of the spur has some clearings and is a bit scrubby but I have no problems working my way up.  At about 530m (8.10am) saplings give way to large trees and a decent canopy. There's a few signs of foot traffic other than animals, and every now and again an odd bit of pink tape.

Bottom of spur

530m (looking down spur)

The going is so good that I'm on Tawhero (981) by 0930. This is where I overshot last time (coming along the ridge from the west) and ended up dropping into a creek. This time I'm a little more practiced and have no troubles working along the ridge to spot-height 957 (9.55am).

Despite what the map says, this is where the scrub starts. There's a lot more view than last time - the ridge line around the Makakahi catchment is clear, and occasional streaks of snow mark the peaks on the ranges to the west - what's visible of them as a norwester is pushing a mound of cloud onto the range. South, I'm looking straight up the stream below Blue Range Hut to Te Mara with the invisible Ruamahanga somewhere in between.

I can also clearly see my next spur departing due south from the ridge towards the river, 600m or so  below.  It would be pretty tricky to find in clag but there is a little knoll to the east of 962 that marks where to turn. The scrub is one of the more benign forms with odd trails meandering through.

From 957 

There's a short bit of scrub to break through but I am soon on a well shaped spur heading down. The forest is beautiful with tall mature trees. It's generally easy to follow with a good ground trail. Much better than the spur through to the west via 811. A couple of deer keep ahead of me for a short distance before drifting off the side of the spur.

After the second long flat section I reach 640 and take a bearing to dive off the side of the spur eastwards. This bit could be tricky - the map shows a steepish drop into a narrow stream. It turns out to be okay; through reasonably open bush and I hit the stream 15 minutes later pretty much bang on where I was aiming. It's about 11.25am.










It's a good sized wee creek, clear but mossy and slippery in the narrow valley. I pick may way carefully pausing for a spot of lunch.

There's little to choose from in terms of routes up to 865. For the sake of aesthetics I take what looks to be a shapely wee spur. Again - easy, open bush and arriving at 12.40.

865 - or it could be pretty much anywhere else really

After a breather at 865 the ridge line has a nice trail most of the time.  Just past 865 (10 minutes or so) there's a perfect wee rocky outcrop looking south and west - it demands another stop to admire the view.  There's plenty of time and the day has cleared.

The second to last spot-height (783) is a bit scrubby - you get a view if you stand on tip toes.  From here I want to pop down to 670 - there isn't a well defined spur and a promising ground trail disappears. I drop too far right and have to regain height.  650 is a pleasant spot for a final breather with some lovely big trees, I rest with my back against a massive rimu and suck down some of my carefully hoarded water. At 2.05pm it's nice to be relaxed about time.

650 and rimu

You would expect to see signs of people as there are old logging trails marked on the map further down the spur and this is an obvious way to the ridge. The trail back up slope to 783 isn't that clear though. Still, up is not a hard direction to follow.

With the spot-heights for the day all safely in the bag I have my sights set on the car now.  The spur down from 783 has a strong trail and is easy going with long flat sections.  I follow the compass and eventually when it starts to drop again pick a spot to angle down and join a marked forestry trail at 2.55pm.  This proves to be a tunnel through spindly regrowth but reasonably clear and quick.

Forestry track

The trail eventually reaches an area with pines and drops rapidly. Some parts are overgrown but in general it is pretty easy to find your way.  At the bottom I am quietly pleased to pop out exactly where I thought I'd be - at the end of the trail from the beehives and it's just before 3.10pm. Wandering along the road there's no sign that anyone else has been along today - a quail explodes from a tree as I approach, a kereru labours into the air and the odd tui flits by.

At a little past 3.15pm it is an unprecedentedly early time to be finishing - and so much more comfortable than sploshing along the road in the dark and the rain.

Postscript

This was a surprisingly pleasant trip.  A nice distance to bite off in a day and you don't need to do the silly bits to pick up the spot-heights to the south of the ridge.  There is a bit of manky pine and regrowth in the opening and closing sections, but the bush is delightful with some large trees and cathedral like sections.  The scrub is a bit miserable in bad weather but no real challenge today.

I suspect few people wander around the south slopes above the Ruamahanga because you have the gorges to contend with. All up - well worth an explore and good navigation practice.

Kaipororo North-East

Several things have conspired to keep me from tramping.  The odd ski trip (Turoa, a splendid sortie to Treble Cone, and almost Whakapapa), cycling (leisurely selections from Nelson's great taste trail and the West Coast wilderness trail) and mid-winter ennui. The upshot - completely unfit and needing a bit of an enthusiasm boost to get back into the bush.

Brother number one has suggested picking up a Mountain film festival event in Masterton followed by some local fine dining - being a Saturday night this fits in perfectly with a gentle day trip or two to ease back in. Also a chance to test my new scrub pants.

The area in mind is a little peninsula of Tararua forest park in the east surrounded on three sides by farmland. There seems to be little to draw anyone there, but there are a number of random spot-heights - these promise to be navigationly challenging with the possibility of some hidden gems.

What:    Spot-heighting daytrip
Where:  North East of kaipororo (near Mt  Bruce)
When:   18 August 2018
Who:     Solo
Map:



Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre is off screen to the bottom right somewhere

The Kaipororo road end is easy to get to, but there's little to indicate you're there. First left after the Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre then head to the end of the road. There's a small turn-around area just before the road either dives into the river or heads up through a single bar gate.

It has changed though. A large road has been cut through the river and the other side is churned up with piles of smashed logs and branches. The usual route to the trig (and the plane crash site) heads left - about 8.10am I head right, to climb rapidly (and muddily) up a logging trail cut in to massive ruts by log haulers.

It starts ...

Logging carnage

Although vegetation will quickly recolonize, the area is a typical forestry mess- it doesn't take much imagination to see how much sediment and tree debris will get into the waterways.

Towards the top of the spur the loggers have left piles of untrimmed logs across the trail. These are a bit tricky to climb through but soon I'm in uncut pines on the ridge; a little before 9am.  The going gets easy again.

It's cool and trying to drizzle so the undergrowth is wet once I get out of the pines. There are signs of trails though and some old 4WD tracks in places, so progress is straightforward. At one point as I climb towards 724 I find a head torch on the ground - it still goes but looks like it has been there for a while. I pocket it as rubbish.

It looks like trails have come up many of the major spurs at some time, and from time to time there are venetian markers.  In general, any trail tends to hang off to the east of the ridge with more scrub in the west.

When there are views, there's not much to see as it's cloudy with patches of rain. However, it's sufficient to keep a good idea of the local lie of the land. This area is bordered on three sides by farmland so any glimpse out gives a good positional fix.

From near 763

From 763 the ridge drops away and an area of scrub gives a view north down the stream I intend to cross a little later. The first business though is spot height 660. The map shows it hovering right on the edge of the forest park boundary and is probably outside, depending on your screen resolution. I've decided to count it in just in case, but it adds a big loop to the day.

660 turns out to be one of two knobs on the farm side of the boundary fence - wasted effort! However, there's a cute wee hut perched on the farmland at the edge of the park. It's tucked behind a knob and is pretty much invisible from all angles except from my ridge. There's no stock about so I follow the fence down for a nosy.

Someone's hunting hideaway by the looks of it. At 11.30am I'm less than half way through the plan so I stick to the farmland to get down to the stream. Part way down the steepish spur a medium size black pig charges across my path and shows a surprising turn of speed across the open ground as it disappears towards the distant scrub.

Across the stream a farm track gives access onto my spur up. Cattle have trampled a trail well up into the bush so the going is again easy. A deer trots up the trail ahead before deciding I'm too close and melting off the side of the spur.

At the top there is again signs of an old trail - I follow north to pick up 695 then return towards 763. Before reaching the top and the trail from this morning, I take a bearing across the face of the 'peak' for a wee knob and a spur down into the headwaters of the Makotukutuku Stream. This is entertaining navigation with plenty of chance for error.

View to main range from wee knob WNW of 763

At the bottom (2.45pm) I'm not 100% sure which stream junction I've hit, but a bit of casting about and I'm comfortable to make the call when I think I've reached the bottom of the spur to 540.

This is not the only Makotukutuku stream in the Wairarapa. The other is on the south coast and is where the original for the replica wharepuni (sleeping house) at Te Papa Tongarewa was located (proper spelling: Mākōtukutuku). My best guess for the meaning of the name is white (or pale) tree fuchisia (kotukutuku). I can't say as I noticed much in the way of fuchsia, pale or otherwise.

The stream is well shaded in the bush so has that grey mossy look that signals the need for care (and sporadic log jams). Running shoes are not the best suited so I leave the stream bed as soon as possible. At 540 I angle north around the slope and drop towards the stream again.

The downside of this sort of navigation is that I don't know where I hit the stream, and it's really hard to judge progress. Stream travel is slow and it's difficult to judge the average bearing, and which side streams are big enough to be marked on the map. The map suggests some terraces near the bottom of the spur to 645 but these aren't really apparent - the side stream however is obvious and the line of the main stream indicative so, again, I'm pretty confident to head up for the final climb of the day.

About now the lack of fitness starts to show. There's animal trails and easy going under the canopy but around 645 there are some clearings with wind-thrown trees. These type of clearings are a little too common in this neck of the woods. Piles of beech trees form a deep tangle covered in scrub and bushlawyer with pitfalls and rotten branches. In this country it pays to avoid heading towards the light when you're under the canopy as it probably signals another painful scramble.

The slope becomes flatter so I start drifting left to take advantage of the more open travel under the canopy and avoid hitting the clearing on the ridge too early. From previous experience parts of it are scrubby with deep tussock and can be swampy.

Eventually (5.25pm) I emerge into the light to see snow on the main range and the long gradual uphill. It's one of those interminable trudges with the trig stubbornly always just beyond the horizon. The snow is definitely apparent in the air temperature.

A bit chilly on the main range

As scrub goes, it's not so bad really. If you pick your line you can avoid the worst - it's just that it takes a bit of energy to keep pushing through the high tussock.

Around 6pm at the trig it's getting dim and it's well dark in the bush.  Some thoughtful soul has put reflective spots on the track markers so it's easy to follow down with the headtorch picking out three markers ahead. After a wee knob the track emerges onto an overgrown logging track.  This takes me down through a tunnel of trees before hitting the open skies where the loggers have been. The track is carved up but drops quickly and easily to the morass at the bottom.

The one downside of this trip is that you start and finish with wet legs - the river is just above knee height as I wade across to the car to quickly stash wet gear and head out. Just under an hour late for dinner.

Post script

It's not a spectacular part of the range but a good spot to practice navigation. The scrub wasn't as bad as expected and there was plenty of relatively easy travel under regen forest. Old markers indicate that people have wandered all over the place, and with the surrounding farm land I suspect there is quite a bit of hunting (two deer, one pig and one goat noted for the day).

My Moa scrub trousers performed well - a shell with a microfiber lining, they stayed warm when wet and weren't to restrictive. I ended up with way less holes in my legs than usual. They weren't sold as scrub pants and at $100 (sale) are slightly expensive as they will get wrecked fairly quickly. The upside was that being black nobody noticed them in the restaurant despite still shedding water from the last river crossing.

Kaiparoro

Over the past few month I've been exploring some of the foothills in the eastern Tararuas so it was inevitable that Kaiparoro would eventually catch the eye. I'd never really noticed this out of the way corner near Mt Bruce; defined by an acute bend in the Ruamahanga and neatly containing the Makakahi headwaters.

Information on the internet is fairly sparse but there are a number of references to a plane crash site, some geocaches and a few trip reports (see links at end).  The weather forecast is a bit unpleasant and the map says there's only a few clearings so it looks like it will provide good navigation practice.

What: Solo one day trip 
Why: Visit air crash site, navigation practice in unpleasant weather, visit neglected wee corner of the Tararuas
Where: Makakahi catchment, Kaiparoro and Tawhero
When: 30 July 2016
Map:  Link to map

It's a short drive up a gravel road off State Highway 2 to the road end which is exactly that and no more. A turning bay, a barrier across the road ahead and no signs to indicate a track. At about 7.20am I follow a 4WD track a few meters down to the river which is unexpectedly at normal flow; calf deep but no avoiding wet feet.

Kaiparoro road end

Morning light

Across the river the track is pretty easy to follow although I head up an old forestry track at the wrong point and rather than back track just bash up through manky pine forest to regain the track. There's a few old forestry tracks about and I don't see any DOC track markers until well up the hill. The track up the hill is an old bulldozed forestry track so solid, wide and easy to follow.


It changes from pine to Manuka then mature bush as it climbs. To the east the sun angles in through the tall trunks.


The track to the trig is well marked but not sign posted, leaving the bulldozed track as it starts heading off to the right; about 40 minutes after leaving the car.

Turn off to Kaiparoro

Less than a kilometer later the track to the crash site is easy to find and follow; 55 minutes from the car and about 20m before the bush opens onto the top clearing. A solid ground trail leads off to the left and there are some markers on the trees (easier to see from up hill). The trail is well marked and potters along to the spur then follows it down aways, the first intimation of the crash is a piece of aircraft alloy tied to a tree (15 minutes from main track). Within a few minutes the track ducks into a small gully on the spur with a tiny stream (probably dry in summer).

The aluminium cross is the first thing that emerges in the relative dimness. Lodged in a small mossy cairn by a trickle of water with pieces of aircraft strewn around the slopes. The pieces seem to lie pretty much as they would have after the plane smashed into the spur, scattering debris as it disintegrated.

Near the cross an engine has settled solidly into the gully floor with ferns growing around it and water running through it. The cowlings have been ripped away exposing the workings (by modern standards simple). It is all remarkably undisturbed, small and loose pieces that thoughtless souvenir hunters would usually pilfer are still there. A few have been collected and put by the cross where the pilot and sole occupant, Flying Officer David Leary (aged 27) is buried.

Flying Officer David Leary

Engine nacelle

I don't try to find all the wreckage on the spur but take a few photos and then sit for a bit. It's sad that the pilot was so young, and unsettling to think what the last few split seconds must have been like; the ridge emerging suddenly from the clag leaving him just enough time to realise the inevitable and grit his teeth. The wreckage lay undiscovered for a year.

In the scheme of things it is just one accident in 1952; a long time ago. The nature of the tragedy however lends itself to attributing human sentiments to the site, ascribing a somber character to this unremarkable spur in a less fashionable corner of the Tararuas.

Sitting in the quiet forest I take some time to think about my uncle Scott who died recently in a car accident. The similarities: a truck appearing out of nowhere and the resultant destruction. And the differences: 83 years of life well lived and loved compared to 27 years that might have stretched to 91 today.

Changing mental gear I head back up the spur to the clearing at the top of the ridge.  The trig is visible across the russets and greens of dracophyllum, leatherwood and tussock. It's quite a pretty landscape. The weather is threatening in the west and clear in the east, on the ground there are occasional tiny patches of snow.

Clearing at top of Kaiparoro

Kaiparoro trig

West ... my route is along the lumps to the left

Kaiparoro trig - somewhat weather beaten

From the trig I can't find a specific ground trail but take a bearing for the saddle to the east, it's not to bad travel across the broad top although a little scrubby in places. I duck into the bush a little bit early thinking the going will be easier - it isn't so return to the clearing until the top of the route into the saddle. There's some tape at one point but it is a little tricky on the broad face before the ridge forms a defined top. Once under the canopy travel improves and some ground trail comes and goes.

A veritable Totara lawn sprouting from a suspended log

I'm trucking along on a good ground trail and overshoot 835 - coming back to the clearing from the north and having to find my way across it. The clearing is to be avoided; masses of fallen timber and bushlawyer. As soon as I can, I get onto the south eastern side of the ridge where game trails and possibly some old tramping tracks provide some reasonably good going.  Thrashing through the odd clearing or wandering off line slows net travel down a bit.

At a couple of nondescript points there are metal survey pegs in the ground - they are not on top of the ridge or near any particular feature that I can see.

Random survey stake

View south to where I'm heading
I think that's Tawhero on the left and 962 towards the right  

The wind is well up now and it's trying to rain.  It's sheltered in the bush but the clearing at 858 is unpleasant and I don't find an easy route across. This is the first area on the route where I have been expecting navigation to be tricky.  At 12:15 I'm looking out for indications of a route towards the Roaring Stag track; a little over a km away down a gentle shelving spur. There are three markers on a tree at a point where I suspect you would head off. After that there's some ground trails but it's a little wandery getting through the saddle to climb up towards the southern ridge and point 962.

Probably marking the route towards the Roaring Stag track

The wind is strong now and at one point I step gingerly past a tree that is rocking alarmingly, its roots lifting the mossy ground at its base. Whilst well formed, the track passes under low branches which indicate more animals than people pass this way. There's a few scrambly bits on the way up but it's not too bad bush bashing to get to the scrub which has a bit of a trail.

At the top the wind is strong and cold. Turning east it's a struggle to keep from being blown about and stinging rain and sleet quickly numb one cheek. It's somewhat mixed travel along the ridge, the scrubby section's aren't the worst but the legs get a battering against the tough leatherwood and the wind hurtles between the knolls on the ridge. Under the canopy going is good and I've overshot Tawhero before I know it. The altimeter has given up the ghost so I'm a little short of confident of my exact location but know that in this weather I'm not keen on trying to find my way around to a possibly non-existent route off the south side of Tawhero.

The streams draining the north of the ridge in to the Makakihi look not too steep and not too big so I'm relaxed about dropping down a spur or a creek. I select a spur and start down. It runs out all too soon with a steep clamber into a creek which promptly pops over a water fall or two. The creek gets gradually bigger as I follow it down or sidle around waterfalls. It is far slower going than anticipated and there are some slightly hairy climbs hanging off trees on precipitous, loose, greasy slopes. Each foot and hand hold well tested before moving to the next.

The creek intersects a larger creek and I confirm my location. The stream is now quite large and periodically there are huge logs jammed together and rotting into the creek bed. They're slick as ice. More unmarked side streams join and the odd pool starts to climb up the thighs. Heavy rain comes down between the steep valley sides.

There are a few points where there is room to leave the stream and potter along old terraces but more and more time is spent in the water. The going is even slower now as the odd gorgish section has to be circumnavigated and more care is required during the multiple crossings.  The deeper sections are now mid-drift deep and the light is starting to fade although it's only just after 4pm. I haven't seen any signs of humans passing this way.

Fumbling and stumbling down the stream in the gloom I'm putting off getting the head torch out and negating all peripheral vision. Just as I'm about to give in to the inevitable, a mass of white water ahead marks the junction with the Makakihi River. One last very careful crossing of my stream and I take a break to crack out the light and check the map. It shows there's a stretch of about 300m river travel to the next creek where I can join a forestry track for 500m to the car.

It rapidly becomes pitch black and it's quite a different river from this morning. I estimate almost a metre up and with steep scrubby sides that provide precious little opportunity to get out of the water. It's very slow going waist deep in the river edge keeping out of the main current and hanging off trees. Occasional sorties along the bank are possible but in the torch light it's impossible to tell the height of a face and I figure that trying to get to a possibly non existent terrace is not worth the risk of a fall.

After a false alarm I reach the marked side stream and thrash along the bank a short distance before finding the edge of the road.  What a relief - wide and flat, I can shamble along at a slow trot in the rain back to the car. At 5pm it's as dark as midnight.

Once stopped the cold rapidly takes hold, I hastily chuck sopping kit into the car and hit the road. The legs have taken a fair old battering from the leatherwood and rocky stream bed and I am a long way from being thawed-out by the time I get to Carterton for the now habitual blagging of a shower, good food and bed.

Post Script

I certainly got my money's worth for the day and learnt a few lessons. In retrospect (and pretty obviously) I could have spent a few minutes longer below Tawhero to work my around to the big spur leading down to 650. This would have been quicker and easier than the creek.

The crash site is worth a visit if you're interested in that sort of thing. It's hardly a navigational challenge now though. And while you're there it would be pointless not to visit the trig which has some interesting views. The nav practice around the rest of the route is worthwhile and there would be some good views on a clear day. Be prepared for a bit of bush bashing - it took a fair while for my bruises to fade.

Probably the most sensible trip in the area would be to head through to Roaring Stag via 713 rather than completing the circuit. Another option would be to come up the Ruamahanga and take the spur opposite Cleft Creek to get to Tawhero then connect with one of the old 4WD tracks to get down to SH2 and a short walk back to your car.



Links:

Article on the crash
Geocache at site 
Tramping club trip (page 6) 
Another tramping club trip