This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
ith daylight saving drawing to a close, I felt it was time to finally head away for a North Island tramp after a summer of South Island tramping. The southern end of the Kaweka Forest Park was the goal and in late March, I was more worried about the heat than the cold. But even in summer it will rain anywhere in New Zealand, and again this would be the case as Friday night showers set in. The tent was pitched under drizzly skies at the Kuripapango roadend, but I was soon asleep and never heard the other happy campers arrive from the easy and medium groups. This group was small, Jonathan Kaye was the only other tramper set to tackle a longish and very up and down loop of Back Ridge and the Kaweka Range. We would awake to cloudy skies without rain, but still my wet tent wouldn't dry before I had to reluctantly stow it in my pack! Come summer and dry conditions, the prospect of walking up the Ngaruroro River had looked good as this would avoid some of the steep slopes ahead and so at 8am we set forth. The river
Grant Newton
was up and after 30 minutes bashing about in the water, we gave up and headed up the Smith Russell track to Kuripapango (1250m) and then to Kiwi
Looking back down at the river we could clearly see that around the comer the river valley opened up and river travel would have been easy! Already the terrain looked dry, even after the rain as the bare, erosion prone slopes were hard to get a footing on as the fine gravel acted as ball bearings. We had already climbed 900 vertical metres and most of the day was still ahead! We set ourselves the goal of lunch by Kiwi Mouth Hut. This was not just one descent but a fair bit of climbing (350m) before a rapid, slippery 600-metre descent to a lovely 4-bunk hut set on grassy flats by the junctions of Kiwi Creek and Ngaruroro River. The sun shone but a breeze kept the temperature relatively low as we ate, aware of another climb ahead. The climbing certainly continued as we headed up onto Back Ridge, and upon reaching the tops the ee eee amet Grant Newton up-and-down just kept on coming to an afternoon stop at Back Ridge Biv. At this stage it was obvious that DoC had recently been through the area as this was the second hut fully clad in a new coat of ultra bright orange paint. The drizzle was beginning to set in and although light, it was annoying as the legs begarr to tire and the sight of Back Ridge Hut was eagerly awaited. At 6pm we descended into a deep basin beyond Sterns Saddle in which lay the 4-bunk Back Ridge Hut that we were to have to ourselves. I had arranged for a large feed and as I consumed my meal with vigour, I wondered what lay ahead for dessert. Jonathan had already established an incredible standard for desserts earlier in the year, but I wondered if he could keep such a reputation up. The sponge cake, fruit salad and cream had me gob smacked and even struggling to finish ...... the standard had been maintained, in fact I would say it had been raised to a new level! We awoke to a cold but fine morning, seeking an escape from this deep basin to where the sun would shine, but alas, no sooner were we in the sun; we were back in the bush. Out of the bush we rose to sunshine mingled with fog as we ascended the ridge to the high point in the park, Kaweka J (1724m) for morning tea. Although the misty cloud loitered, great views were had as Ruapehu and Ngaurahoe were-visibleto the-west; while-the city of Napier was visible to the east. The up and down continued as we crossed dry, drought stricken terrain of the Kaweka Range and where beech forest lay below in the western valleys, while pine seedlings unfortunately sprouted on the eastern side. The bizarre site of Cattle Camp came into view as a wooden frame complete with roof and transparent plastic flapping walls appearing in the middle of the tank, now this was taking DoC’s hut standards to a different level, though no bright orange paint here! Enjoying the views to the west we sat atop the ridge and enjoyed lunch in the sun before linking back with the track at Kiwi Saddle Hut. There was still some climbing before the long steep descent to Kuripapango car park and an early departure. Well that was until I locked the keys in my car!
WT@EMC September 2001
[Photo captions and page text that interrupted the story:]
The freshly painted, bright orange Kiwi Mouth Hut
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Trip Reports
The Ngauroro River from Smith Russell track Grant Newton