13-14 August 2022

Leader: Owen Cox

The weather leading up to the trip was pretty bad but it fined up just before the weekend.

DoC had also created a bit of stir by putting a flag on the DoC website saying the track was closed by an impassable slip. We were ready to spend time going around it and thought that the warning would mean we would see few people. In the event the closure was changed to a caution note just before we went in. It was therefore a bit dismaying to find the carpark full of cars.

We headed off and came to the washout. Not really a slip, more a debris flow down a small creek. Really easy to cross. Some distance on there was a slip that had blocked the river from the other side. The track would have been underwater for some of the week. The only bit of grovelling was a clamber over a fallen tree about a metre in diameter that was across the track where it crossed a steep slope. Once we got to the swing-bridge there was virtually no sign of storm damage for the rest of the way.

We had lunch at the Herepai turn-off then wandered down to Roaring Stag Hut at varying speeds. The last of us took about 5 hours including stops. We found Roaring Stag to be empty. The two groups in front of us had gone up to Cattle Ridge Hut. Our 15 people filled the hut and no-one else turned up. By the time I got to the hut five people had already gone for an afternoon walk to Cattle Ridge Hut and back. Three more of us followed, more for an evening walk. The track up to Cattle Ridge is a 2 hour climb, most of it pretty steep. Near the top we met the 5 coming down. The last of our group got to the hut about 5pm and after a short rest and drink started back down.

While we were pleased we didn’t have packs on the way up, the fact that the hut had 6 people for 5 bunks re-enforced the pleasure. Part way down we had to turn torches on as it got dark around 6pm. The others had Roaring Stag nice and warm with a fire. Despite coming in after dark it was still an early night.

It was a frosty night and in the morning even the taller trees had light, white frost in the canopy. On the way out we dropped off the track and went a short way up Ruapae Stream before dropping our packs. We then wandered over the terraces through good bush to the lake. The lake is in a basin on the terraces, perched above the cliffs beside the Ruamahanga River. With the rain over the week the lake outlet had more flow than normal. There was a bit of a freeze on the surface of the lake, around the margin.

From here we headed back to the packs and then climbed out of the stream onto the track for the walk out. We had a snack at the Herepai turn-off. Three of us made a quick side trip to Herepai Hut, which was found to be in good condition. We got to the road mid afternoon for an uneventful drive home.

Those on the trip were:

John Peterson, Julie James, Kylie Gilbert, Marcia Goode, Marian Cox, Mark Robertson, Nisa Promchot, Owen Cox, Rob Dey, Robyn Wilson, Wayne Williams, Yeun An, Yingjun Shelton, Pip, Rickon Gilbert

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.