23-24 September 2023

Leader: Peter Davis

Rain, Rain go away….The original plan was to head away early on Saturday, do the walk and then stay the night in tents at Mt Holdsworth campground. The weather had other plans however, with Saturday looking very wet, but with possibilities to walk on Sunday. Therefore, we decided to stay in the Mt Holdsworth Lodge on Saturday night and do the walk on Sunday.

We had a Noce shared meal and games of cards on Saturday evening and went to sleep with the pattering of rain drops on the lodge roof. We were greeted with drizzle on Sunday morning, but decided it was good enough to head away. It was relatively warm and calm.

This beautiful ridge, home to varied vegetation and birdlife, is almost entirely below the bush line, so was pretty sheltered the whole way. The route isn’t marked on the topo map but it’s a good track and there are frequent markers. It’s obviously well-used and there’s hand-crafted signs along the way.

A few hundred metres from Holdsworth Lodge a bridge spans Atiwhakatu Stream which we didn’t cross. Our track stayed on the true left of the stream, and we travelled along its bank for about a 1km. Markers indicated to turn uphill for the grunty part of the walk – a 600m, 2km ascent to Pinnacle (877m). The ascending track skirted to the top of a large slip at around 400m elevation, offering a good reason to stop for a breather and look back down to Donnelly Flat.

Pinnacle is the only point of the route that breaks above the bush line, and there are apparently good views over the Holdsworth-Jumbo route. We had mist with the sun desperately trying (and failing) to break thru. A recently installed plaque remembers a guy called Ron who loved and maintained this track.

From Pinnacle, the ridge track was easy going and mostly downhill, with two minor saddles to ascend toward Pt862 and Pt846 respectively. A couple of signed junctions were passed pointing to shortcuts into the Atiwhakatu Valley. The ridge broadened and ladder fern threatened to obscure the path but there were enough markers to keep on track.

Eventually, at the northern terminus of Pinnacle Ridge, we emerged onto the Barton Track that, to the right, leads to Mitre Flats Hut. Although now back on official tracks the going, instead of getting easier, was harder for a while. We soon passed the Baldy Track junction and began the descent to the Atiwhakatu swing bridge. It was steep, rough and slow. After the bridge we continued to Atiwhakatu Hut. This section was up and down, rooty, rocky and boggy.

After the hut, the track was in great condition - benched, bridged and boardwalked. We descended 180m over seven kilometres. Our stride lengthened and pace quickened for the 90min to the final bridge we saw at the start. After crossing, it was 5min back to the car park and dry clothes.

All up, a pleasant weekend and a good leg stretch.

Those on the trip were:

Peter Davis, Julie James, Stephen Bowler, Viv Roberts, Yingjun Shelton

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.