This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
by Michael Lightbourne photos by Martin O'Hanrahan
_—— Crossing the Makaroro River with the start of Sparrowhawk Spur behind
It began with a long drive in an 11 seater van all the way to the Ruahines. It’s the first time I’ve been to the Ruahines not in the bus, so that was a bit weird. But it was a straightforward drive and the navigation was really easy, there were only three roads to remember: SH 2 past Dannevirke, turn onto SH 50 and go past Ongaonga and then turn into Wakarara Road and follow it until it ends. We weren't sure how close we would get to the start of the track, there was a ford across the Makaroro River about an hours walk from the track start. It turned out we didn’t even get to the ford, but we got close. There was a small slip partly blocking the road and on further inspection a major slip blocking the whole road a little further on. So some careful reversing up a hill and we found some good grass to camp on. There was no wind at that stage so my fly wasn’t very carefully pegged down. The wind got up during the night and so the fly was flapping around for hours, but better that than getting up and searching for the remaining scattered pegs in the dark.
Climbing up the main range above the Biv Andrew and Tracy The weather on Saturday morning was a bit mixed, a lot of grey cloud around but the ridges were clear. The day began for me with a 10 minute walk down to the muddy Makaroro River for some water for the billy. We learned that if you have a small burner on a windy morning then it's best to find a sheltered spot for it, such as the back of the van. So we had a latish breakfast and headed off at 9 am, probably the latest you would want to leave on a Medium trip. There was a short walk to the ford, ford yeah right! This was a serious river which no vehicle should attempt. The five of us linked up and practised our river crossing skills several times to get past the river. Apparently you can walk up the riverbed to the track start, but the river was obviously higher than usual, so we took the forestry road alternative. An hour later we were at the base of the Sparrowhawk Spur, where there is a sign indicating it will take three and a half hours. This is a real tramper’s track, quite overgrown and not commonly used. It’s one of these tracks where you think the hut must be round the next corner but never is. The plan was to get to Sparrowhawk Biv at about 1pm, but at 2pm with the Biv nowhere in sight, we stopped on the track for lunch. After lunch the climb was quite dramatic, the ridge narrowed to just a couple of metres wide, with a major slip falling away on the right hand side. Finally we arrived at the Biv at about half past three. My god has this hut got “character”. Actually it’s quite roomy for a two bunk biv, it can sleep 3 comfortably and there’s a separate space with a bench for cooking and seating for about 4 people. We were pleased to find it had a full water tank. We had to decide whether to continue on to Barlow Hut, a few hours away. It was a hard decision, and took some time. Then it was nearly 4 o’clock so there was no longer any decision to make (though I think we knew all along the decision we would make). We would stay the night at Sparrowhawk Biv. But there was a couple of hours of daylight left, and we were situated at the top of the main range. Some exploring had to be done. We were very fortunate that the cloud which covered the tops most of the weekend cleared in the late afternoon. A couple of us grovelled up a steep section to the top of Orupu which at 1475 metres offers simply outstanding views of a large part of the ranges. Then it was back to the Biv for one of many cups of tea we had that weekend.
On Sunday we left just after 9 on what was turning out to be a rather leisurely Medium trip. The route was down the Sparrowhawk Spur, or its other name Infinity Spur, proposed by Tracy. Considerable care and attention was paid to the rather scary section next to the slip, and the rest was plain sailing in comparison. It was much quicker coming down, and we had lunch at the base of the spur, next to the Makaroro river, and another cup of tea. We returned to the van at the very civilised time of mid afternoon, the end of another great tramp. It’s interesting to consider the proposed route to Barlow and down the Colenso Spur. At the base of that spur, you then follow the river for some distance, this could have been interesting given the state of the river. There is however an alternative track, marked on some maps only, from Barlow Hut to the Parks Peak track and out that way.
The trampers were Tracy Wilkinson, Andrew Ledbrooke, Martin O’Hanrahan, Marie Henderson and Michael Lightbourne.