Ngawhakaraua

Ngawhakaraua - if you pronounce it even half way correctly it has a certain rhythm to it. There used to be a settlement of that name on the Manawatu River but I have no idea how the name came to be associated with a scrubby knob in the north eastern Tararuas.

Last week I found my way to the mysterious Miro Valley Hut and slightly less mysterious Mangahao Biv. This week I want to explore the ridge system to the south west.

A series of gnarly spurs drop south to the Mangahao River - with recent rain the river won't be an option for travel. There's two named 'peaks' on the ridge - Ngawhakaraua and Mairehau - but I haven't heard of anyone visiting them. It's not on the way to anywhere so I suspect it will just be the odd hunter that cruises through. I'm hoping there are some trails up there but have a feeling it's going to be leatherwood central.

There's 9 spot heights that I want to visit - I'll never knock that many new Tararua spots off in a trip again on account of having only 20 to go after this trip.

There's a number of challenges to this trip - the fore-mentioned vegetation, the four spots on steep side spurs that defy an elegant route plan, no water on the tops, and I'm not sure about access.

What:     Navigation, spot-heighting, and scrub bashing
Where:   Ridge system south west of Mangahao Biv
Who:      Solo
When:    2 February
Map

Previous trips in purple

I drive to the end of Kopikopiko Road - there's a farm house but clearly not a regular residence. There's no public area to park so I figure I had better find the proper farm house and ask about access. This proves to be a couple of Ks back north along the road.

The farm manager is relatively new but is obliging - he gets me to sign farm safety forms and gives me instructions for parking behind the house and for finding the trail which is some way across the farm. He also asks that I text in when I get out.

Back along the road again and I park through a gate with a 'No trespassing' sign. With all the driving around it's after 9.

Despite listening carefully I can't make out where the trail starts - however I find something that looks rightish but proves definitely wrongish as I end up in a scrub gully. I give up and follow the farmland up disturbing 5 deer on the way.

Eventually after a bit of supple jack I find ribbons that lead up and onto the ridge I went up last time to get to Mangahao Biv. I don't deviate down any of the side spurs this time and work my way to 531. The spur down looks quite obvious so I expect to see a bit of a trail but there isn't really any. I see deer sign though and just about bump into one of the culprits - it's about 8m away when it sees me and explodes away.

The spur loses shape towards the bottom so it's a bit of a bash with some sidling to avoid getting bluffed. At the bottom there's a good sized creek which I follow to the top of a water fall - Climbing the other bank I discover I'm on a knife edge spur between two creeks (you can see it on the map). It is in the process of being eroded by both streams so is (geologically) a temporary feature. I teeter along the top before finding a way to scramble down to the other creek.

I follow the creek down to the Mangahao River. Which is up and an unpleasant murky brown - the same colour as last time basically.

I've arrived just above one of the gorge sections I swam up - from here the river flows deep and inky against the rock face and disappears around the corner. I don't know if I would be game to swim down it unless I knew what was around that bend.

Start of the spur up

Looking down

It's a bit before 1pm so the day is getting on and I haven't got to any spots yet. The next bit is an insane route basically bashing up and off spurs with no finesse at all. This is navigation by brute force.

I had thought the spur to 450 and 613 would be easy at the bottom. Not so - the bottom is hairy; a sharp but crumbling edge with kiekie and scrub to grovel through. If you must do this one I suggest heading up the true right of the side stream for 100-200m.

Once past the bottom the vegetation is better and I break onto a lovely little knob with a few big trees, but clear enough to see.




Probably 450 - looking down the Mangahao (east)

Nameless waterfall

The valley to the northwest drains off Ngawhakaraua and is precipitous - you would not want to follow any of these water courses up or down.

There's a bit of scrub but it's pretty good up to 613. I scare a stag that checks me out before trotting down into the scrub - it's 2.30 and I stop for a bite and to study the landscape.

I'm planning to drop off the side of the spur then smash up the other side to 710. There is no obvious route - it all looks steep and nasty. An alternative is to drop to the Mangahao and come at 651 from the south - but I'm not about to tackle that river when it's up.

The descent is steep and I'm hanging off the vegetation much of the time, but by 3.10pm I'm standing in another sizable creek.

The climb is steady and starts with kiekie, once above the creek there is a lot of scrub but a fair amount of animal trails that help.

pt 613 and the face I came down 

About 4.30 I'm at 710. It's clear I won't be getting to the tops tonight so I have a sit and think. The cunning plan is to drop north off 651 then follow the creek to the spur below 782 and find a spot to camp. There's cell phone reception to I text in the plan change.

Near 710

710 - looking north to the ridge, Ngawhakaraua on right 

Another deer checks me out from about 50m away in the scrub, it doesn't shift until I start moving towards it - maybe not so many hunters around here. I find an old shot gun cartridge that suggests someone has been about.

The drop is as scrubby and bushlawyery as expected. I find a wee stream and follow it to the main stream. About 6.30pm I reach the junction that must be the spur to 782. The valley is narrow but I manage to find a spot to camp after a bit of rock gardening (you have to make your bed before you lie in it).

Junction 782

It still takes me longer than it should to pitch the fly. However with a clear forecast I'm relaxed about pitching it high and am quite satisfied with my efforts. It's a comfortable night although this close to the creek it's very loud and I doubt I'll hear my alarm.

I wake before it's light and have breakfast in bed. By the time I head off it's 6.50am - not early but a reasonable start.

At the junction there's no indications of trails so there's only one way to go - straight up. There's a few scrambles but soon I'm in the scrub with the morning sun warming my back. Pt 782 is in scrub and I am disappointed to find that there is no trail along the ridge. At first there are some clearings and patches of horopito but before long it's a grind through leather wood as I climb towards 830.

This part of the ridge has a wide flat top and some really big leatherwood, although I zigzag about I never find any useful trails - it's basically all hard work.

I struggle over an undistinguished knob that must be Mairehau - goodness knows why anyone bothered naming it. But that could just be scrub fever talking.

A view along another part of this benighted ridge  

Looking toward Ngawhakaraua

To cut a long, bloody and painful story short I struggle onto Ngawhakaraua at about 12.30. The day is scorching, I'm a bit over halfway along the ridge, running low on water and knackered. I crawl into a wee patch of shade to have lunch.

Damn near knocked off by the bugger

Spur with 710 in middle ground

East to the Wairarapa

Ngawhakaraua is a little off the ridge line - I drop off the side a little too soon and find myself in a hellish little gully 20m below the ridge - it takes a while to extricate myself.

I have to stay on the ridge until 749 (the last spot for the trip) before I can drop to find water and hopefully some canopy. The scrub seems to get worse.

Back to Ngawhakaraua - about an hour 45 travel

The soul destroying view forward 

Gentians - I think

At pt 749 I am absolutely fed up. As soon as possible I smash down out of the scrub and surprisingly quickly am in the shade of trees and soon following a series of puddles. Once they are big enough I lie face down in the wee creek and drink my fill.

There's a noise behind me and I turn to see a stag 20m up the bank - it shies away but then comes back a couple of times. It disappears for good when I head in his direction.

The bush is mixed but at least it isn't scrub - the downsides are having to sidle through every gully and trying to work out when I'm on the spur down to the saddle - harder than you'd think. I overshoot but figure things out and drop down a wee creek before crossing back to the correct spur. Like last time coming up, I'm not 100% sure where the trail up to the biv runs - I still reckon it crosses to that next spur north.

The amount of daylight left is becoming an issue - in theory I should be able to whistle down in quick order having travelled up this way twice now. Yeah right. I manage to drift off line and follow every false trail on the entire ridge. Pretty much every spur has a ribboned trail running down it and most of them are better marked than the main ridge.

Looking back I suspect I was suffering the after affects of dehydration with a soupcon of 'get-home-fever.' Despite the waning light it would have been quicker to slow down and look at the compass more. Belatedly I do just that and find my way down to a series of clearings on the sharp spur I thought I should have come up yesterday. The ribbons run out again - I cast about and find they've taken a right angle turn off the spur - oh well, at this point any trail is going to get to the farmland so I follow a good trail down.

I hit the farm over a kilometre south west of my target and have a long walk through deep grass to where I should have come out. When I get there I can sort of see what the farmer was telling me yesterday to find the way up but it isn't that obvious. There's a wee climb up a farm track to the terrace then a trudge across more paddocks to the car.

At 8.50 it is quite dim and I have the headlights on as I head down the road. The farm manager acknowledges the text I send and must think I'm slightly crazy given the time.

Postscript

I'm sure someone famous once said - just because it's possible it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

If you must climb Ngawhakaraua (and it is worth it just to say the name) my money is on a rear assault up the 450/613 spur. The descent from 531 has it's moments at the bottom - but if you prefer swimming up the gorges it's up to you.

Find a better route onto the bottom of the spur than I did (perhaps 150m up the side creek?). I found the going ok up to pt 613 - after that you're on your own - it will be scrubby but at least it's direct.

The route I took successfully took in all the desired spots but it was a bit tough in places. The trip along the ridge was occasionally quite pleasant ... very, very occasionally. If you want to do that one - remember; no water and don't wear shorts.

Mangahao Biv

Mangahao Biv is a two person DOC 'hut' in the north of the Tararuas. There's no track marked on the map and from previous experience there's a lot of scrub in them parts.

It's famous for having been marked in the wrong place on the Topo maps (it's correct on-line and in the latest hard copy maps). I guess it's a bit of a rite of passage for trampers - and there is another unmarked hut in there somewhere. I am however more interested in six spot heights in the vicinity.

The NZ tramper website has some commentary on a trip there which is helpful to a point, but I don't find a lot else on line. I could talk to someone that's been there of course but I'd prefer to find out the hard way.


What:     Navigation, bush bashing and spot-heighting. Hut bagging too I guess
Where:   Northern Tararuas - Mangahao Biv
When:    26-27 January 2019
Who:      Solo
Maps

This trip in red - previous trips in purple. 

Start and finish - gate is at red arrow - purple line covers two trips to Arawaru

Saturday - clockwise across top and around to Biv, Sunday - complete the loop and out

The first question is - where to go in? You can get in from Kopikopiko Road in the east but I think permission is required and I don't have the contact - there's public access from the west and some instructions online to find the route to the ridgeline, that's settled then.

It's pretty gloomy as I head up the coast (via the old beach bakery of course).  Shortly after Tokomaru there's a right turn into Scott's Road which heads to and winds into the hills. It's gravel most of the way but in good nick. When the road starts dropping there is a turn on the right with a sign post with various messages including that this way lies Te Araroa.

I turn down hill and in a few hundred metres reach a gate on a bridge. You maybe able to get a key from Palmerston North Council but it would only save you  a couple of Ks walk. There's just space to park the car by the road (could be risky if logging trucks are about) and an information board.

Just before nine I climb the style and cross the bridge. A little way up the road a tramper comes the other way - he's local (well, Wellington) and is walking bits of Te Araroa. He's the last person I see for the weekend.

This is Gordon Kear Forest. A lot of it has been cut with replanting of various ages - with luck it will be a few years before they are logging out of here again.

Entrance to Gordon Kear forest

It's a very well formed road; there's a couple of side roads but the main route (Centre Road) is easy to follow as it  climbs through a low saddle and drops to a junction by a wee creek (past pt 368). There's a green portaloo on the right, and a Te Araroa campsite on the left (very basic). Te Araroa follows the road on the right to Barton's Track - but we don't want that one.

The instructions on line refer to a three way intersection which I'm not seeing - but they also refer to Loop Road which I find a short way further along Centre Road, I turn right to follow it gently upwards (I find a better way out so don't go this way).

Looking back down Centre Road
campsite junction in distance, Loop Road on left

What with a loo stop and poking around the campsite it's 9.30 - it isn't raining but there's clag on the hills. About 10am the road loops and starts dropping - I take a bearing and strike off up the spur. It looks like people periodically come through and there is some very old vehicle channels under the grass. It's under old manky pines that I suspect won't be cut - there's a bit of undergrowth.

I meander upwards for about 20 minutes where I join a more solid looking track from my left - it looks like a more direct and more traveled route.

A couple of minutes later (1020) the track levels and enters a grassy clearing - I head straight across and find a possum trap and marker on a fence, and on the other side a path cut through dense, high grass.

This leads into bush and a pretty well traveled wee track that wends along and up before breaking into grass and scrub. This takes me to pt 686 and east along the ridge. Although fairly overgrown the channel through the scrub is well cut and easy to follow.

The clearing at the end of the forestry block

Some instructions refer to following the track to the 'rocks.' I am expecting something grand but it turns out to just be some boulders the track runs through. I'm back into mossy bush when the track starts to drop off the ridge - it's about 1040 and I don't want to follow it to the flat saddle that forms the watershed between the west (to the Tokomaru River) and the east (to the Mangahao River).

There's a DOC orange triangle on a tree but I see some fresh pink ribbon leading off in the direction I want to go - the continuation of the ridge east. I slip off the track and follow the ribbons - there's little or no foot trail.

Track markers start when the track starts dropping

The ribbons take me along just to the south of the ridge line out of the scrub - then (as I find is a common occurrence in these parts) abruptly disappear. I follow my nose through worsening scrub to pt 782. The clag has cleared and to the south I can see the ridge with Mangahao Biv (invisible) and the saddle down to my right.

Ridge with Mangahao Biv 

Looking back over the forestry
Route up on left somewhere 

From pt 782 I make the mistake of dropping off the right of the ridge to see if it is easier going. It isn't and I have a horrendous grovel to get back onto the ridge. It's hot now and I'm sweltering in bush shirt and scrub pants.

The scrub gets a bit lower in places as the ridge starts swinging south and I can see across to Arawaru and another sea of scrub.

The ridge ahead

Arawaru

At long last I can drop left into some higher canopy and follow game trails - it's still pretty mucky though. Eventually I come across some markers and a bit of a foot trail - it looks like possumers have been through. As usual they don't always go where you want and there's a bit of back tracking - the ridge is very hard to follow among the trees but at last I find my way to some clearings around pt 538. It's 3.50 and I've not traveled far in 7 hours - I start wondering about daylight running out before I can make my way into the valley and around up to the Biv.

There's a few more ribbons but I quickly lose any trail and just smash down slope to the creek. Its pretty much what you would expect looking at the map - steep, mucky, patches of kiekie and supplejack, loose rocks ... there's a lot of game trail so there's also some easy going patches.

I hit the creek where I was aiming - a few hundred meters up from the side stream I want to follow. I'm aiming to follow it up to the spur to pt 422.

The spur starts with some flats and I startle a stag about 50m away. A few minutes later a hind and fawn also head off into the undergrowth.

Someone has been up the spur before as there's bits of plastic stapled to trees. I'm expecting to come across a more solid trail where this spur joins the larger spur above as it looks like the logical location for a route in from Kopikopiko Road in the Wairarapa.

There are more markers on the main spur but I manage to find myself following the wrong ones on a couple of occasions. There are some clearings to keep an eye on direction but it's mostly under canopy to pt 531. 

Looking back (north) at the ridge I came down

South - the ridge with Pohehe and Ratapu ahead, Ngapuketurua Stream in cloud to right.

I'm loping along following some orange sprayed dots into the saddle past 531 - at some point I find they have headed off somewhere else. I suspect the trail drifts off to the right and maybe crosses the wee stream before climbing to Mangahao Biv. I'm wanting to hit the ridge further up to pick up pt 705 so stick to the main spur. There doesn't seem to be much of a trail but I get up to the scrub zone ok. The top is pretty horrible and I have to scramble through high scrub and bush lawyer to get to 705 which has a clearing. It's 7:10pm and starting to get a bit dim under the cloud.

Pt 705 at last

Crashing back down, the scrub has a few lower patches - I can't find any trail so just follow the compass. Standing in a wee clear patch on the ridge about 400m from the hut I can't see it. There's a bit of a gully which shows as a notch on the map - I figure a wee stream will form lower down the notch and that the hut will be near it. I zigzag down through the bush a little concerned about finding the hut before the light wanes.

Just before the slope steepens I find a bit of a foot trail, about 50m from the hut. 7.45pm and a bit of a relief to arrive.

Mangahao Biv

I crawl in (you can't stand up) and sort myself out for the evening. Damp socks and boot liners go on the line (complete with pegs) and I fill a bottle from the creek.

Home for the night

Once in my bag with dinner on (there's a tin sheet on the wall and floor to cook on) I can relax and study the hut literature. The hut log goes back years and there's not a huge number of visitors. I recognise a few names and there's some regulars that look like they are doing maintenance. A few people report being cooped up for some days in bad weather - with two people you'd soon get cabin fever.

A lot of people report trying to find the hut further up the ridge when the map was wrong - goodness knows how they found it. Many come up from Kopikopiko Road and lots of those coming from Scott's Road report problems finding their way up from the saddle. Most of the Scott's Road visitors refer to the hut in the saddle - most call it Punga Hut, but more on that later. From their reports and studying the map there are no real clues about the route so I just hope that I can work something out in the morning.

Someone has left a 2017 Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club year book in the hut - to my amusement the first trip report has a photo of me on a day trip to Tama Lakes (Ruapehu). It was probably the most recent club trip I've been on.

I sleep well and don't set an alarm - despite the uncertain route I figure it's not going to take all day to get out from here. In the early morning the rain sets in. I roll over and remember my socks on the line - oh well.

Despite dawdling over breakfast the rain doesn't let up so I head out at 9.30 in drizzle. There's a bit of a foot trail from the hut but rounding the shoulder of the slope it is very easy to lose. I waste quite a bit of time trying to follow it - it seems to either dive into scrub or lead down the spur. There's a pink ribbon down the spur but the trail seems to fade away.

I recall a trip report from Mad Pom where he tried dropping down and sidling and found it a no goer. I head up and into the scrub.

It's pretty horrible going. The scrub is as dense as ever and my top half is water blasted by wind driven rain slamming into the slope from the north. Eventually I give up and just head downhill. Eventually there's good forest and I start sidling left and down.  I drop onto a strongly marked trail - this suggests that there may be a lower sidle that avoids the scrub. The tape markers disappear again so I bash on down.

By now I have little solid idea where I am and suspect my altimeter needs calibrating. I hear a waterfall and recall from the hut log that there is an impassable one somewhere down here - I don't know whether it is on the main stream or a side stream.

I drop down a steep bank into the stream. It's one of those situations where I could be here or there on the map - the clag on the hills means any glimpse I get gives no clues. I follow the stream down wading chest deep at one point, before reaching a cascade I won't get down.

A bit of a think then a hairy scramble up the bank and I reckon I know where I am - at the bottom of a spur off 782. I scramble up through the bush and come across some fresh pink ribbons. By now I'm a bit skeptical about the damn things and decide only to follow them if they match the compass.

I reach the stream again (above the falls) and cross. There's more ribbons of various ages - one starts heading up so I leave it and stumble on a stronger trail which takes me in the right direction and suddenly into a clearing with a hut made of Punga. It's taken about 3 hours - I reckon it should take two or less.

It's quite an endearing place - it is indeed made of Punga but the log tells me that it is called Miro Valley Hut and was built in 1958-59. There's a bit of a vestibule then a spacious enough room with a fire place, bunks, a bench ... and it's dry.

Vestibule

After lunch I pack up and head out, about 1.10. I take a bearing to where I think I'll be heading (back up to the first ridge from yesterday). However, straight after leaving the hut I found DOC markers - I figure these will lead me straight to the markers where I left the track yesterday. There's a solid track to follow and I basically stop navigating beyond an occasional glance at the compass.

Miro Valley Hut - or is it Punga Hut?

The track does indeed lead up to the ridge and the 'rocks'. I follow the route back in clag again - over 686 and down to the clearing at the edge of the forestry. This time I take the route I thought might be more direct - it is. It quickly turns into a 4WD track with fresh tracks. At 2pm I drop into a turnaround area and the start/finish of a forestry road (going up you would cross the flat spot and bear left up the spur). 

Looking back - I came down that gap between the pines near the middle  

Ten minutes later my road drops onto Centre Road and I find out I am on Scrub Ridge Road - delightful. It's still a bit of a trot down to pass a different Loop Road, then the Loop Road I took, and then the campsite. It's still drizzling at 2.35 when I reach the car - about an hour 2 from the hut.

Postscript

The navigation is tricky in these parts. There are so many trapper and hunter trails around that you have to watch your compass all the time or you will find yourself heading off in the wrong direction. The route to Punga is pretty good - after that you're on your own!

The six spot heights for the weekend were hard won but I still have unfinished business in the area. There's a named 'peak' I want to visit (Ngawhakaraua) and some nearby spots. I can't find anything on the web about people visiting them and from what I've seen this weekend - it will be nasty.

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.
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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.