Wellington Anniversary Weekend 18-20 January 2020

Leader: Peter Davis

For the 3rd time the planned club river trip in the Kaweka Range had to be cancelled because of forecast easterly weather bringing rain. No club members had put their name down so I decided to head off to do some tramping where the sun was shining and I had not ventured before.

Ruapehu beckoned. I headed up to Ohakune early on Saturday morning and was on the track to Mangaehuehu Hut by 11am. The weather was behaving and the track was very pleasant - passing through beech forest, Rotokawa swamp, Waitonga Falls and some open space. After a late lunch, I ventured a bit further along the track and explored up a river, finding a nice swimming hole. In the evening the weather closed in a bit, but next morning I awoke to a beautiful day and a spectacular sunrise view of Ruapehu.

I retraced my steps to the Ohakune mountain road, taking in a side trip up to Lupton and Blyth Huts en route. I then headed up the mountain road for 3 km, to the track heading west to Mangaturuturu Hut.

This involved a route heading down a solid rocky stream that would be pretty slippery in the wet - I was glad it was sunny and dry. The track also crossed a sparsely vegetated zone that is an old Lahar flow.

After another late lunch, I headed up to have a look at Lake Surprise (which I had been able to see from the road). Next morning, I retraced my route back to the car on the Ohakune Mountain Road in the early morning sun and headed off to bike the Old Coach Road.

Those on the trip were:

Peter Davis