Tag Archives: Tararuas

Tararua Northern Crossing plus Carkeek and Dorset Ridge!

11/02/2021TrampingArete Hut, Dorset Ridge Hut, Mitre Flats Hut, South Ohau Hut, Tararua Forest Park, Tararuas, Tarn Ridge Hut, Te Matawai HutJulian

Intro & Intell

Logistics (Credit to Laressa)

Shuttle from Waikanae Railway Station to Poads Road:

Kapiti Coast Shuttles: Tel: 04 2983335 www.kapiticoastshuttles.co.nz

Collection from the Pines to Railway Station:

Masterston Shuttles: Tel: 06 377 1923 www.mastertonshuttles.com

Email: mastertonshuttles@gmail.com

Our Driver Sky was super pleasant to deal with and even took us on a detour to get an ice cream 🙂

The Plan

4 days to do the Northern Crossing as listed on Meetup by Byrus, aka “The Shit Weasel”

Dates: 5th – 8th February 2021

In attendance: Kat, Laressa, Marty and Julian.

In the hope of not having another dull blog post 🥱 😴 we have decided to mix things up and write one day each.

Still, there is a fair bit of content so I recommend grabbing a cup of tea, coffee, beer or wine or some other poison before you continue…

Day 1 by Kat

Poads Road to Te Matawai

My trip started with the 7:58 train from Wellington to Waikanae along with Marty. Laressa and Julian hopped on at other stations along the way and by 9:20 we were in the shuttle chatting to our driver Colin. We arrived at the Poads Road entrance to the Tararua forest park and started walking across the farmland about 10:15.

Start at Poads Road

The first part of the walk is nicely undulating through the trees alongside the river. After about an hour we got to the turn off to Waiopehu hut and a little bit further down the track we crossed the swing bridge. The options from here to Te Matawai hut are Gable End ridge, which at the worst of times has mud up to your knees, and going up the river to South Ohau hut.

Since some of us had never been up the river and the river levels were very low we opted to go via South Ohau. It’s a very pleasant walk up in good weather.

Heading up the Ohau Stream

We crossed the river a number of times with no trouble and only one of us (cough me) took an unintentional swim. Everyone else opted for the intentional swim slightly further up the river in a nice swimming hole where we also had some lunch.

South Ohau hut is on a great spot sitting above the river. It’s impossible to miss. We stopped for a quick break so I could get the rocks out of my shoes and continued up Yeates track just at the back of the hut. The first section is a classic, steep tararuas slog up a few hundred meters but the track is in good condition and easy to follow so we were up on the ridge in no time. From where it meets the track to Te Matawai it’s about half an hour to the hut.

We got to Te Matawai just after 5pm and tossed up the idea of squeezing four people into Arere biv but decided to stay. The hut is not in the best condition and I hope that it’s on DOCs maintenance list.

Between them, Julian and Marty thought the optimum time for boiling water was twenty minutes before the pasta went in but other than that the pasta and anchovies dinner was a great success. The day ended with a brief mouse chase after one was found in the bunk room but it slipped past the waiting Julian and out through the back of the fire place.

Day 2 by Marty

Te Matawai Hut to Carkeek Hut

After the night chasing the mice in Te Matawai hut we rose to gorgeous sunshine and to find our food bags fortunately not ravaged by the resident rodents.

With cooking gas supply and hut faulty tap control concerns between the group, we negotiated cooker interference by others and how to stop the broken tap from continuously running without too much conflict and the ladies were given numbers by Julian.

We departed the hut at 8.30am after a thorough clean that clearly had not been undertaken by many of the previous recent residents.

After a gentle stroll in the peaks morning shade, from the hut to Pukematawai peak, we took a left turn off the Te Araroa Trail to summit Arete peak @ 1505m (10.55am), I think this is my first ever 1500 peak summit in the Tararuas, yay!

Pukematawai Junnction

We wandered down to Arete 2-person hut/biv, mindful to not veer the seemingly easy way right (best to keep left and follow the marker poles) just

saying…….

After an extended morning tea, we began our decent to get on to Carkeek ridge. Julian stopped us at the 1^stnext peak and reiterated the due diligence navigation expectations that we all must be aware of in the environment we were in. It woke me up, as my first time here, I realised I was reliant/lazy and not fully aware of my responsibilities for myself, thank you Julian.

So, we did some navigation skills, which made me think, more independent and respect for where we were.

So just another 1 hour up the road we stopped for lunch at the intersection to either go South-East to Tarn ridge, or right onto Carkeek Ridge Hut via Lancaster, Thompson & Carkeek peaks to Carkeek hut for the night (Laressas Northern Crossing little extra). There was a little rock climbing in sections over these peaks, I had the joy of Julian behind and above me scrambling over the loose rocks as I sidled around…..

At 1.30pm we set off up and down over the afore mentioned peaks in knee/waist high tussock/Speargrass/Leatherwood down Carkeek ridge started to take its toll on me towards day end.

Headind Down Carkeek Ridge

Come 4.30pm we met 2 English trail runners at Carkeek hut who had many a running tale to tell with which we all keenly listened with interest, in particular their lightweightedness!

Although to my great delight, they still managed to carry fairylights to light up the hut, it’s a thing! Now we all know it’s not just me!

After a wonderful shared experimental homemade dehydrated curry meal created by Kat we enjoyed a gorgeous goblin forest sunset and many a photo with mist over Mt Crawford to the South-West, Kapiti Island and South Island ranges in the distance to dream of, scrambled eggs for breakfast, and the rest day ahead.

Sunset from Carkeek

Day 3 by Laressa

Our group of 4 started the morning with our only shared brekky of the trip, scrambled eggs (Backcountry so not as exciting as it sounds!) and had a leisurely morning before setting off at 830am.

Our group split in two, Julian and Kat went off track adventuring, while Marty and I returned to the Northern Crossing route, to cross the Waiohine Pinnacles and Tarn Ridge, to reunite with the others at Tarn Ridge Hut.

As this was our “rest day” (only 6hrs of tramping) Marty and I kept a leisurely pace stopping to identify peaks, admire the view, snap photos, and take several much needed water breaks. It was possibly the hottest day I’ve experienced in the Tararuas, a bit of wind would have been nice!

After 3.5 hours up Carkeek Ridge (returning the way we came the day before) we stopped for lunch before tackling the pinnacles. Anyone who has tramped with me before knows heights and I don’t mix, so to say I was scared was an understatement. Feeling less pressure with only one (patient!) companion and a calm day (i.e. no needing to keep moving to stay warm!!) I challenged myself not to commence a crawl…. and am delighted to say I stayed upright(ish) and didn’t resort to all 4s!

The feeling was phenomenal, I felt i could tackle anything! I may have celebrated slightly too early – just like a false summit there is a false ‘end’, however the hardest part was done and the rest was easy in comparison. Yes that is the track, and yes you really do need to cross it! Unfortunately the loose rocks move under your feet at every step, eeek! Don’t look down!

I think I nearly skipped to the hut, possibly to Martys disgust, as it turned out this day was the toughest for him. We arrived at Tarn Ridge Hut at 330pm, just after running out of water (3L each!). We claimed mattresses for our companions and went to the ridge armed with snacks to await their arrival.

Tarn Ridge Hut (take a bedroll, all but 5 mattresses are mouldy!) We had agreed if Kat and Julian didn’t arrive by 7pm we’d go looking, however at about 545pm we caught sight of them along Dorset Ridge, and they joined us with 30min to spare.

After refuelling on snacks and dinner of miso soup (with extras) we returned to the ridge to watch the sunset – almost as beautiful as the night before.

Sunset from Tarn Ridge

Day 3 by Julian

Carkeek Hut To Tarn Ridge Hut

Kat was keen to visit Dorset Ridge Hut after missing out last year. I wanted to escape Marty’s “Dad jokes” for a day so had the diplomacy to say I was curious about about the gorge south of Park Forks and finding where the trail to McGregor Biv begins.

Marty and Laressa would go via the tops and meet back up with us at Tarn Ridge Hut at the end of the day.

Given the nature of our route it was nice to have some solid company for an unknown off track mission.

Carkeek Hut to Tarn Ridge Hut via Park Forks and Dorset Creek

We left Carkeek hut at 8:30 and headed down to Park Forks via a gorgeous goblin forest.

The track is reasonably easy to follow down the ridge and we took it in turns to lead the way. One stuff up each was pretty good going as it’s super easy to wander down a deer trail and lose the true ridge.

Kat spent much of the day educating me about deer shit. I now know how to tell how fresh it is, along with the difference between stag and hind stool samples. Of course, Byrus already knows about that.

We arrived at Park Forks at 10:05

Park Forks

From Park forks there is the option to head directly up to Dorset Ridge, or up to Nichols Hut which I have done in the past. The “lost” track to Nichols is not a route I’d recommend unless you like getting roughed up!

We headed down the Gorge to Dorset Creek and Byrus took his annual bath.

The Gorge took a good hour to travel and even with the water being low the undies were soaked by the time we’d got to Dorset Creek. We had a break and I went for a swim in some very cold but refreshing water.

The start of the Track to McGregor was easy to spot and I dare say I’ll come down that way sometime in the future.

Dorset Creek

It was slow going up the river. By the time we had got through the Dorset Creek gorge we looking at the clock knowing we were not going as fast as expected. We’d promised the others that we’d be at Tarn Ridge by 7pm. Not wanting them to worry we knew we had to get a move on!

We considered leaving the river and smashing our way up the ridge to intercept the old track from Park Forks, but this too was unknown territory and could prove problematic! We decided to stay in the creek and tough it out.

After 4.5 hours in the water climbing and jumping over boulders, rocks, slips and trees we finally left the river and found the track up to Dorset Ridge Hut.

It’s a pretty savage climb up, but the path is still in use and there are ribbons to help you keep on the ridge. It could be a very interesting one to go down.

I nearly dragged a group down that way on a previous trip and was feeling grateful that we went out on the tops on that occasion! I suggest avoiding it if you don’t trust your navigation skills.

16:30 and we finally pop out of the scub to find Dorset Ridge hut.

It was sweet having enough time to take a break and enjoy Dorset Ridge Hut. It’s not one that many people visit and has one of the freshest toilets I know of in the Tararua Ranges.

Dorset Ridge Hut with Broken Axe backdrop

The track on the tops along Dorset Ridge is not well groomed. I was getting over the cutty grass which was constantly reminding my my knees were exposed.

About 1 hour from Tarn ridge we spotted Laressa and Marty waving from the distance. It was a stunning day with little wind so we made the usual animal noises which were heard and returned.

We arrived at 18:35 and were greeted with high fives and chocolate 🙂

Tarn Ridge Hut

Day 4

Tarn Ridge to The Pines (By Byrus)

It was all a hazy dream… I don’t remember much as I slept in Julian’s backpack. Why not? I’ve been over that section 3 times now and have already written a blog post about it which you can find here…

Still, I’m sure this is more entertaining than a badly worded yawn fest…

Here are a couple of photos:

Mitre, although Julian is trying to pretend it is Hector

Peggy’s tits. (Ask Marty why he thinks all hills look like boobs!)

You can read more about the adventures of The Shit Weasel here…

Southern Crossing – Jan 2020

16/12/2020Tararuas, TrampingAlpha hut, Kime Hut, Southern crossing, Tararua Forest Park, Tararuaslaressa

After 5 reschedules over 3 summers I finally covered the small section of the Southern Crossing I hadn’t competed. It was certainly worth the wait – we couldn’t have asked for better conditions.

We were collected from Waikanae Train station at 3.15pm and dropped at Otaki Forks by Kapiti coast shuttles ($100 for a car or 150 for a van as at Jan 2020).

We arrived at Kime Hut just in time for sunset. It always surprises me how much quicker you travel with a small group (2!). It was cold on Bridge Peak so the down jackets got used day 1.

There were only 2 others in hut, they were doing the TA – taking the more exciting route as they put it (I agree).

Saturday we awoke early for sunrise and watched from field peak. We returned to kime and had a leisurely breakfast. Another stunning day with little wind.

After a day of perfect 360° views, we arrived at alpha hut early afternoon and chatted to those passing through (including runners training for the southern crossing run) and some familiar faces camping and staying in the hut.

We waited for friends to arrive realising we didnt know what time they left Kaitoke or when to expect them (lesson learnt). They arrived grateful for a full water tank, it had been a sweltering day on Marchant.

We had a peaceful night other than an earthquake! There is service in one corner of the balcony so we were able to find info on geonet before returning to civilization.

Down Marchant Ridge always takes far longer than I remember, this day was no different. We took a 2 min detour towards bull mound where the track opens up and you get views of ridges all around you.

View from a short detour towards Bull Mound

Once back at the car the consensus was to stop at Brewtown for a pint.

Note no times listed as we had perfect conditions and a small fit group.

I highly recommend kapiti coast shuttles for transportation on the Western side of Tararuas.

Powell Hut 7-8 Nov 2020

12/12/2020TrampingEast Holdsworth, Gentle Annie, Jumbo Holdsworth Circuit, Powell Hut, Tararua Forest Park, Tararuaslaressa

For the second time we successfully booked the entire 32 bunk Powell Hut. The plan was to complete the Jumbo Holdsworth loop, however the weather wasn’t playing ball. We wound up with 3 groups, 3 hardly souls tackling the circuit, 18 East Holdsworth, and 5 Gentle Annie. The remainder had dropped out earlier in the week.

Huge thanks to Cliff, Bang and Vignesh for the blog posts on Gentle Annie, the circuit and East Holdsworth.

See links for more info:
https://www.meetup.com/WellingtonTrampingGroup/events/272590936/
https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/wellington-kapiti/places/tararua-forest-park/things-to-do/tracks/mt-holdsworth-jumbo-circuit/

Gentle Annie my Arse, by Cliff

So Marty says I’ve booked you a bed in the hut, don’t worry we are doing the easy route and can take our time, and girlfriend coming with us. Thought I was reasonably fit despite covid blocking my gym work in UK and I have put on a few kilos. I did Atiwhakatu walk last August no issues, apart from no lights and a nasty long drop, and Marty said this hut is awesome.

Got woken up at 6 am Saturday morning and rushed out. Picked up Teresa who seemed to believe I had had a leg blown off by a landmine in Vietnam.

Got to Tararuas where Laressa pretended to do a count. 5 of us went on Gentle Annie, wouldn’t want to meet her big sister Hard as Annie.

Got to Rocky Lookout, just, Marty said look at view and I went I need water. He took my pack as well as his and we made it to Mountain House Shelter.

Marty said no way he could do 2 packs up the steps so I manned up, I have never so felt so close to death, my heart beating through my chest, I had to stop every 5 metres, but I would not let it beat me.

We turned a corner and Marty said not far now, but I didn’t believe him, worst was the 3 sets of steps.

Got there and Marty said lets do 1 hour to summit, my reply is unprintable.

Went to bunk to recover, couldn’t / didn’t sleep due to chatter, didn’t want to sleep as I would have woken at silly oclock.

Great meal even though rice gate scandal and extra votes/ meals found.

Walked out in rain , not as bad as forecast. Marty said don’t walk on clay but it seemed easiest. I slipped and turtled, couldn’t even get up!

Over a week later and I still cant walk down stairs.

Team Circuit, by Bang

Despite the unpromising weather, five of us (Julian, Alex, Byrus – the Shit Weasel, Mr Grey and me) still decided to do the Mt Holdsworth – Jumbo Circuit counter clockwise. We departed right after the big group gathering.

The walk from Holdsworth carpark to Atiwhakatu Hut was fairly smooth and easy, and it was good to have a warm up along with some “Adult Jokes”. It took us 1.5 hours to reach Atiwhakatu Hut, where we had a short snack break and I introduced the team to some dried olives. Alex and Julian seemed to like them, but they disagreed with my idea that the olive is a type of fruit. The next 750m of climbing from Atiwhakatu Hut to Jumbo Hut (the Raingauge Spur Track) was a typical Tararua climb, quite steep but lots of fun.

Alex and Julian were ahead of me, and I spent 1 hr 50 mins to get to Jumbo Hut. When I arrived they had already managed to get Byrus drunk, somehow.

The weather was getting worse after lunch, and we had a quick gear up before heading off to Powell Hut. As we walked on the ridge, the wind was getting stronger too, I had to stop and wipe the raindrops off my glasses now and then to see the track.

Julian and Alex tried not to walk too fast all the way to give me some company, how nice they are! After walking for about 1.5 hours we met part of Team East Holdsworth somewhere close to the Mt Holdsworth Summit. The rain stopped for the last part of our walk, and we made it to Powell Hut at about 4pm. The trip from Jumbo to Powell took me 2 hrs 30 mins.

Brief summary of East Holdsworth: The large group (18) naturally split in to smaller groups with the lead group arriving at Powell Hut in 5 hours, the last group arriving after 7 hours.

East Holdsworth – contribution by Vignesh

Nostalgia is how I would describe the rationale for doing this hike. If my memory serves correctly, it was two years ago when Laressa organised the Powell hut round trip last time. It was a long trip going up and down yet it was such a lovely trip. I remember meeting Marty and Peter in that trip.

The previous day, I was packing my bag. I knew that I don’t have to carry too much as our trip lead was offering dinner as part of this trip. Nevertheless, I packed my bag with extra food, gas canister and the rest of it.

Saturday began early for me as I was picked up right in front of my house at around 6.30 am by Alex and Sarah, which was a bit of luxury, Thanks Alex :-). It gets even better as the people mover was comfy like a first class trip with inflight serving of fresh strawberries (thanks Sarah). Sarah and I started chit chatting about our daily lives and the talk veered off to work and somehow ended up talking about doing research, insightful conversations. Throughout the drive Alex was a silent spectator, may be cursing himself for giving me a ride 😦

Our first decent stop was at a café in Featherston where we met some of our fellow hikers Maj-britt, Tiffany and Deborah. After the customary hugs, I went to the lovely bakery and got an almond croissant, which was delicious. Alex got his coffee and brekkie and then we drove off without spending too much time. We reached the Holdsworth car park just before 8.30 am to keep up the word to our esteemed trip leader. As we caught up with the group, our trip lead started dishing out the dinner packs to carry to the hut, which she prepared for the whole group. I need another blog to elaborate on Laressa’s cooking skills.

There are three popular tracks leading to Powell hut and few people interested in taking each of the tracks. Since I have walked two of the tracks before, I decided to take east Holdsworth walk this time. I did not realise our trip lead would also be going with us on this track as I assumed she would take the long Jumbo hut track. This made my walk much easier as a day or two prior to the trip, I was shoulder tapped to lead the east Holdsworth track. Given our trip lead was with us I was not expected to do much, which was quite nice.

Anyway, a small group decided to head straight to the hut through the Gentle Annie track and three of the hard-core trampers decided to do the hard way by taking the Jumbo hut track. But a large (loud) group of us chose to do the east Holdsworth track.

We started at around 9 am from the car park heading towards Atiwhakatu hut. I decided that I should lead from the front at least when the track the flat (heehee). Just before the last swing bridge we met a couple of hikers coming in the opposite direction. One of the hikers resembled an Allblack, but we sort of concluded before they came near us that it wasn’t him. Me being me, I started a conversation with the folks who came across. They said that the east Holdsworth track was closed so they decided to return. Luckily, our own navigator Shayne was with us, who with authority pronounced that it is not a problem and an alternate track is not too far from the sign board. Sure, enough when we reached the east Holdsworth junction, we found the diversion sign to the track.

As we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, Tiffany suggested that we should go ahead and she could wait there with few others. I happily took on board her suggestion and started walking up the hill. As Shayne was walking just behind me, I thought it was the right time to let Shayne take the lead and generously let him along with Nikolo and Cara to go past. In the next 5 minutes or so they all disappeared and was walking with Carla till I reached the open. Along the way Jude, Tiffany, Talia and Paul overtook us and disappeared into the forest. As we were going up, it was getting windier and still had a nicer feel to the walk. Carla took all the time in the world to fill up her smartphone with lovely pictures including me 🙂 ( I am sure she would have discarded most of the snaps with my face :-(). We decided to take a break and have lunch around 12.30 that was just before reaching the tops. As we were having our lunch, Scott, Linda, Bharat and a couple of newbies caught up with us. Once we finished our lunch, Carla and I started walking up slowly (what do you expect after a lunch), we caught up with Scott & Linda who were taking their lunch. As we reached the tops, we could see a couple sitting next to a big rock. We thought they were taking their break and enjoying the scenery. As we closed in, I realised it was Paul and Talia who decided to return and wait for others as they thought it was too windy to go further.

I was scanning the place and started examining the weather. I could feel the heavy winds and the thick clouds coming towards us. But I still did not find that to be that bad to go up. I said to them that I will go up further and check the condition. As I went up, it was getting windier and visibility was only up to 8 meters or so but not too bad to halt. I could still see Carla a bit far behind me taking snaps. I thought perhaps I could go up a bit and get Carla to come to me. After reaching the next top, I couldn’t see Carla from there. I waited for another 10 minutes for Carla to arrive unfortunately I couldn’t see or hear from her. I decided to wait rather than go up as I knew it wouldn’t be wise to move leaving people behind. In the next 5 minutes, for a split second the clouds cleared, and I could see our group walking like a bee line. It gave me the signal to start walking. The track was getting narrower, but I did not find it to be dangerous to walk. In the next 15 minutes or so I reached the T-junction and the signage to Holdsworth trig and the Powell.

I could feel the strong winds in the open and it picked up strength well and truly. It was pushing me towards the edge of the spear. I skilfully managed to navigate with the double confirmation of the track as well the poles. All along I could hear people talking behind me but couldn’t see a thing. As I reached the next T-junction to the Holdsworth trig and the Powell Hut, I decided it wasn’t the day for photo-op and decided to go straight to the hut. As I was halfway through, I could see someone coming up the opposite direction. As the distance the lessened, I noticed it was Sarah the brave heart going up to the trig. We confirmed our intentions and went the opposite direction. I reached the hut around 3 pm, I could see our group well settled in. As time went by the rest of the group trickled in and the atmosphere changed for good. Most of them were busy sorting out the rooms, having a snack, drying their cloths and sitting next to the heater. I opened my pack and grabbed the soup pack. I felt so good sipping the hot soup after the long walk. Just after 6 pm, the dinner packs were out, and the preparation was well underway to cook the dinner. We all had a hearty meal and a mouthful of dessert. You don’t go hungry when Laressa is around 🙂

Next day, I got up early and sat down having the hot readymade coffee. I bumped into Alex, who hinted at leaving the hut early. I obediently took note of the hint and packed up quickly after my breakfast. We were the first to leave the hut after hesitantly saying good bye to the rest of group. We pushed on briskly and in no time reached the mountain shelter. At the shelter I took a few minutes to pull the water tube that was stuck in the bag. Once I managed to organise my bag, we started walking down the hill. It was a bit drizzly, which didn’t both us much. In the next couple of hours we were back in the carpark. I got changed and we happily drove back to Wellington and reached home just after 12 noon.

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