Round the Mountain - Day 5

A broken night of sleep.  The 10 year old sleeping beside me had a bad cold and much of the night he was either coughing or swallowing mucus from his running nose. 

On a more positive note; the Taradale Group lit the stove the previous evening warming the hut and drying out our gear.

The weather forecast for the day wasn't good.  Wind, low cloud and showers! 

Whilst awake during the night I decided I would adjust the contents of my pack.  I've now eaten four days of food and with some careful packing should be able to fit everything that has been tied onto the back in 'stuff sacks' inside the pack.  I also realised I've been the one carrying the rubbish bag, which has being growing in size and weight as the days pass.  I ask Carlin to carry the rubbish and he agrees with a small smile.  Could it be that he has been 'gulling' me?

We are now on the  western "wet" side of the mountain which means any rain is likely to increase the size and flow of any steams we need to cross.  Our options are to continue on to Whakapapaiti Hut and stay the night walking out to Whakapapa Village on the sixth day or take the bad weather detour which goes up the side of a steep ridge and across high and exposed terrain to the Bruce Road then down the bitumen road to the village (purple track on the map below).

The Taradale School Group are going to Whakapapaiti Hut as the Outward Bound challenge requires then to spend four nights.  They will then backtrack part of the walk tomorrow and walk out via the detour.

We decide to delay the decision until we reach the detour turnoff.

We will need to cross eleven streams before reaching the detour turnoff.   Obviously that also means eleven rises and descents.

From the hut there is a high ridge that needs to be crossed.  Just over the top is Lake Surprise

Because of the higher rainfall on this side of the mountain the Department of Conservation have installed a series of duckboards in an effort to minimise erosion.

The terrain is mostly open with low scrub.  We are exposed to the wind and cold and realise if we take the detour to the higher ground then the conditions will likely get worse.  Another consideration!

Carlin takes a 'selfie' with the waterfall in the background

Some of the ground is now soil rather than rock, which is wet and slippery.

After 4.5 hours we reach the junction and a decision must be made.  Do we walk the additional 30 minutes to the hut returning in the morning or should we continue to the caravan park and end the walk today?  We decide to continue to the end.

The start of the detour track is a series of zigzags climbing to the top.  The difference in altitude is only 100 metres but it felt like more.  We're now on top of the ridge and must follow it for 1.5km to the road.  The wind and rain buffet us and we need to keep walking to stay warm.  There are no photos as we focus on reaching the road.    The weather conditions don't improve on the road until we reach a lower altitude where the forest provides some shelter.

Cars wiz passed us in the rain and wind.  An offer of a ride would have been appreciated.  But then that would have been cheating.

We arrive back at the caravan park and I'm cold, wet and stiff.  I manage to get out of my boots and wet clothing before donning something dry and head to the shower block.  Carlin is already there.  A hot shower, shampoo and shave revives me.  We've done it!  Carlin looks like he has just completed an afternoon stroll whilst looking in the mirror I see I'm shattered!

It's been our longest day and hard going with the weather and terrain.  One of the larger ski lodges in Wakapapa Village is open for casual diners and we walk the kilometre to eat.  Real food instead of mush.  After five days on subsistence rations we order a large portion of garlic bread, chips with cheese and gravy, and a pizza each, washed down with a beer.  All of it was eaten with room to spare.

Another one off the bucket list.  

Round the Mountain - Day 4

Carlin and I have realised this might be a six day walk…. and we only bought food for five days!  Options are to go hungry on the last day or share one evening meal tomorrow.  We've opted for the latter.

I will also need to do an assessment on my ankle.  If it's too much of a handicap I could stop walking when we reach the Turoa Ski field Road and call a taxi .

The track from the hut to Turoa Ski Field Road is 50% open tussock with the rest alpine beech forest.   The track then uses the sealed road for several kilometres.  It will take us uphill towards the mountain and then the track branches off to the north over more undulating open terrain.   Towards the end of the walk we will need to descend down the 'Cascades' before reaching Mangaturuturu Hut. 

  

The undulating terrain will see our altitude steadily increase until we reach the departure point on the Turoa Road.

I ate another sausage, eggs and hash browns breakfast.  It still tastes like mush! 

Carlin and I are the first to leave the hut.  However we know the much fitter Taradale School Group will catch us quite quickly.  I find myself favouring my right leg in an effort to avoid placing any undue strain on my left ankle. 

After three days of sunny dry weather the forecast has changed.  In the morning there is a blue sky but the wind has picked up.  We add a layer of clothing for the day, whilst I also change into long trousers and don my gaiters.

The usual two small muesli bars for lunch washed down with some lovely cold mountain water. 

Carlin admires my stream crossing technique.  He has the balance and dexterity to jump from rock to rock.  I have to pick my way across using the hiking pole to prod each rock in advance thereby ensuring I identify the stable stones.  The last thing I want to do is fall into a cold mountain stream with a 'dicky' ankle.

I didn't have my hearing aids in but Carlin could hear the birds in the forest.  The only wildlife we saw during the walk was this large Weta.

when we reached Waitonga Falls the condition of the track improved significantly  Obviously this a popular day walk from the car park on the Turoa Road.

By the time we reached the road the pain from my ankle had been suppressed by the pain in my right knee which I had been favouring all morning.   Ignoring the aches we carry on up the Turoa Road.  It's a rather boring part of the walk.

Of course after reaching the turn off point on the road it was back to descending.

Looking back at the departure point on the Turoa Road

And ascending… and descending… again and again!

Towards the end of the day we reached 'The Cascades'.  The track goes down the face of a waterfall, the surface of which has been worn smooth by thousands of years of running water.   The designated track takes us across two streams at the top and one at the bottom.  I very carefully and slowly make my way to the bottom breathing a sigh or relief when I reach it.

From here it's only a kilometre to Mangaturuturu Hut, our destination for the night. 

The hut belongs to the Wanganui Tramping Club and was first built by club members in 1928.  All the construction material (including the stove) were carried to the site by club members.  Over the decades there have been several improvements and we found it quite cosy. 

During the day we had been passed by the Taradale Group only to then pass them before the Turoa Road.  Towards the end of the walk we were overtaken by two of the four 16 year old girls who happily skipped past jumping from rock to rock.  Oh to be young!

Yes it's still daylight, but I'm exhausted and heading for bed.  The teenagers can talk on and without my hearing aids I'll sleep through it!.  Depending on the weather, tomorrow may be a big day…..

 

 

Round the Mountain - Day 3

Day 3 - Rangipo to Mangaeheuhu Huts

I woke to find I had a sore and swollen left ankle.  No doubt as a result of the previous days' fall.  Breakfast was porridge from one of the freeze dried sachets.  The only positive comments I can make are the food was hot and eating from the sachet means no dishes to wash.

Three quarters of todays walk would be exposed desert with a very deep gully to navigate about an hour into the walk (red arrow)  The last section of the walk to Mangaehuehu Hut would be through alpine beech forest. 

Four gullies into the day and we reached the "big one"

Taking my time, I carefully picked my way to the base.  Somewhere down at the bottom is a wire suspension bridge across the river.  It's so far down you can't see it in the photo below. 

In the back of your mind is the thought that you're going to have to climb out the other side.

Every hour we stopped for a five minute rest.  Grandson didn't need it, but his grandfather certainly did!  Toes were massaged to get some feeling back into them.  The possum-merino socks were outstanding.  I wore them every day and never got a blister.  Furthermore, they didn't smell.

Reaching the beech forest didn't alter the undulating ground. 

Instead of contending with rocks on which to roll an ankle I had slippery wet tree roots to avoid

Things looked like they might improve when we reached a well formed path.  However it was only a short section.

Five hours after starting we reach Mangaehuehu Hut.  It backs onto the forest in a clearing with panoramic views to the south.  We're now on the southern side of Ruapehu and halfway around the track.

No paper in the 'long drop' and I'm running low with my personal stock.  I'd noticed Carlin has been reading a paperback every afternoon and I suggested he reads faster as I'm going to need some pages.  He offers one page.  However that will not be sufficient with my plumbing.  I reply by telling him he will have to read even faster or else I'll be taking pages from the back of the book; then won't know how the story ends!

On removing my boots and socks I can see my left ankle is swollen.

I soaked my small microfibre travelling towel in water from the chilled mountain stream and wrapped it around the ankle.  Next, I lay on my back with my left leg elevated up the exterior wall of the hut.  (RICE)  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation).  Each time the towel warmed I resoak it.

Later that afternoon seven more walkers arrive at the hut from the same direction that we had travelled.  They are a group of four secondary school students and two teachers from Taradale High School in the Hawkes Bay.  They are completing the walk as part of their participation in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.    One of the teachers had bought her 10 year old son along.

Another freeze dried evening meal which must have been so bland that I can't remember the taste. 

Towards dusk another walker appeared from the opposite direction.  He mentioned his lunch stop had been at the next hut which will be our destination tomorrow.  Obviously he is doing the circuit at twice our speed.

 

Round the Mountain - Day 2

Day 2.  A 15km track in a predicted 5 hours.  According to the sign at the start.

I hadn't expected a level path around the mountain, but neither was a anticipating just how much rising and descending would be required.

From Waihohonu Hut there would be almost no defined path.  Instead the route would be identified by wooden or steel marker poles strategically placed in visual sight. 

The initial 25 minutes of walking was through tussock before following a dry riverbed.  The ground was covered with loose very coarse grit.  It was like walking uphill in sand.

Leaving Waihohonu Hut

An easy start. 

Looking back to Ngauruhoe over my right shoulder

After 40 minutes we reached the end of the riverbed and had to cross the ridgeline to the next gully/re-entrant/ravine/gorge.  Yes, as the days passed I started to think the terrain was getting steeper.  They started as gullies and at the end I was thinking gorge! 

I went looking for a map showing the track elevation.  Day 2 and we are walking the yellow line.  This was likely to be our most difficult day for ascending and descending.   The steep drop is down to; and out of; the Whangaehu River.

You can see Day 1 (red line) was relatively easy. 

You may have noticed in the above photo that the pack isn't a good fit on my back.  The pack weight should be on my shoulders and back.  Instead the additional weight in pack is causing it to drag back on my shoulders.  Moreover the pack shoulder straps are too think for the additional weight and cut into my shoulders.  This isn't a design fault but rather my decision to tie additional gear to the back.  I should have purchased a new pack for the walk but as I'm unlikely to ever do anything similar again it would have been an unnecessary expense.  

The walk was a steady succession of climbing up only to have to descend.

It was on our second descent I had my only fall.  It seems that we 'older' people don't lift our feet as high as we used to and my left heel caught a 'apple' sized smooth round rock whilst descending.  It rolled under my left boot and I stood on it losing my balance staggering to the left with the top half of my body falling forward.  I was frantically attempting to get my feet back under my body and gain my balance when I realised a 2 metre cliff and steep slope were rapidly approaching.  Rather than tumble over the cliff I elected an early fall rolling to a stop just above the top of the cliff. 

I was slightly sore and had a cut on my left shin.  A brief stop to apply a plaster and we carried on.  The fall reinforced to me the need for me to be particularly careful when descending and crossing obstacles. 

Taking Jan's hiking stick on the walk was invaluable and greatly assisted my balance.  The bottom section fell off on Day 1 and the top of the rubber handle broke off at the start of Day 2.  Day 3 saw the wrist strap fall off.  I wore a glove from Day 3 to avoid the top of the aluminium tube wearing a hole in my palm.  It wasn't until I returned home that Jan informed me she had noticed I had selected her expensive pole and she had quietly exchanged it for her cheap pole she purchased from Trespass in the UK.       

 

Way in the distance I could see a tiny structure on a ridgeline.  It was very small and I initially thought it might be a tower for the Tukino Ski Field. tow  As we continued on over undulating terrain and got closer I realised it was more likely a mobile phone tower.

Eventually we climbed to the top of that ridge and reached the Tukino Road which runs from the Desert Road in the east up to the Tukino ski field on Ruapehu.

At this point we were more than halfway to our destination for the day, Rangipo Hut.  However, ahead was the steepest gully on the walk.

Looking back to Mt Ngauruhoe

Up and down…. up and down….  Until we reached the northern ridgeline of the ravine containing the Whangaehu River.  This is the hazardous Lahar area. 

A steep descent to a wire suspension bridge across the Whangaehu River

Just as steep an ascent on the other side.  More undulating ground as we traverse the Rangipo Desert

After five hours we reach Rangipo Hut with spectacular views to the east.  Two walkers arrived travelling in the opposite direction.  They only stopped for lunch and then headed towards Waihohonu Hut.  Obviously they are completing the circuit in 3 days.  Oh to be young and fit !!

From the hut front deck I point out to Carlin the various hills and other features in the NZ Army Training Area away to the east.  In 1960 my father took me on my first deerstalking trip out there on the desert.  I remember how excited I was when he shot a deer on our second morning.  I got to carry out the venison back steaks whilst my father walked out with the hind legs.  Six years later I had enlisted and was back in the training area.  

Carlin still has plenty of energy and wandered around the area.  I check the long drop….. No toilet paper!  No trees to find leaves

Dinner was another 'delicious' freeze dried meal.  From memory Lamb and mixed veg with a sachet of instant mashed potato.

There was very little firewood at the hut.  This is probably unsurprising as it's the most exposed hut on the walk and consequentially probably gets very cold inside.  One of the local trampers we met at Waihohonu Hut the previous evening mentioned all the firewood is flown in by helicopter.  That seemed rather expensive.  But then there is no road so everything (including the hut) either gets carried in on a back or flown to the location.