Windy Tops

Category: trip report

Trip: Fenceline, Kapakapanui and Renata Hut

Marie and Allen walking down
from Kapakapanui.

This weekend was going to be a great navigation trip, which I’d been looking forward to because I’m really keen to get some good navigation experience. A couple of people had to pull out on late notice so there were only the three of us in the end. We hadn’t decided exactly where to go until Friday night at the railway station, but the basic idea ended up being an approximate anticlockwise loop starting and ending at Otaki Forks. I’d looked at the forecast on Thursday afternoon and it hadn’t actually appeared too bad, maybe with a bit of rain around Saturday night or so. It didn’t quite turn out that way, though.

Dates: 28th – 30th March, 2008
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Otaki Forks Road End.
People: Allen, Marie and me.
Huts visited: Kapakapanui Hut (0 nights), Renata Hut (1 night).
Intended route: Up the Fenceline Track to point 476 above Otaki Forks, then south-west around the ridges to Pukeatua, past Kapakapanui and down to the saddle near point 822. Cross the road and head on to Renata Hut for the night. On Sunday, walk along the Renata Ridge Track to point 925, and head north up the ridge for about 1km before hopping west onto another ridge and going north to Waiotauru Forks. Jump over the footbridge, and back out to Otaki Forks.
Actual route: Well the first day went okay, but we ended up walking down the 4WD track towards Waiotauru Hut until we could see that the river was well up after a lot of recent (and continuing) rain. At that point we turned around, and hitched a ride out to the Akatarawa Road in a grunty Toyota LandCruiser.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

6 April, 2008
Trip: Aorangi Crossing, Pinnacles to Cape Palliser

I enjoyed the weekend about a year ago when we crossed Aorangi Forest Park from the Pinnacles to Cape Palliser… so much so that finding myself without much to do for the weekend, I ended up joining a group of nice happy people who were doing exactly the same thing all over again. Of these people, Sarah and Alistair had been part of the same trip a year before.

Dates: 7th – 9th March, 2008
Location: Aorangi Forest Park, Pinnacles Road End to Mangatoetoe Road End.
People: Sarah, Alistair, Sylvia, Jane, Kevin, Jackie and me.
Huts visited: Washpool Hut (0 nights), Pararaki Hut (1 night), Kawakawa Hut (0 nights), Mangatoetoe Hut (0 nights).
Intended route: Pinnacles up and over to Washpool, up and over to Pararaki to stay the night, up again and down again to Kawakawa Hut, then up the river, over the saddle and down to Mangatoetoe Hut and out via the Mangatoetoe River.
Actual route: Hooray.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

The whole weekend is a DOC-endorsed orange triangle track, but it’s very steep in places. The first day involves two climbs and two descents, with one of the climbs particularly draining of energy. The second day also stretches out and involves quite a lot of climbing, as well as pushing through over-grown river beds. It’s a great trip for people who like hut-bagging. Over two days, the walk passes 4 separate huts. Each hut is placed on a separate river which leads out towards the coast to the west, and the popular way for hunters to access the huts is by walking (or driving) up the rivers. For our trip though, we were traversing the track from north to south between all four huts.

(more…)

10 March, 2008
Trip: Rangiwahia, Maungamahue, Te Hekenga, Triangle

12 people in a 6 bunk hut.

The weather report for the weekend indicated what looked to be quite a violent deluge of a front smothering the entire country all at once, from north to south. The met service was issuing weather warning’s galore. Forecast chart visualisations available through Jim McGregor’s metvuw.com website might have implied that all of New Zealand would be bathed under a combination of beautiful sky blues and majestic sunset reds during the weekend, but unfortunately the colouring on those charts was artificial, and in fact indicated quite the opposite. Our party was affected too, with two members pulling out late on Friday afternoon, having decided they were too frightened at the prospect of spending a whole weekend playing cards against the rest of us at Rangiwahia Hut.

Dates: 29th February-2nd March, 2008
Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Rangiwahia Road End.
People: Alistair, Sarah, Marie, Jeremy, Dirk and me.
Huts visited: Rangiwahia Hut (1 night), Triangle Hut (1 night).
Huts seen: Pourangaki Hut.
Intended route: Up to Rangiwahia Hut on Friday night, then past point 1635 to Maungamahue. West to Te Hekenga, around to Taumataomekura, along Sawtooth Ridge to Ohuinga, then down to Pourangaki Hut for Saturday night. Up to Pourangaki on Sunday morning, then back along to Maungamahue, and out again via Rangiwahia Hut.
Actual route: Shortened a lot due to weather and injuries, we reached Te Hekenga then followed the spur down to Triangle Hut for the night. Back up to Rangiwahia Hut via the main DOC track, and out.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

6 March, 2008
Trip: Waikawa and Waitewaewae

West Waitewaewae
meets Prout Stream.

The last time I visited Waitewaewae Hut (aka YTYY), I was on my first ever trip with the Wellington Tongue and Meats. This had been the easy-rated trip up Saddle Creek from Otaki Forks, and considering Andrew was in charge, I think as many people had gone for the cooking as for the walking. With a large group of 12 people, the track that was signposted as 4 hours ended up taking us more than 7, and several people on their first ever tramp were feeling almost dead at the end of it.

This weekend there was another group from the club doing a similar trip to what I’d done earlier, but personally I was in a separate trip coming into Waitewaewae from the other end. Our basic plan was to start from the Waikawa Stream, meet the other group at the hut on Saturday night, and then we’d all walk back to Otaki Forks on the Sunday.

Dates: 8th-10th February, 2008
Location: Tararua Forest Park, North Manakau Road to Otaki Forks.
People: Steve, Lesley, Kerry, Marie, Andy, Sylvia, Dave, Sue, Allen and me.
Huts visited: Waitewaewae Hut (1 night).
Intended route: Begin at the end of North Manakau Road, follow the Waikawa Stream and pick a spur towards the saddle north of point 673. Continue down the other side into the West Waitewaewae River. Follow it to Island Forks and along the main Waitewaewae River to the Otaki River. Carry on to Waitewaewae Hut. Then out via the main track over the plateau and along Saddle Creek back to Otaki Forks on Sunday.
Actual route: Bingo.
Related bits: Dave also wrote a trip report about this weekend.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

15 February, 2008
Trip: Urchin, Waipakihi River, Te Hiwiokaituri Ridge

Socks at Waipakihi Hut.

In the past I’ve tended to overlook the Kaimanawas. Driving along the desert road, the mountainous areas of Tongariro National Park on the other side have usually grabbed my attention, whereas legends of wild horses in the Kaimanawas give the impression of them being a rather large, publicly-owned pet food factory. Wellington Anniversary Weekend was a good introduction which challenged my perceptions, and I discovered I was wrong before the trip even began. Contrary to my former impressions, I found that much of the Kaimanawa Range is privately owned. I was going to start this report with some background information about the private land issue in the range, but I decided to post that part separately after it became a bit long.

Dates: 18th-21st January, 2008
Location: Kaimanawa Forest Park, Urchin Road-End.
People: Craig, Ruth, Paul, John, Mike and me.
Huts visited: Waipakihi Hut (1 night).
Intended route: Begin at the Urchin road-end, walk over Urchin to the Waipakihi River, up Motutere and around Middle Range past Thunderbolt, down to Waipakihi Hut for the night. Then out to the Umukarikari road-end via the Umukarikari Range, camping somewhere.
Actual route: Over Urchin and up the Waipakihi River to the hut, back over Te Hiwiokaituri Ridge and back down to the river before camping overnight, then out over Urchin.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

This was a trip of altimeter arguments, contradicting and incorrect weather forecasts, and a high quantity of photographs of varying quality. In fact, the trip was so much about altimeter arguments and taking photographs that I couldn‘t possibly do those topics justice, so I won’t spend much time mentioning them from here on.

(more…)

28 January, 2008
Daywalk: Belmont Crossing – Porirua, Belmont Trig, Korokoro Stream, Petone

Bird life at the Korokoro Dam.

I’ve walked from Petone to Porirua a couple of times now, and both times I’ve gotten lost on a farm on the Porirua side and ended up walking down some random farmer’s driveway. This time I thought I might do it in the other direction, so that maybe I could finally figure out where I should have been going.

Date: 1st January, 2008
Location: Belmont Regional Park, Cannons Creek Lake Reserve to Cornish Street.
People: Just me.
Intended route: Start at Cannons Creek, walk up past Cannons Head and Belmont Trig, then down one of the routes near the Korokoro Stream, and out at the Cornish Street exit in Petone.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

1 January, 2008
Trip: Ohau, Dundas, Ruapae, Puketurua

Craig emerging from
Ngapuketurua (with a slight
vegetation problem).

We were supposed to be walking through rivers all weekend according to the original plan, but the weather was so good that we just couldn’t help ourselves, and ended up on the tops. Eventually, we found ourselves moving very slowly thanks to some very overgrown ridges.

Dates: 30th November – 2nd December, 2007
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Poads Road to Mangahao Dam.
People: John, Paul, Craig and me.
Huts visited: Te Matawai Hut (0 nights), Arete Biv (0 nights), Dundas Hut (1 night).
Huts seen: Herepai Hut.
Initial intended route: Begin at Poads Road, wander up the South Ohau River to the old site of South Ohau Hut, wander up past Te Matawai, then down the Mangahao River to Mangahao Flats Hut, and out via the Dam.
Actual route: With some really good weather, we went from Te Matawai Hut up to Arete, over to Dundas, from West Peak to East Peak, then around the ridge to Ngapuketurua, north-east along the ridge, and down the Puketurua Track to the dam.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

6 December, 2007
Trip: Cone, Alpha, Quoin, Eastern Hutt

Going tramping on a trip organised by Sam is quite a lot of fun. Generally you end up setting something on fire.

Sam collecting water
on Bull Mound

This weekend we went for a trip into one of Wellington’s two main water catchment areas. For some confusing reason, the Tararuas were in the middle of experiencing several very fine days in a row, which perhaps makes the trip quite rare.

Dates: 16th-18th November, 2007
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Walls Whare Road-End.
People: Sam, Marie, Eddie, Lee (a friend of Sam’s visiting from the Otago Uni Tramping Club), and me.
Huts visited: Cone Hut (0 nights), Alpha Hut (1 night), Eastern Hutt Hut (0 nights).
Intended route: Begin at Walls Whare, walk via Cone Hut up to Alpha, continue along Quoin Ridge down the spur, and out via Pakuratahi Forks.
Actual route: Similar until Quoin Ridge, at which point we split up. Marie and Lee continued down the ridge and ended up drowning (accidentally) in the Western Hutt River. The rest of us followed a spur to the Eastern Hutt River.
[Photos]

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

20 November, 2007
Daywalk: Orongorongo, McKerrow, Clay Ridge

Near the start of the
Orongorongo Track.

Today’s walk was around the Rimutakas, once again centred on Catchpool Valley.

Date: 11th November, 2007
Location: Rimutaka Forest Park
People: Annemarie, Stijn, David, Andrew, and me.
[Photos]

This is a fairly standard circuit from the Catchpool Valley road-end. It’s a matter of walking along the Orongorongo Track, almost to the Orongorongo River, but then turning off to the left up the McKerrow Track. The intersection with the Clay Ridge track is a couple of minutes before the peak of Mount McKerrow, and from there it’s a walk down the Clay Ridge track back to the parking area.

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

11 November, 2007
Daywalk: Racing around Kapakapanui

Following the recent daywalk around Kapakapanui, I went back to Waikanae this morning because I was keen to find out how quickly I could do it. I didn’t get many photos this time, except for ones to record timestamps, since I was in a bit of a hurry. I already had a heap during the last trip, and I tend to find photos a bit boring when they don’t involve people. I won’t bother explaining too many details of the track in this report, since I think I did that in my previous post.

Date: 10th November, 2007
Location: Tararua Forest Park, Ngatiawa Road-End.
People: Just me.
Huts visited: Kapakapanui Hut (0 nights).
Intended route: Start at the road-end, follow the loop track clock-wise up to Kapakapanui Hut, continue to Kapakapanui Trig, then continue back down to the road-end. Walk very fast.

I’m calling this a daywalk, which is usually is, but I’m not sure if it still counts if it’s walked in three hours.

This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

(more…)

10 November, 2007