St James Fastpack

Wow, I haven't written a post in over three years! I've been living in the UK and travelling for the past two years so haven't visited many backcountry huts for a while. I'm now living in the tramping paradise that is Christchurch and I have a backlog of adventures to write about and a list of places to visit a mile long!

My most recent adventure was to fastpack the St James Walkway in Lewis Pass. I've wanted to do this track for a very long time, but I didn’t have the leave to take the time off to walk it (its 68km long, walked over four days). With two perfect early March days on the agenda for the weekend, I decided to run (well, jog/ walk fast) it over a weekend.

Nice boardwalks at the start of the trail. They didn't last long

Crossing Cannibal Gorge

Day 1 – Lewis Pass – Anne Hut 38.5km

I started off around midday to blue skies and a perfect temperature of around 15 degrees. The track was brilliant, soft but not wet underfoot, and through pristine beech forest. I reached Cannibal Gorge Hut (10.7km in), after an hour and a quarter and sat down on the bench outside the hut to have some lunch. Little and often was my strategy for eating on this trip.

I set off to the next hut, Ada Pass, which was only 3.1km away, although a grunt up through some beech forest. There were a couple of guys here in for a day walk and they were quite chatty. I’d only seen two other groups so far that day so everyone was very friendly and glad of someone else to talk to.

Not long after Ada Pass, the beech forest finally gave way to open grass flats. The running was flat, but the trail was quite narrow and hard to see due to the long grass. The grass also hid ruts in the track, so I had to concentrate quite a bit and the running wasn't as fast as I'd hoped. It was quite hot by now and I was draining my water quite fast. I'd consumed three litres so far and it was a pretty exposed 11km to the next hut, Ada Cullers. 

This was fairly typical scenery on the open bits

I ran out of water about half an hour before I reached Ada Cullers Hut, but there was no water to be found at this hut! The next, Christopher Hut, was only another kilometre away thankfully. I reached the hut and its well-stocked water tank after a very parched jog. The water was gloriously ice cold and I devoured about a litre of it during my stop and filled up my pack. Interestingly, there were some horses behind a fence very close to the hut.This must have been the border with the St James Station. It was very tempting to stop here and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting out on the deck of Christopher Hut, reading and soaking up the fantastic view. 

Christopher Hut

However, I was behind schedule and I had a very long and flat 14km to run to reach my destination for the night. Initially rejuvenated after the cold water at Christopher Hut, I soon began to really feel the effect of running with an 8kg pack. At any indication of an incline, my run was reduced to little more than a shuffle. 

Finally, after 4 hours and 45 minutes and 38.5km of running I reached Anne Hut. There was a good bunch of people there for the night and we chatted away, eating and reading in between. Anne Hut was only built in 2011 and was spacious and warm with the fire going, and just as well, since I didn't bring a sleeping bag. 

Day 2: Anne Hut to Boyle Village 33.5km

I was surprisingly not sore when I woke up, something I was worried about completing two long runs back to back like this. After a light breakfast, I set out into the frost at 7.30am. It was cold, and the ice sliding down my legs from running through the long grass was something else! My shoes soon became covered in ice. To add to the wake up call, this was the wettest section of the track, with lots of small stream crossings and bog. My shoes were saturated and I just stomped through the puddles in the end. 

The theme of the morning

Dammit

It took a while for the sun to make its way down into the valleys and I was longing for a return to the sun of the previous days. The track had lots of small ups and downs with a mix of beech forest and river flats, though it was all uphill to Anne Saddle, the highest point of the track at 1136m. There was no one but me and flocks of noisy, startled geese.
After a couple of hours of muddy, rough tracks, the wide, open descent from Anne Saddle was very welcome.

Early morning - no bogs for a wonderful 50 metres

The track start and end points are 16km apart along the Lewis Pass road, so I dropped a bike off at the Boyle Village end, to ride back to my car at the end of the second day, which I would park at the Lewis Pass carpark up the road.

I reached Rokeby Hut at around 10am, just as the sun was starting to come into the valley and melt the frost. Time for a snack and to put some sunblock on.
The track was still quite boggy and rough in parts and progress was much slower than I'd hoped. Just after Rokeby Hut, I saw two people walking the Te Araroa, the only people I saw on the track that day.

Boyle Flats Hut came not long after - 17km in and just past the halfway point for the day. It's a wonderfully located hut, with a nice open grassy area out front and seats located by large windows to take in the fantastic view. The track from here was my favourite of the whole walkway - beautifully flowing descending track through beech forest. It was nice to have some speed after a slow morning. The water pipe at Boyle Flat was broken, so I did the side trip to Magdalen Hut (1.1km off the trail) to top up my water, and bag the hut. I ditched my pack in the bush and ran only with my water bottle. Such a luxury after running with the pack all weekend. It was fast and I loved it. The back was quite sore from the pack and I'd vowed to pack less and take lighter food next time. 

Magdalen Hut is located in a sunny clearing and is a comfortable and modern DOC hut. After drinking plenty of water and filling up my bottle, I ran back to my pack and set in for the final 9.5km grind to the carpark. I had a firm list of all the treats I was going to eat when I got back into town!

Magdalen Hut - This would be a lovely spot for the night

It was another warm, sunny day but thankfully the trail was all in the bush, although it had lots of small ups and downs and I'd long given up trying to run up them. I'd had enough.  

Finally, after 33km and 4.5hours, I reached the carpark and my bike. I hopped on, keen to get the 16km ride over with so I could relax in the car and get food that wasn't muesli bars, salami or chocolate raisins. 

My legs on the bike were fine, but my bike was a singlespeed (I didn't want to leave my expensive road bike parked out overnight), and my car was currently over 200m higher than where I was. And there was a headwind. Ugh. What seemed like tiny rises in the car became mammoth mountains on my singlespeed. I had to walk up a lot of the hills. I should have just hitchhiked - the road was busy enough. 

I reached the car, after doubling my McDonald's order on the ride, and revelled in the satisfaction of a having completed a great adventure and bagging nine huts.

My gear:

·         Headlamp

·         PLB

·         2L water bladder

·         750ml water bottle (in case the bladder burst)

·         100ml tube sunblock

·         Sun protecting lip balm

·         Gloves

·         Beanie

·         Long johns

·         Emergency blanket

·         Thermal top

·         Jersey

·         Small warm jacket

·         Rain jacket

·         Sleeping bag liner

·         Kindle

·         Plus running clothing (I wore this, no spares)

Food (1 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast and snacks)

·         Copious muesli bars

·         Chocolate raisins

·         Chocolate

·         Mandarins

·         Cherry tomatoes

·         Eggplant dip

·         Avocado

·         Crackers

·         Cheese

·         Boiled eggs

·         Gerkins

·         Chocolate biscuits

I don’t think I could have cut down on the gear (except the kindle – I would have been quite bored at the hut otherwise) – I wore all my layers at night and was still a bit chilly. The food, however, was far too heavy. I should have taken a very small pot and gas canister and dehydrated meals and only have taken the chocolate and muesli bar items from the list. This would have been much less bulky and far lighter. Every gram helps in this case.

Lake Dive and Syme Hut, Egmont National Park

For Wellington anniversary weekend, three friends and I decided on a long weekend mission to Mt Egmont National Park. The original plan was to complete the Pouakai Circuit on the Saturday and Sunday, drive around the mountain to the Dawson Falls and walk up to Syme Hut Sunday night and then on Monday, head up to the summit and back out before driving home. A packed schedule for sure, but an epic one!

The weather forecast wasn't too flash in the days leading up to the weekend though, and shortly before arriving in Stratford from Wellington we saw that the South side of the mountain was clear and sunny, while it was raining on the North side and in Stratford.

So over lunch in Stratford, we changed plans so we could walk in the sun rather than the rain for the afternoon. So we drove to Dawson Falls and headed to Lake Dive Hut.

Lake Dive Hut is a straightforward 3 hour walk from the Dawson Falls Visitor centre (via the Lower Lake Dive track). It's not a bad track, though a bit overgrown. There's plenty of steps, but as the fill in them has eroded, they're mostly just annoying obstacles and the track would be much better off if they were removed. 

We arrived at the sprawling Lake Dive Hut to find we had the place to ourselves. Yay! The hut has two separate bunkrooms and a large open area. A very smelly Israeli man later arrived, but thankfully he took the other bunkroom. 

We checked out the small but serene Lake Dive nearby, and if you stand in the shallow water of the shore (the lake is completely surrounded by dense bush), you get fantastic views of Mt Taranaki. 

Standing in Lake Dive with Mt Taranaki in the background

Mt Taranaki near sunrise

View on the way up to Syme Hut

The next morning, we took the upper Lake Dive track and headed up to Syme Hut. It's steep going, but the views improve with each step and it wasn't long before we were amongst the tussock and we could see right across Southern Taranaki to Wanganui. The track sidles the mountain before joining the track coming directly up from Dawson Falls. From there, there's a few steps and then a long, very steep scree bash up to Syme Hut. The scree bit takes a bit over an hour, for a total of 2.5-3hrs from Lake Dive to Syme Hut.

Syme Hut occupies a barren, flat platform 2,000m up Mt Taranaki. It has fantastic views and it almost feels as though you're on Mars. 

Syme Hut

The plan for the afternoon was to climb Mt Taranaki. It's about a 3-4 hour steep return trip from the hut, and climbing the mountain from this (the Southern side) is much more steep and difficult than the main route, from the North Egmont visitor centre. 

Half our group wanted to climb it in the morning and the other half that afternoon. Although it was clear, it was very windy and the top of the mountain had decided to start clouding in a bit, so with better weather forecasted for the next morning, the morning won out. 

Syme Hut in the evening

So we had a lazy afternoon in the hut, having a great time reading, playing cards and being stupid. Later in the afternoon, it completely clouded it, started raining and the winds picked up. Our dreams of an epic sunset went out the window, but it did feel very cosy being inside the little hut while the weather buffeted it outside. Just as the final bit of light was about to disappear from the sky, the clouds parted for a bit and we popped outside to check out the lights of the Taranaki towns below and to get some photos. 

The next morning, the cloud and high winds were back, so we abandoned the planned climb and had a ball sliding down the mountain on the scree that we'd so painstakingly scaled the day before. I'd previously climbed Mt Taranaki from the Northern side so wasn't too disappointed about not getting to the top this time. It took us about two hours to get down to the Dawson Falls carpark. 

But I will be back to knock off the Pouakai circuit, which has been on the to do list for a very long time!

Hopeless Creek and Lake Angelus, Nelson lakes National Park

The second trip of 2015 was a long awaited trip to the Nelson Lakes National Park. We had three days for a trip so pondered a number of different possibilities.

We decided on a pleasant round trip from St Arnaud: Day 1 - St Arnaud to Coldwater Hut, Day 2: Coldwater Hut to Hopeless Hut, up the Hopeless Creek, over Sunset Saddle and down to the tarns before Lake Angelus. Day 3: Tarns to Lake Angelus, then down Roberts Ridge and back to St Arnaud.

Day 1: We plod along the very easy track on the Eastern side of Lake Rotoiti. It's a gentle and pleasant 2hrs walk to Lakehead Hut. Lakehead is a big, ugly hut. There's only a few people in the hut (it sleeps 27), but it's set back away from the lake and the nearby Coldwater Hut is right beside the lake, so we decide to head there instead.

The very serene Lake Rotoiti from St Arnaud

UGLY....Lakehead Hut

The track to Coldwater from Lakehead actually goes South, away from the hut, and DoC estimates a time of 50 minutes to get there. We decide instead to venture across the Travers Valley and river directly to the hut and manage to cross the river without any trouble and arrive at Coldwater 20 minutes later.

Coldwater Hut

Coldwater has much more character, with a beautiful stone open fireplace inside and stone work on the outside. It sleeps 10 and has plenty of room inside. There's four people already at the hut, but they're all very friendly and make great conversation.

My mates Matt and Jude were keen for a swim, but it's clouded over and the wind's picked up, so I don't feel a pressing urge for a swim. Just as well, because soon after Matt and Jude jump in, there's a yell and commotion coming from the water. Jude's been bitten by an eel! It's large enough for it to bleed and we can see the bit marks on the back of his legs.

Jude's eel bite!

The eels hover around the jetty in front of the hut and hold their ground even when prodded with a stick. They're pretty big! They provide great entertainment for half an hour, until the incessant sandflies prove to be too much, and we all venture inside for the hut.

The hut very thoughtfully has bug screens on the windows, so you can ventilate the hut while cooking, without letting a whole horde of sandflies in.

Day 2: The next morning, we get cracking early, as we have a big day ahead of us.

We walk an easy two hours up the Travers Valley to the Hopeless Hut turnoff. Here, the track gradually climbs for an hour and a half to the fantastic Hopeless Hut.

Walking up the Travers Valley

Hopeless oozes with character, with big windows showing off fantastic views of the range, wood paneling all around and even two double mattresses on the bottom rows of the bunks. Also, there's a bonus room downstairs with no mattresses, which could be used as an overflow space if the hut is full.

Hopeless Hut

Hopeless Hut interior

After lunch here, we begin the grunt up to Sunset Saddle, 1000m up! There is a track leading out of the bush from Hopeless and then a cairned route begins. It's hot work in the January sun. At the end of the valley is a big bluffed cliff and waterfall, and the route scrambles up a big scree face, before heading over the waterfall to a beautiful tarn.  The route carries on above the tarn before flattening out alongside another tarn and then climbing steadily again to Sunset Saddle.

We have to somehow get to the top of that waterfall!

Looking down the Hopeless Valley

Scree slope ready for srambling

Tarn above the waterfall

Matt climbing up to the first tarn

Unfortunately, it's clouded in a fair bit, so the views from the saddle aren't that great. We head up nearby Mt Angelus (2,075m) anyway, as we can't be bothered climbing all the way back up to it the next day. It's an easy, if steep, scree scramble. 

View of tarns from Sunset Saddle

From the saddle, we descend to the first tarn and find the one campsite that's not soggy and wet! Matt very bravely goes for a swim in the tarn. After a cramped night of 3 guys in a 2 man tent, we awake to a clear sunny day and descend for an hour past Hinapouri Tarn to Lake Angelus. It's a awesome spot, with great views and a very pleasant setting. Angelus is a large, modern and popular hut, but we were glad to be able to camp away from the all the people the previous night.

Angelus Hut and Lake Angelus

Lake Angelus

Lake Angelus and Angelus Hut

The track back out past Angelus is pretty simple, following gently along Roberts Ridge for 3 hours, before steeply descending to the carpark. The views are just awesome, and we can see most of the peaks of Nelson Lakes, plus the Richmond Ranges and Kahurangi Ranges further North. Being up on the tops for so long on such a clear, sunny day is a magical experience.

Views from Roberts Ridge

Kea Hut

Bushline Hut

St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti from Roberts Ridge

I decide to take the slightly longer track past Bushline Hut, so I can add to the hut talley, while Matt and Jude go directly down Roberts Ridge. From the carpark, it's about a 45 minute walk to  St Arnaud. A better way to do the loop would be to park at Roberts Ridge carpark and follow the track on the Western side of the lake to Coldwater Hut, which is slightly shorter than the Eastern track and this way would avoid the hot slog along the road back to St Arnaud.

Another great summer trip!

Tramping times:

St Arnaud to Coldwater Hut via the Eastern side of Lake Rotoiti: 2.5hrs
Coldwater Hut to Hopeless Hut: 4hrs
Hopeless Hut to Sunset Saddle: 4hrs
Sunset Saddle to Mt Angelus summit: 15 minutes
Sunset Saddle to Lake Angelus: 1hr
Lake Angelus to Roberts Ridge carpark (direct): 4hrs

Sawcut Gorge, South Malborough, January 2015

Second trip of 2015! A quick jaunt up the Ure river to Sawcut Gorge and Isolation Hut. 

We headed up the didymo infested river from Blue Mountain station, hitting the river after 10 minutes walking through the farm. The track to the gorge and hut is entirely along the river, and involves several river crossings. In January though, the river was low and gently flowing. 

Walking up the Ure River

There are plenty of great swimming holes along the way (and friendly eels!), and it's a pretty scenic place to walk. 

After about an hour's walk, we arrived at Sawcut Gorge. It's pretty spectacular and a very cool place to walk through. 

Sawcut Gorge

Sawcut Gorge

A further hour up the river, we arrived at Isolation Creek Hut. It's a very tidy and well located hut and we had a great night there. Had the place to ourselves until a very attractive British man arrived to keep us company after dinner! 

The next day we retraced our steps back out again! We made sure to clean our boots thoroughly to kill the didymo. 

Isolation Creek Hut

Kaweka Adventure - New Years 2014/15

My family is based in Gisborne, so I head up there for Christmas and some of the summer break. With a bit of time available between Christmas and meeting up with some friends to do some tramping in the South Island, I decided to head to the Kaweka Range with my sister. 

The Kaweka's are an underutilized tramping paradise, about an hour's drive West of Napier. They're too far away from Wellington to venture on weekends so I was quite looking forward to my first overnight tramp in the range. 

After a long time gazing over the Topomaps for the area and there being a multitude of possible adventures, I decided on a loop that would bag 8 huts!

Makahu Saddle Hut

Dominie Biv

We parked in the Makahu Saddle carpark and headed up to Kaweka J, via Makahu Saddle Hut, which is a fantastic ex NZFS hut only 5 minutes from the carpark, Makahu Spur and Dominie Biv. Dominie Biv, halfway up the climb, is a good spot to stop and catch your breath, it's a very cute and cosy biv.  Kaweka J (1,724m) is the highest point in the range and although the carpark is at about 900m, it's still a solid haul up the J. There's a few steep scree sections.

Once on the top, after around two hours of climbing, things flatten out a lot more. This part of the range is quite severely eroded, as I think much of the original vegetation was burned years ago in an attempt to run sheep on it!

On the tops heading towards Kaweka J summit

On the mega cairn at the summit

After reaching the summit, we continued on over the main range down a steepish track for around 2 hours, to the four bunk Back Ridge Hut for the night. It was occupied by a lovely couple and, located beside a small stream, it was a great spot to spend the night. 

Back Ridge Hut

The next day, we begun the steady climb up to Back Ridge Biv. I was quite pleased to have bagged the fourth hut/biv of the trip to date. All of huts so far had been very tidy, well maintained places, all painted in a fresh coat of NZFS orange. I love the distinctive colour and the contrast which it provides against the bush in the background. 

Back Ridge Biv

 From Back Ridge Biv, which was about 1.5hrs from Back Ridge Hut, we headed down a steep track to Rocks Ahead Hut, by the river. Yet another fantastic NZFS hut, I was ecstatic with the hut haul so far. We had lunch here and checked out the very cool cable way to the Rocks Ahead Biv. I wanted to go across on the cable way, but chickened out in the end. But I totally regret that now!

Rocks Ahead Hut

Rocks Ahead interior

From Rocks Ahead, a sign said that it was only 2.5hrs to our next destination, Venison Tops. I'd expected a solid 3.5hrs, so was pleased. However, after 2.5hrs of climbing we were still in the bush and my GPS confirmed we were still some way off. 

I normally plan on slashing a good chunk of time off the posted times on tracks, but I've concluded that the times in the Kaweka's have been calculated by a very fit person. 

We got some great views of the centre of the ranges from Venison Tops, before ducking back into the bush to the large Venison Tops hut. It was New Years eve and we had the hut to ourselves but were in bed before 9pm!

View from Venison Tops

Venison Tops Hut

After a bit of a stormy night, the next morning dawned clear and we headed to Ballard Hut. The track is a gentle one, through bush for an hour or so, before venturing onto the tops for a further hour, with a steep 20 minute scramble down to Ballard, which is at the bush line, just off the ridge. 

Ballard Hut

After Ballard, we completed the loop, walking up and down along the tops for 1.5hrs, over North Kaweka and back to Makahu spur for a fast hour-long descent to the carpark. Walking along the tops on a fine day is one of life's great pleasures and we could almost see right across the North island, from Ruapehu in the West to the sea of Hawkes Bay on the East. A great trip!

On the tops looking towards North Kaweka

On the tops - scant vegetation here