Overview: a nostalgic amble to Atiwhakatu Hut with friends and family.
My formative tramping experiences began some 20 years ago in Scouts, where I met Best Friend(TM) Cody, and where both our fathers were Scout leaders. As best I can remember, the last time we were all tramping together was for the Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit all the way back in 2013.
The Waitangi long weekend, along with Cody being up from Dunedin coalesced in a nostalgic outing to Atiwhakatu hut - chosen for it's accessibility for the venerable elders in our midst.
The weather couldn't have been better as we began our walk along Donnelly Flat from a bustling Mt Holdsworth campsite. The track here is wide, even, and easygoing. After Donnelly Flat, the track sidles alongside the Atiwhakatu stream, traversing cliffs and terraces amongst verdant beech forest. It's an easy stroll with minimal change in altitude (although the seniors managed only a sedate pace).
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| Surveying the damage |
The halfway point is more-or-less where the river ridge track from Mountain House joins the Atiwhakatu track. About 2.4 km from the hut, the track crosses an active slip that has been present on the track at least a decade. Back in 2014 there was some subsidence on an otherwise unremarkable section of track; 4 years later the slip was crossed across the top; now it's crossed near river level (much less exciting).
The hut was nearly full when we arrived, but we were able to claim a table and wile away the evening with food, beers, card games, and tails of the tramps of yore.
The next morning we were met by my mum and Jensen the dog for the return journey, ending in high spirits and keen for more tramps in the future (decrepit joints and impending dementia notwithstanding).
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