This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
By lan Fiek
My first trip with the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club Easy Trip with: Hazel Roberts (leader), Ray, lan, Christiane, Christine, Megan, and Sarah. T trip started with a 3-hour ride in the WT&MC truck (the “Duchess”) first up to Levin for a meal break and then entering the Tararuas via Shannon. About an hour and a quarter was spent on the windy, narrow, dirt road up to the upper Mangahao Dam—scary
ona dark night with several hairpin bends needing 3-point turns. Some corners are being undercut by erosion which we found out the hard way by a wheel crashing over the side (no damage luckily). Everyone was feeling queasy— one vomit stop needed by yours truly. The road finally came to the dam where we parked right under the dam wall. The Easy trip (us!) bagged the truck for the night while the rest set up tent flys. The next morning was overcast but with no rain. We had a leisurely wake-up and breakfast, waving goodbye to the other two groups, having a wander around, looking at the dam and spill-way, I and finally setting off about 9am. A dirt track took us the few metres to the top of the dam and a little further on, the track branched off along the side of the lake. The lake looked to be about half full, with big expanses of mudflats and the dark trunks of once-submerged trees poking up everywhere. The track generally contoured well above the lake shore, coming to a footbridge over an unnamed side-stream.
After the bridge the track contoured some more and then dropped to cross Roaring Creek (just over ankle-deep) with an easy, muddy crossing of the flats beyond. More ups and downs along the slopes got us to the footbridge across the Mangahao River. Over the river the track became less easy with a few tiny climbs. The hardest and most interesting part of the track came on the climb over the Mangahao Gorge. This started with the track clinging to a rock ledge beside a waterfall as it zigzagged up about
40m. Once on top of the gorge there was a long, narrow traverse on steep slopes—not level since there were lots of little ridges and gullies to cross.
Past the gorge there was much easier walking to Dick Creek and then to the hut which we arrived at a little after 12. The hut is fairly shabby with two sleeping platforms (6 or 7 battered foam mattresses), a stove and a nice verandah. With a good amount of tree cover it needs the transparent panels in the roof for any chance of evening light. There is a good view down to the river.
We dropped our packs, claimed our sleeping space, and tucked into lunch. After some time to digest lunch we went for an afternoon stroll further up the river, eventually reaching Barra Creek, over some extremely muddy ground. We decided to sit and enjoy the sunlight that had finally driven the clouds away.
Soon the Medium group emerged from downstream—for some strange reason they had decided not to camp at the hut. They chatted and then moved on and then we returned to the hut to find that Santa’s elves had visited—causing our packs to commit mass suicide against the inside of the door and our sleeping bags to-turn inside-out.
We straightened up and got stuck into dinner: pork in peaches on a rice bed with fruit salad dessert. There was a period of heavy rain that night—perhaps heavenly retribution on Santa’s elves!
We woke up late the next morning; those who stayed in bed got tea served by Ray. The weather was worse than yesterday with very low clouds and threatening rain. Everyone took their time with breakfast and packing up since we did not have to leave until 12. In the event we were mostly packed by 11 when the Medium group turned up. After a chat, we moved off and they stayed for lunch. The trip back was the same as.the trip in with more slippery tree logs and slightly wetter mud. Luckily the rain held off until just before the dam when it just poured down.