Tararua Ranges
Day 1 Levin to Te Matawai Hut
Day 2 Te Matawai Hut to Nichols Hut
Day 3 Nichols Hut to Otaki Forks
Oh how nature can humble us arrogant humans!
After a fairly slow start back on 90 mile beach, I’ve found my trail legs and have been making pretty good time and clocking up, for me anyway, some big days. I’ve reduced my zero days and I’ve been feeling pretty pleased with myself about my increased fitness and my progress so far.
Reality crushed me on this section although I suspect I shall look back and rate it as one of the highlights of the whole trip.
It took me three days to hike 45k.
Not 45k/day. 45k in total!
This is one of those sections where it may take three days. Or five. Maybe six. It really depends on the weather. I had resupplied in Levin to cover me for at least six days. It was a bit to carry but I knew if bad weather set in I’d be very grateful for all of it.
The Tararua Ranges can throw it all at you. It is forest and alpine terrain with LOTS of very steep ascents and descents. It starts at 150m above sea level and the highest point is Mt Crawford at 1460.
The weather up here can deteriorate rapidly with gale force winds, heavy rain and snow can fall in any season.
I had checked the forecasts and it looked like I had a good four day window.
Time to set off.
Day 1
What a bloody tough day. It was wet and muddy to start. The track started at a DOC noticeboard which detailed a track no longer in use by TA hikers (confusing, yes).
I follow a boundary fence and enter the bush and continue along a benched track. I cross a little creek and check my water. I’m as certain as I can be that there is water at the Te Matawai Hut, my goal for the day, but I want to start fully topped up.
I cross over the Blackwater Stream via suspension bridge ( I really should have kept count of how many of these I have crossed so far!) and then it was up a really steep spur. It eased off after about 30 minutes but kept clinging steadily over Mayo Point.
I make it to Gable End Ridge after about three hours and then I’m out in open scrub. There’s at least another hour of PUDS to make it to Richard’s Knob. It’s more climbing and more climbing before I make it to Yeats Track Junction and another thirty minutes upwards before I reach the Hut. It’s really roomy with space for 18 people. There were already five hikers inside (have to be related to mountain goats) and another three hikers arrive about an hour later. Intros and yarns all round before dinner prep started and then an early night.
Day 2
Yesterday was big and my hip and thigh and calf muscles are feeling it today. I didn’t stretch at all last night. I know I should have have and now I am paying the price. It was a great day but wow. Big. I am blessed by this weather. I can’t imagine trying to tough this out through driving rains and wind and snow.
The wind yesterday was hectic but manageable.
It was cold last night but I slept well, despite the snorers!
Today was more ups and downs. It took me 4 1/2 hours to hike 8 k to Dracophyllium Hut and I was sooo tempted to stay put.
The weather window remained clear though and I thought I would make it to Nichols Hut. It’s only five k away but DOC estimates it is a four hour walk.
And so it is. I was a little surprised. I’m often a little under the DOC estimate but not in the Tararuas. I was very conscious today to make sure I was comfortable and was wearing the right gear. It is chilly weather but I get hot and sweaty while hiking. I don’t want to shed layers though to cool down because hyperthermia is a real danger up here. I’m so thankful for lightweight merino layers. Even with the hot physical effort, my puffy jacket, buff and gloves made appearances today.
The track notes for today show I climbed Puketoro 1152m, the shoulder of Kelleher 1142 and Main Ridge 1242. I will leave you to imagine the many, many ascents and descents it took to reach these points.
And by the end of a big day, I had hiked a grand total of... 13k!
Day 3 Last night I thought the hut was going to blow apart. The wind was ferocious. Nichols is a six person hut but there were 8 of us in there. Maybe that’s what kept it anchored to the mountain!
Last night I had made cold soaked oats for breakfast but ended up heating it up. I felt like I needed a warm breaky in my belly before I headed off.
My first goal for today (other than actually starting!) was to reach WaitewaewaeHut (8k - 4 1/2 hours).
I followed the ridge to the summit of Mt Crawford 1462m (380m ascent and 1240m descent which really caned my hip and my knees).
I stopped at the hut for a quick lunch and then was back on my way.
I had 10k/5 hours still to go.
This last section was marginally kinder but still had a lot of ups and downs and countless stream crossings. And just for something different, I also had to navigate a heap of boggy sections.
I came out finally to a graded track leading to a swing bridge and I check in with the ranger. He said the trail was really busy because of the spell of good weather and that only days before, a bunch of people had to sit it out at Nichols for three days!
I can’t stop smiling. How blessed I am. That was epic awesome tough and fun and I experienced the best hiking weather possible. Having said that, how great is it to have it done and not still be doing it!
The notes for the next described it as dangerous and it was recommended that transportation was used. I called a local fella who offered lifts into town and only had to wait for 20 minutes before he rocked up.
And it was an awful drive. 10k of really windy road with no shoulders. It would have been impossible to safely hike it. There was just no margin to wait out any cars.
True to form, I got carsick :/( and wobbled and breathed for about ten minutes after being dropped at the back packers before I could pick up my pack and go inside.
These photos do not do justice at all to the scale of these mountains.
Nichols Hut
Trail.
A fellow hiker sent this image to me when we were yarning in Otaki Forks. I’m glad I hadn’t seen it before I set off. Daunting, yes.
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