The Ohau Track Clearance Misson

Trip: Ohau valley. South Ohau Hut via river; North Ohau Hut via river, Girdlestone Saddle, ridgeline and down spur; back to Poads Road via river.

Date: 10-13 Mar 2022

Trip Grade: M (off-track/nav, bowsaw and machete experience required)

Trampers: Mike Andrew and Janine

Notes:

• It is not 2 hours from South Ohau Hut to Girdlestone Saddle.

 

I had unfinished business.

Janine and I last went to South Ohau hut in January 2020 and we didn't like what we saw. The track from the hut up to Girdlestone had treefall all over it, and it took us about 2 hours to cover just a few hundred metres. It was like trying to climb across pick-up sticks. And frustratingly, I could tell that a few hours with a bow saw and machete and the bulk of it could be cleared, leaving just a few of the larger trunks to clamber over.

I vowed to come back.

Fast forward two years and a whole pandemic.

Here we were.

Unusual items in my tramping pile

Friday morning (the 12th) saw us up bright and early and hurtling towards Poads Road, stopping only for an Otaki coffee and pie for breakfast. 8:30am and we were on the track, with bold plans of smashing through to the hut by lunch and then heading up to the treefall site to recce and plan. These plans slowly unwound as the hours went on and we remembered that river travel is slow and tiring. And slow. "There by lunchtime" turned into there by 2:30pm, and we felt we'd done a good day's effort when we got there. I did the math. Up to treefall, back by nightfall, didn't give us very much time at all to actually do anything and left us more tired for the next day. 

We stayed put.

It was so good to see South Ohau Hut, and it was in stunning condition. TARHC had been in and thoroughly spruced the place up. Last time we were here there had been mold on the walls, dead flies in the window sliders and the place felt generally run down. Now it gleamed and smelt of fresh paint and cleaning products. Wonderful.

We settled in wearily with a few drinks and early dinner - pesto pasta and chorizo.

Around 7pm, just after we'd finished thirds just to clean up the leftovers - who did we see striding up the valley but a gangly figure in hi-viz. Andrew! He'd got away from work after all and had powered up the river to catch up. It was delightful to see him. Shame we had no food for him. But we did have tiramasu, and he came with craft beer to share.

Andrew's view of the hut as he arrives

Saturday morning we were up and away by 8am, ready for work and adventure. Janine had in mind to try getting to North Ohau hut via the ridge and spur. It would depend on how our tree clearance went but we packed up and took full packs with us just in case. 

Off to cut wood, just as the drizzle starts

The drizzle started as we left the hut. Just lightly. For now.

South Ohau to Girdlestone saddle starts off back in the South Ohau river. We followed it upstream another 45 min or so, just past a fork (you take the left fork). Here, big orange markers steer you steeply up the spur to the right to avoid Dowling Falls and the slippery mossy cliff climb with falls to sharp boulders below to threaten the smallest misstep. Ask Andrew how he knows.

It was still drizzling. Maybe even raining lightly. 

We very quickly came across the treefall and to our mixed emotions but mainly delight it appeared someone had been here before us. There had been determined clearing done already. But there was more to do. We sawed and pruned and slashed and cut and marked, and made the track clearer, more obvious and removed the last of the bigger boughs. But it took a lot less time than we expected. Before we knew it we were back at the river and a hard scramble up an ever steeper, rockier and more tricky ascent. We were climbing up and over rocks and treefall, scooting up the bank to get around the worst of it, and occasionally clambering up steep banks to get around small waterfalls. At one point coming back to the stream, Janine took a hard tumble off the bank and into the stream. Ouch! We struggled on.

The track - well more like a route now - restarted, then went back to the creek, then launched itself steeply up the spur to the right of the stream. It was properly raining by this time. Janine and I were tiring rapidly. Andrew, pleading extreme lack of fitness, politely waited for us as we scrambled and climbed and trudged.  

At last we topped out the spur, the terrain flattened off and we emerged at a welcome 3 way sign pointing onwards to Mangahuka hut, and right to Te Matawai hut. In my memory this intersection was a proper gravelly track but it was nothing like that - the barest of routes in all directions. (Maybe I'm mixing it up with Yeates track?). I decided that getting my jetboil on and feeding us hot drinks would raise our spirits. Miso soups all round. But my pack got distinctly soggy just in the time it took to unpack my stove. 

It had taken us around 4 hours to get here. We had spent a bit of time on track clearance, but the cheerful "Girdlestone 2 hours" sign at South Ohau is somewhat misleading!

After a very quick refuel we went neither straight nor right - we headed left, the only non-marked direction, to find our way along the ridge and to the spur above North Ohau hut.

At first it was tough going and difficult navigation. We shuffled along the ridge, having to drop off regularly to avoid tree fall, but needing to not drop too far and find our way back onto the broad, rounded ridge without inadvertently wandering down a spur. Janine and I were very grateful for Andrew's nav skills. Rain and clag meant that it was hard to tell where we were. Time lost its meaning as we kept on keeping on.

It's easy to see how people can get hypothermia. Every time we stopped to figure out where we were going we got cold really quickly and we needed to keep moving to keep warm.  A minor hurdle like a simple injury to treat could lead to worse things if you're not careful.

We began to ascend, which was the signal that we were reaching our highest point - the knob at spot height 865, at the top of Deception Spur (and we were not going to be deceived!). As we reached it, pink ribbons started marking our way. It's amazing what an uplift that is, to have some confirmation that you're going the right way.

The pink ribbons led us merrily on along the ridge and then down to the start of the North Ohau spur. We followed them on, with Andrew telling us how hard the spur descent would be. It was hard, but not as hard as he was expecting, though the pink ribbons may have had a lot to do with this. Little need to navigate and no chance of falling off the spur and ending up in the wrong place.

We were getting pretty tired but the rain let up and suddenly the pink ribbons lurched to the left and the hut hove into view, earlier than we expected. "Oh that's right, it's up on the terrace," said Andrew. The end of the rain, the start of the sunshine, and finding a warm dry hut are a great combination. 

The spur wasn't that bad but still, it had been a mission. 1km (horizontal) and 600m (down) had taken us from 3pm to 4:30pm.

No photos between leaving and arriving! Very grateful to see this place

North Ohau Hut is a cute wee thing. It's fairly new, seems to be same vintage as South Ohau. It's cozy inside with a wood burner and everything. But it's a small 4 bunk hut with very little room on the floor and no covered porch to sleep under. If you turned up and it was already full, you'd be in the wood shed. But, it's at a bit of a dead end so I don't think it gets much use other than hunters on their way into tiger country.

As I unpacked my bag, everything inside was a bit soggy. All the rain, the lunch stop with it open for a bit, and the fact that its rain cover didn't really fit around the saws and machetes, meant that there was definite seepage going on. This is when I also discovered that my cheap dry bags... weren't, all that much. And my sleeping bag was decidedly damp! Time for a new dry bag for it. 

It was sooo good to change into a dry t-shirt and enjoy the last rays of the sun. Our wet gear was festooned over the railings. All our leftover snacks and yummy things came out, and we sat around on the front deck chatting and eating. 

Soggy gear all drying

The hut was quite lacking in TLC. The woodshed was full of old tarps and empty of wood. Tools had been left out in the rain. There was rubbish left in the hut and the shelves were quite grimy. We did a bit of paying forward, tidying and cleaning and putting away. I made the most of having a proper saw with me and cut up a bit of the wood Janine foraged, ready for the next party.

Paying it forward with firewood

Dinner was a triumph, Janine's cottage pie that she'd prepared and brought in in icecream containers. Based loosely on this recipe it was just the comfort food we needed to recharge. There was heaps and even enough for my breakfast in the morning.

I curled up in my damp sleeping bag and was asleep in seconds. It wasn't so damp to cause me any grief and was dry by morning.

Sunday - at last, a day with no rush! We could have a leisurely breakfast and not concern ourselves with time. We had a short day ahead of us, down the river and back out.

North Ohau departure selfie

River travel out of North Ohau

I had difficulty finding a 'river stick' to walk with and ended up with something that was more like a small tree than a stick. Must have been good for my arm strength to lug that thing around all day.

On the way out we saw some familiar faces - the meetup tramping group were on their way to North Ohau hut for a daytrip. They were making great time and looked like they were all having fun. I heard later that a lot of swimming took place on the way back. There are certainly some great swimming holes in the Ohau river.

We took Andrew to "Rabbit Flat Hut", alas all it is now is a midden of mouldering plastic tarps and rubbish close to the river. A bit awful really. I think from now on I'm going to take just a bit of junk out every time I go past.

Relaxing at Rabbit Hut, well away from the rubbish

The trip out was smooth and fast, it always seems a bit quicker when you have get-there-itis on the last day. We introduced Andrew to the simple delights of the Deer Museum and Cafe/Bar before an uneventful drive home and a well earned rest.

I do like South Ohau Hut and I'm happy that I could give a little back to the tracks around it. Maybe in a hopefully post-Covid summer to come, I can take a few more Meetup trampers there and introduce them to it as well.