Overview: a long overdue return to Herepai Hut finds much has changed on the once familiar track up the Mangatainoka river valley.
Anyone who has taken a cursory glance around this blog will have no doubt noticed the alarming quantity of trips to Herepai Hut. Most recently, Cody and I visited in 2022 to check out the spectacular overhaul the hut had received thanks to the Back Country Trust. On that journey, we'd found that recent stormy weather had brought down an enormous landslide on the river's true right that had partially damned the river. I was curious to see what had become of this, but was not expecting the changes to be quite as dramatic as they turned out to be.
The walk begins as it always has and I imagine always will: across the perma-bog on private land before crossing the first of two swingbridges and entering some proper forest. Shortly after was the first big change - which I almost didn't notice. Where once we'd found a fresh stony landslide was now pretty densely covered in regenerating kanuka scrub. It's been interesting to watch the changes here over the last 11 years.
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| In 2015 this was a fresh landslide of rock and soil. |
500m further on, at the site the massive landslide, more destruction awaited. It would seem further storm activity and a river in flood burst through the natural dam and carved a new channel, obliterating nearly 200m of track. A rough re-routed track has now formed - pay attention to track markers and it's not hard to follow.
On our return journey, Cody found that an island in the middle of the river contained traces of what used to be the track.
From there on it was pretty much back to normal, though I did note that at a point shortly before the second bridge where the track turns sharply right and a little overlook, there appears to be a well-trodden unofficial trail down towards the river. This bit of track has always looked to me like the track was once heading straight on (over what is now a steep drop) before being taken out by a landslide and being re-routed further in from the river. Take note - this will become relevant later in this tail.
Upon arriving at the second swingbridge we found a fluoro pink-painted wooden stake with a note about being for a new bridge. Looks like I'll have more reason to return st some point.
After the bridge is the famous slog up to the ridge line. There's a lot of relatively recent tree fall along the way so there a times when the track is even more rugged than usual. I kind of like it though - it feels pretty adventurous and properly backcountry without actually being all that wild. Rain began setting in along this stretch so it was jackets on and camera in the pack, wary as we were of severe weather warning circling.
Approaching the top of the ridge, the rain became a thick mist, which remained surrounding us all the way to Herepai Hut. Once on the ridge, it's a pleasant yet muddy walk until the final little uphill slog to reach the hut. The hut was, as usual, a very welcome site. Previous users had left plenty of dry firewood so we were able to get a cosy fire crackling for the evening.
The morning brought gale winds, lower temperatures, but thankfully no rain. We spent a bit of time collectively cleaning the dunny (courtesy of cleaning equipment supplied by the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network), rehabbing rusty patches on the top of the firebox, and chopping more wood. We eventually departed around 11:30, with the aim of making it out before the torrential rain expected to hit in the afternoon.
Arriving at the Roaring Stag junction, I encountered a bloke in the early stages of what sounded like a pretty intense expedition. During our chat he mentioned ending up by the river, getting a bit turned around and ending up below the second swingbridge and ultimately camping somewhere along the track to the top of the ridge. I was a bit confused about how that could happen, but soon enough I had to direct my attention to not falling down on the descent.
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| The lump of land on the right is an island in the river that used to be the bank of the river whose old location was out of frame on the right. |
After arriving at the second swingbridge yesterday, we'd realised neither if us had noticed the Tararua Forest Park sign located about 1.5 km from the start of the track. Making the effort to look for it today, it became apparent that it used to be somewhere in the part of the track that is now where part of the river flows. We had a pole around the new river channel but saw no sign of it (pun intended).
Further on at the other major washout, I was chatting with another party about the storm damage who said that all the big changes had occurred since their last visit about a year ago. They also mentioned somehow getting waylaid and ending up below the second swingbridge. This conversation put all the puzzle pieces together in my mind and we concluded that they and old mate from earlier (whom they'd also encountered) had been mislead by the seemingly new-ish foot trail leading down from the track at the little overlook near the bridge (see, I told you it'd become relevant later).
Soon enough we were back at the roadend, with the first drops of rain hitting the windscreen shortly after hitting the road. A damn good tramp to ol' reliable.
Distances:
Map:
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Major washout areas marked by the red triangles. |
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| RIP |
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