The weekend away where I didn't tramp to Carkeek Hut

While Angela was adventuring in Blenheim over ANZAC long weekend, I was off tramping with Janine, in her quest to get to every single one of the 50-odd tramping huts in the Tararua Forest Park.  Our original plan was Carkeek Hut, really remote and with lots of difficult tops travel - but the weather forecast put paid to that. We executed our Plan B instead.

Thursday - Kiriwhakapapa to ✅ Cow Creek Hut via Blue Range Hut 

It's always the end game that gets me.

I was packed and ready to go, awake at 6am with a full hour to get out of the house - but it was 7:30am before I was off. Janine was fairly polite about it. She even had espresso coffee waiting for me in a keep cup.

10am saw us parking up in the Kiriwhakapapa road end. We were the only car, which gave us hope that we might get some bunks in the 6-bunk huts we were visiting. Off up the hill we set. 

The track was okay as it wound steadily and cruisily up through nice beech forest. It seemed ever ending, though, with no views to be had and no variation in the scenery.

A group of four keen blokes passed us, travelling fast and chatting away. We figured out the were heading further than us. Our hut was still, in theory, all ours. (But more about them later). 

Two pairs of women passed us too, day tripping to Blue Range Hut with little day packs. One of them asked if they were going the right way! I hope they were just seeking confirmation and weren't completely lost.

In a couple of hours we were at the top of the hill and called in at Blue Range hut for lunch. It's a great quirky hut. Someone's brought in lots of amusing signs including a TOW AWAY AREA right outside the hut. Someone else has installed solar lighting. There's a picnic table with a photo showing we should see if not for the low overcast over the hills.

Cute!

Glad we're not up there though

Yep - it's windy too

The four blokes and one pair of day walkers ate outside and left fairly soon after we arrived. We sheltered from the chilly wind inside, along with the other day walker pair. They were both med students from Palmy, one local and one English and were fun to chat to as we nibbled our wraps (peanut butter and dried banana for Janine, hummus salami and cheese for me). 

Ok, enough sitting about, it's time to go. The track to Cow Creek sidled along the ridge for longer than I expected, before diving down down down to cow creek. My knee hurt a bit. I must be getting old. I was perhaps slightly envious of Janine's poles.

There was a big swing bridge across Cow Creek, that put the swing in swing bridge. The wind moved it around quite a lot, I had to hunker down and hold on a couple of times and you could see it bowing in the wind as you crossed it. Safe enough but a little unnerving. 

Look at the bend in the bridge!

We were delighted to arrive at a completely empty hut. Cow Creek Hut was nice in an old nostalgic sort of way. It was very similar to Paua Hut, a hut I know well - tin cladding on the outside, a uniquely 1960s shade of green paint inside, and cheerfully old but functional. We paid forward by collecting and cutting a small heap of firewood and then Janine got the pot belly stove nicely warming.

It was time for dinner. My Outdoor Gourmet Tandoori chicken was really quite good with a good spice and an amazing dehydrated yoghurt that rehydrated perfectly. Janine's half serving of Coq Au Vin was not so good, a bit tasteless and cardboardy (but hold your judgement and read on!)

Cozy

We were in bed by 8! I was certainly a bit exhausted after my short and intense 3 day week. I read and attempted to listen to podcasts but I fell asleep real fast. I slept sooo well, for at least ten hours I reckon. Why do I sleep so well in a grimy hut on a thin lumpy mattress? 

It absolutely teemed with rain all night, the rain banging against the laserlite skylight. Which was fantastic since we knew there was a short sharp front going over, and it chose to dump its rain when we were snuggled in a hut instead of miserably trudging through it.

Friday - Cow Creek Hut to ✅ Arete Forks Hut

We both slept in. Is it possible to sleep in if you explicitly don't agree a wake time?  Anyway we eventually blearily got up and had our respective unsatisfying but nutritious porridge and milk. (Recipe: tip hot water over milk powder and finely milled oats, in their sachet if that's how they came. Stir. Eat. Enjoy (whether you want to or not)). 

Eventually we were away at 9:30am, heading along the infamous Arete Forks Sidle Track. We knew it wasn't far (so no rush), but how hard would it be? The track was supposed to be pretty rough, but we'd also heard that the amazing Greater Wellington Backcountry Network crew had cleared this track and made it much better.  

"Arete Hut 3h" is a total lie

The track was a sidle only in name as it wound up and down, carved into the side of the hills but descending and then re-ascending whenever it transected each one of the six side creeks. Narrow and slippery. We were slow, probably down to just one km/h at times as we gingerly climbed up and down. My knees continued to hurt on the down sections. Again the word to use here is "interminable", with no views, no variation, just track and more track through damp beech.

Like this the whole way

Very little in the way of views

A piwakawaka flitted about keeping us company for a while

It was not before time that the brilliant NZFS orange hut gleamed at us through the trees. 

Smoke drifting out of the chimney told us we wouldn't get the hut to ourselves tonight. We wandered in to be greeted by the four blokes we met on the way up the hill the day before. What a story they had!

So Jack, Toby, Ocean and Timothy were a party from the Vic Uni Tramping Club, part of an ambitious and impressive effort to bag every hut in the Tararuas - in a single weekend. Nearly seventy trampers in 14 groups spread out over the whole park. This group were assigned the hardest mission, Carkeek Hut (and several others along the way) - Janine's nemesis as she has now tried and failed four times to reach it. Well, these guys didn't fare any better. When they headed to the tops the gales up there picked two of them up and threw them down the hill again so they wisely turned back and had a second unplanned night, with us, at Arete Forks. But the weather was on the improve so they'd see what they could salvage the next day. 

In the end the Vic Uni crew got all but two huts - Carkeek Hut and McGregor Biv. Huge effort.

Ocean's role was 'get the fire going'. The hut had a somewhat useless open fire that didn't draw properly and required a window left open to not fill the hut with smoke - a bit counter productive having to have a cold draught blowing in an open window! But he persevered with the wet and green wood he had to work with, even rigging a suspension system to dry wood above the fire, and eventually got it roaring. 

Fire

Later, in the glow of the red head torches

Dinner for me was Thai Green Chicken curry. It was okay. I'd stick to the cheaper back country version and add chili flakes. Our apéritif of Janine's fireball cinnamon whiskey, with Jamaican lime cordial mixer, was nice enough but I suspect it would be better neat (spoiler to tomorrow night - yes, it was). 

Janine was perusing her phone and showed me a screenshot of a partial facebook post from 2021 that suggested that it just might be possible to get up the spur opposite our hut to the peak far above it, and then head back to Cow Creek Hut via the tops and a spur and another track. No! Why would we change our plan so drastically? It sounded unwise to me. But the idea was seeded. Jack from the Vic Uni group was very interested in how far we got - if we indeed went that way.

Four plus two equals six so we nicely fitted into the beds available. Early to bed for another comfy sleep.

Saturday: Arete Forks back to Cow Creek Hut via Waingawa and Cow Saddle

We awoke to a crisp cold morning with a touch of frost on the grass outside. The sky had cleared and the wind had died. The Vic Uni folks set off to Table Ridge to bag Tarn Ridge hut and see how far they got after that. 

Rugged up warm, ready to go

Overnight the seed of 'bash up the spur to Waingawa' had sprouted in my head and I awoke keen to try it. Janine was a bit surprised at my newfound enthusiasm I think. But, we'd convinced each other it was a good idea somehow so off we went.

Just like the Vic Uni crew before us, the obvious way to go to find the fork was completely in the wrong direction so we spent quite a bit of time reorienting ourselves and finding the correct way to go.

Confidently striding off in completely the wrong direction

Once we eventually found the the bottom of the peak, we followed the big and small orange triangles of the first few metres of the Waiohone Pinnacles track. But when it took a turn to the left and headed away from Arete Stream and up the hill, we headed right and crossed the stream. Suddenly there were Permolat markers - made by cutting up old style venetian blinds into short pieces and nailing them to trees - all over the place which made following the trail really easy. Nothing more comforting than a string of markers leading you on! 

After a while of following the markers through beech forest we emerged into scrub and dreaded leatherwood. But the track continued, cleared and easy to follow and easy to pass. The going got steeper. We were led on to a steep dry creek bed which took us to the top of a gut and, suddenly, no track and no way to pass through the dense leatherwood foliage. But again, a lone orange triangle on a waratah gave us confidence to find a way - and there was still a path, less distinct and more overgrown now, but whenever it hit a dense patch of leatherwood there was always an easy-ish way through. 

The weather was fine, but it was definitely wintertime. My wet feet from fording the Waingawa River and Arete Stream feet felt like icicles for several hours, normally they warm up fast but not today. We were constantly adjusting our layers and hats and gloves as the sun came and went and the cold wind blew and ebbed. 

We were, at last for this trip, getting stunning views out of the bushline and with the low cloud lifted to mainly blue skies. The largest peaks of the Tararuas marching off around us. The Wairarapa plains stretching out on the other side. The bush clad valleys now far below us. So much more inspiring than seeing another beech tree like the last few hundred beech trees, which had been our experience the last couple of days.

Out of the bushline

"Yes I'm sure this is the right way"

Still a long way to the top though

Since I could see the Wairarapa plains, I figured the cellsites there could also see us so I tried my phone. To discover that Andrew had headed in to find us! "About to drop to cow creek. Looking good to make tarn hut tonight." Oh. That was Tarn Ridge Hut we could see, far away on the ridge on the opposite side of the valley to us.

We waved.

We took an early lunch huddled under leatherwood - the wind was strong and chill enough that we didn't fancy stopping once we were on the tops. Wraps and peanut butter for Janine, wraps and cheese and hummus and salami for me. Some chocolate kept our spirits up. 

Janine buried in tussock and leatherwood

How much further?

We passed false spur after false spur, beckoning us on only to reveal another higher peak behind. At last - we reached the top. A flat plateau, that ... showed the true top across from us via a saddle. Still, we celebrated reaching the ridgetop with a rest and some more snacks.

15 min more walking, through tops tussock now, and we were at last on the top of Waingawa. We could see in the distance, some other people wandering along the ridgetop. We found a mysterious installation with solar panels and radio antennae pointing at another peak far away.

The view from the top was so worth it

The cairn at spot 1384 which tells us to go down the spur to Cow Saddle

Now we carried on, along a deceptively long ridge to meet a spur back down to river level. The weather was by now nice and warm and the wind had died away. My feet were actually comfortable and my hat gloves and jacket had been packed away for good.

The route down was pretty uneventful. The spur was sharp enough to easily follow and delightfully, orange triangles appeared much earlier than we expected. Soon we were back in pleasant open beech forest, a track well marked with plenty of orange triangles, and simple travel. The track did deteriorate in places as it traversed steeper descents through treefall but generally stayed straightforward.

Down we go

Back in the beech forest

It was getting late in the day when Cow Saddle was announced via the old signposts we'd got used to seeing around this area. A welcome sight in the slowly fading light. 

Yep, Waingawa was up there.
Yep, Cow Creek Hut is along there.

This is a cow! Or it used to be

As soon as we crossed Cow Creek itself it became clear that our map (on the left, below) was not correct since it placed the track from Cow Saddle to Cow Creek Hut on the other side of the creek. Oh well, you get that from time to time. 

 

Spot the difference

But his became more critical when we reached the main river. Do we cross, straight to the hut on the other side? Or follow the orange markers that appeared to take us around the base of a slip to the bridge just 100m or so away? In the aid of warm less wet feet, we followed the track. That went up the hill. and up. and up. Until I couldn't stop pitching the idea to an increasingly grumpy Janine who was convinced we were heading all the way up to the tops again, well away from the hut.

We went back, now by torchlight, and got our feet wet. 

We emerged into an extensive and elaborate campsite of a South African family - mum, dad, kids and highly inquisitive dog. An enormous camping tent with a tarpaulin annex that could have supported a dozen people for a week. They'd carried it all in for one night. It was impressive. 

We passed through their palatial camp and reached the hut. No sign of the Vic Uni team, but the place was quite full with 5 of 6 bunks occupied. The tent for us! A strange vibe when we went in for dinner, at like 6pm - everyone in their sleeping bags, quiet and dark. "Oh - are you all asleep?" I asked. "No all good, it's too early for that" we heard, and the lights came on and we chatted a little. We learned that many of the them had done a hard day to Bannister Peak and back and were quite exhausted. So everyone was happy and content lying down reading or dozing. 

A couple of blokes had bumped into Andrew as he chased us over the hills and valleys. A couple of others were the figures we'd seen up on Waingawa with us. They'd sighted us too!

A younger bloke who was in the Army came out and chatted to Janine while I set up the tent. He was great company and was obviously chafing at the somewhat ... downbeat atmosphere in the hut. The evening was warm enough that it was really pleasant outside. The South African Dad came over too, along with his dog. Such a great dog! Young, clearly very smart, really well behaved but highly inquisitive. He was having the time of his life, running about and sniffing and exploring everything.   

Dinner tonight consisted of, for me, a Backcountry meal that was totally forgettable as I've forgotten what it was. Clearly not too tasty but not too bad. For Janine, the second half of her Coq Au Vin which was so terrible on the first night - which turns out was because all the flavoursome bits were left behind that first time. It was delicious the second time around. Or maybe we were just that little bit hungrier. It was all accompanied by the last of our spirits - neat fireball cinnamon whiskey for Janine that she enthusiastically dived into, I think after we unnecessarily blundered up and down a hill in the dark she needed a bit of a pick-me-up. Much tastier than with cordial mixed in. And Highland Park single malt whisky for me, which I deliciously savoured over the night, neat at first for the sheer intensity and then watered down to gently sup over the evening. 

Janine was convinced the tent would be freezing cold, pitched on wet moss right by the river, but of course it was toasty warm in there. I like my tent. Though my half size sleeping mat was sitting just a little bit high, which meant for most of the night I had cold knees that were right on the ground. I got the "tail" of the top and tail sleeping arrangement this time which meant my head was at the low bit of the tent. Which was ok to actually sleep like that but sitting up and turning around was quite the convoluted exercise.  

Sunday: Cow Creek Hut to Kiriwhakapapa Roadend and home

Morning tentsite

Morning hut

Again, no hurry to get up so we didn't. Eventually we wandered up to the hut to find the army guy standing about outside making breakfast. We joined him. Like the night before, it was pleasant and warm outside so no need to cram into the hut and disturb the sleeping occupants. 

A last outdoor meal of sachet porridge and milk powder and it was time to head off back to the car. Our exit was interminable but uneventful and we wandered along chatting away. Near the end of our journey, who should appear but a hi-vis clad Andrew! We walked out the last of the way with him and headed straight to the Masterton Craft Beer & Kitchen for delicious food and drink.

Look at the brisket in that burger!

What a great weekend, yet again failing to reach Carkeek hut but knocking two other huts off Janine's ever shortening list. I think it would have been a little disappointing without the Waingawa adventure added in - the other routes were slightly boring, slightly interminable forest travel with no views and no variation. But the unplanned Waingawa novelty with its views and excitement and really varied terrain made the trip. 

So with Cow Creek and Arete Forks done, Janine has just three huts to go to capture every single Tararua Hut. Dundas - an adventure all its own. North Mangahao - easy travelling (with some nav and some uncertainty where the Biv actually is!), the challenge is tracking down the farmer who needs to let you cross his land to get there. And, still, Carkeek - four abandoned or failed trips down, the next one will be the time we get there. I can't wait!

The list got 2 huts shorter.