Dundas Loop at one kilometre per hour

It's October. We're on daylight savings time and the days are longer. It must be time to go tramping again. Those huts won't bag themselves. 

Janine is down to just two Tararuas huts she hasn't visited - the infamous, much attempted Carkeek hut, and Dundas Hut. Time to knock that one off, complete the famous Dundas Circuit, and leave Carkeek for the Final Boss Nemesis in Labour weekend. Well, that is the plan. 

This is our weekend plan. Will we achieve it?

Thursday 10 Oct - Putara roadend to ✅ Herepai Hut (2½ h)

I left work right as my 4pm meeting finished and headed for the train. I leapt into Andrew's car and we headed north for the upper Wairarapa. A quick stop at Greytown Kebab and we made Putara Roadend by 7:30pm, just as the sun was setting. 

Janine's car was here - she'd headed up separately a few hours earlier than us - and another car with two more keen trampers, Tara and Angus, getting ready to go. "Where are you two off to?" "We thought we'd do the Dundas Loop!" We had company for the weekend. 

Off we set, just behind Tara and Angus, my head torch came on straight away but Andrew saved his night vision and walked torchless for much longer than me. The track was a little rougher than I expected for a night walking adventure. The little orange triangles that mark our way are practically invisble at night and with the little pool of light I had to work with, I led us off the track a couple of times. Once I confidently followed the track down a 3m bank, and down into a stream where the track simply petered out. Oh. The track had been re-routed around a slip and I'd followed the decoy old track. 

The track stopped following a stream and headed up hill. This was mentally challenging for me, a horrible steep muddy rooty slippery ascent that seemed to go on and on and on without end. Andrew couldn't understand it, he says he goes into a stoic state and the walking becomes his whole life. I must practice this.

After what seemed like years but was only 40 min or so, we found the crossroads at the top of the spur. I knew that this was just gently downhill to the hut. "Except for the steep ascent at the end," Andrew cheerfully added. Oh. In the end it wasn't too bad. The steep bit was short and not too sharp. Two hours and forty minutes after we left the car we were stepping inside Herepai Hut. Tara and Angus had arrived 20 min ago. Janine was wrapped up shivering in her sleeping bag.  

We all fitted nicely into this 10 bunk hut and I was soon fast asleep, slightly anxious about the day to come.

Friday 11 Oct - Herepai Hut, over the tops to ✅ Logan (1500m) and ✅ Dundas Hut (9½ h)

I was awake at 6am, I waited until 6:30 to get the water boiling. Tara up straight away, she seems like a morning person. Others blearily emerged later.

I perused the hut book. There was an amusing entry by Nellie from Sweden: "If you find my blue and purple shoe please text me!" I guess it was worth a chance!

We knew we had a long day so we were packed and ready and off at 7:30am. It dawned sunny and fine. Mint! The forecast threatened clag to come so we made the most of the conditions. There was snow wedged in the tussocks, protected from the sun. The wind was bitingly cold. It was beautiful in the sun but when the wind appeared it sucked all the heat from my body. Still, very pleasant overall.  

Herepai Hut, nestled in the trees

Janine contemplates the altitude gain

Looking across to Blue Range

We could even see Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe - and later, Taranaki

Tara and Angus soon passed us, heading cheerfully up at a much faster pace than ours.

As we ascended, the wind grew stronger and more biting and the layers came on. I was soon wearing a jersey, jacket, gloves and hat. It reminded us that it's not far off winter still! Like the Canterbury norwester, the wind was morale destroying as it whistled through my ears and sucked the heat and energy and life from me.  

The cloud hung about and periodically threatened to clag us in like the forecast said, but it never did, clearing to blue skies again. 

Up the hill we go

Herepai, looking across to the peaks to come.
Memorial to Stan Evans.

I am reasonably fit right now but tramping fit I was not. The tussock obscured my view of the ground and it was very slippery underfoot. I slipped and fell in slow motion several times. 

The wind and tops travel meant we all travelled our own death-march pace - Andrew cheerfully in the lead, Janine at the back and me somewhere in the middle - and regrouped periodically in a sheltered spot. 

Partway along, I came across... a blue and purple shoe. Nellie from Sweden's shoe! It must have been sitting under snow since April. I stuck it on the side of my pack. But had I taken a photo of Nellie's phone number? Of course not. 

I left notes in all the hut books, asking folks going to Herepai to text Nellie and tell her my number. I think the chances of Nellie getting her shoe back are slim to none.

Along the tops with the Woodville farmland stretched out behind us

The scrabble to Pukemoremore

Wrapped up against the chilling wind

We slowly ticked off the high points. East peak. West peak. Walker. Pukemoremore. At last, point 1415 came into view with a welcome "Dundas hut" sign pointing off the ridgeline. Andrew followed it. Janine and I dropped our packs and slogged up to Logan, a 1500m peak that needed to be bagged. (Yes, Janine is bagging all the 1500m and above peaks as well as all the huts. Some people collect stamps, or Pokémon cards, or vinyl records. Janine is not one of those people.)  

Claiming Logan

Janine more demurely more mindfully claiming Logan

It was easier going to Logan, and much more pleasant without packs too. It was about 6pm and starting to get dark when we appeared at the hut, to find Andrew Tara and Angus chatting away and swapping tramping stories. A 9½ hour day with our Logan detour - at about one kilometre per hour. Janine and I are not mountain-goat quick over the tops by any means.

A welcome sight

Tomorrow looks like another hard day!
Cattle Ridge - 5km - 5 hours
Roaring Stag - 7 km - 7 hours

Dundas hut was cold, but with five bodies keeping it warm it was pleasant if you kept your layers on. We spent a few hours leisurely making dinner and chatting before it was bed time.

Saturday 12 Oct - Dundas Hut, down to Ruamahanga River and up to ✅ Cattle Ridge Hut (7½ h)

The morning dawned cold and crisp but sunny with blue skies once more. Tara and I were first up again.

Oats for breakfast and we were soon packed up and leaving by 8:30am. Tara and Angus hared on ahead and we pottered along down the steepish spur.

Off we set

Looking back on Dundas Hut, with Pukemoremore in the background

Derrick Field and GWBN have done an amazing job on the track. According to all reports (like this one), and Andrew's first hand experience, this track used to be terrible and knarly and easy to lose as well as steep and unforgiving. But now after so much hard work it was as good as any inner Tararuas track you'd find. 

Our descent was sunny and sheltered from the wind. We wandered merrily along chatting away.

We reached the Ruamahanga river just as Tara and Angus were leaving, heading up the steep hill on the other side. We stopped for lunch in the sun and to prepare for the next part of our journey. 

I cross the Ruamahanga

Janine crosses the Ruamahanga

The river crossing was deep but easy enough - but it was obvious that it wouldn't take much water to make the Ruamahanga unpassable. We wrung out socks, refilled water and set off for the grunt up the spur. 600m climb in less than a km. I was not looking forward to this!

Ok it was steep, but again thanks to the awesome hard work of GWBN it was straightforward. A nice track below the bushline gave way to a 1m swathe cut clear through the awful leatherwood and Dracophyllum. It was actually enjoyable wandering slowly up the hill in the hot sun.

Andrew strolls up the spur, with 
Pukemoremore and (if you squint)
Dundas Hut in the background

It was steep

There was a sting in the tail, a gravel fan to grovel up, but then some orange triangles led us into a sidle and the climb was done. The wind could see us now we were on the tops and the jackets came out. But Cattle Ridge Hut appeared, shiny and new. The deerstalkers have done an amazing job on this hut that DOC were going to demolish not that many years ago.

We reached the hut around 4:00pm and it stayed hot and sunny and very welcoming right til dusk when the wind came up and the temperature dropped. 

Another welcome sight

It was around dusk when Nick, an unexpected hut mate turned up. He had walked up in the afternoon to just get out into the back country. A keen surfer, he had lots of surfing stories everywhere from Hawaii to Morocco. He was great to chat to, and I have a book recommendation from him - Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan. Looks to be a great book whether you surf or not.

Sunday 13 Oct - Cattle Ridge Hut to Putara Road end via ✅ Roaring Stag hut (6h)

Astonishingly, dawn was still and clear, though cloud on the ridgeline was threatening. Nick sensibly changed his mind from pushing over the tops in the clag and imminent rain, and headed off to explore Cattle Ridge. 

But for us, it was an 8am start and down down down to Roaring Stag Hut. It started to drizzle lightly just as we reached the bushline. Not enough to warrant a parka, just one of the four specialist hats I had brought.

Setting off into a gorgeous sunrise

Clouds smashing into the ridge above as we leave

The track dived steeply but politely downhill through forest - mostly beech, with some rimu and totara filling out the canopy. Soon we could hear the river. Abruptly Roaring Stag Hut, and the bridge to it, came into view. What a palace. We stopped for snacks.

What a gorgeous hut

Now the track made a gentle ascent back to the intersection - straight on for Herepai Hut, or turn right and go down to the car park. We stopped for lunch since we still had food in our packs to eat.

Final lunchtime
Roaring Stag - 3.8km - 2.5h
Herepai Hut - 1.5km - 1h
Putara Road End - 3km - 1-2 h

The track back down hill was indeed still horrible in daylight. It hadn't just been the Thursday evening darkness, though that didn't help matters since it was much easier to avoid the worst of the mud and swamp and roots when you could actually see.

We found the infamous place where I made a wrong turn in the darkness and blundered off a bank. There were triangles pointing you away from that route, but since they were invisible in the dark it was easy to see how I made that mistake. I put my pack down to collect wood to pile over the wrong way ... and heard a crashing and tumbling sound as I turned away. There was my pack, tumbling off the track and down the hill. Luckily it didn't make it all that far and I was able to bush bash down and retrieve it - along with even more foliage and branches to pile up on the old path.

Hopefully that's enough sticks and branches to send you up the hill

2pm saw us arriving back at the car for a ginger beer (thanks Andrew!) and a drive to Masterton to visit our favourite (well, my favourite from a low base) pub in all Masterton. 

What a great weekend, and the prequel to the sixth push to Carkeek Hut in two weekends' time. Is sixth time the charm?