Tramping, traversing & travel guides

Tramping, traversing & travel guides Waipakihi river valley was where we were headed after coming off Urchin. A meander up the river would bring us to Waipahiki hut for the evening with a stroll out along the Umukarikari range on the Sunday.

Waipahiki…Wai in Maori means water, of which we had plenty. It was falling heavily and continuously from the heavens throughout the night and had us wondering about our river travel the next day.

Pakihi is loosely interpreted as “naked”, which is probably what we needed to be walking the track. That is because there is no defined track. After hitting the river you are left to traverse through, over and in the river and overgrown side terraces.

Allen Higgins and Andrew McClellan told me as trip leader that it was “a piece of piss…. except for the bits you have to swim”.

Every other WTMC trip into the area had stories of getting lost just getting to the car park, camping on the river bed due to high water, or spending hours bush bashing up spurs just to get to a road end by 8pm and hitching to the desert road.

I was hoping this trip would go to plan so resorted to referring to a guide book just in case.

Later I was to read a book called “No shitting in the toilet - (NSITT) the travel guide for when you’ve really lost it”, and it offered a bit of wisdom on guide books “….what tells lies, indulges in scandalous exaggeration, constantly gets things wrong, is chronically unreliable,…no it’s not your new lover, it’s a travel guidebook. ...Guidebooks are like politicians. They start off with the best intentions, but often get waylaid by reality along the way…….its best to treat guidebooks as you would an absent minded and unreliable friend”.

In the clag on the Kaimanawa Tops Stephen Hope Wisdom which was to become more fact than fiction as the trip progressed.

Tramping & Mountaineering 2003 Lee-Ann Mitchell We reached the river valley off Urchin according to the guidebook - within 3 hours, even though the conditions were wet, cold and claggy on the tops (so much so that the next pole was only just visible). We were looking good I thought - all to plan, no injuries, no missing punters, all on time, weather shitty but holding!

I convinced the team to an early lunch and brew as we had “apparently 3 hours up, over and thru” the river to the hut. Caro was sporting a snotter of a cold so we thought it was best to stop for lunch before the water crossings.

Three hours soon ran out, and looking at the map, our direction and the river we still had a fair distance to travel.

Allan Higgins was not joking about a swim with one part of the river offering the option of a scratchy bush bash (which after 4 hours had lost its novelty) or a cool dip (snorkels almost required) to your chest in clear still water.

The novelty of bush bashing in overgrown terraces and river banks does wear off and walking up the middle of the river was found to be a pleasant alternative.

At the stage where I thought I’d need to break into song or run naked through toitois and cutty grass just give the punters a giggle to keep their spirits up….there she was… FIVE hours later, (not 3) - the Waipakihi hut.

I took the moment to advise them that this was a medium trip and this “extension” was to be expected. I reaffirmed accounts of punters so experienced never making it to the hut, and then asked if they

Back into the river Stephen Hope cared to join me in a ceremonious burning of the “bloody guidebook”.

Russel got a glowing fire on (unfortunately the guidebook pages were a little soggy) and an Italian pasta concoction, mousse and biscotti soon lifted our “dampened and sodden” spirits.

A minute’s silence for the fit group who hadn’t made it to the hut was interrupted by the sighting of their lights flickering down a ridge line.

With our reliable guide book advising a 4-6 hour walk out along the Umukarikari range, the team decided Tramping & Mountaineering 2003 on hitting the hills early the next day - if only to enjoy the better weather that had been forecasted.

The weather stayed relatively fine but claggy cloud prevented any views of the mountains. No sighting of sika deer or Kaimanawa horses either (see - guidebooks always lie!).

The range is quite delightful to stroll along. The guidebook did get one thing right, “the ascent from the hut to the road end is so gentle you don’t even know you are climbing”.

We spent most of the afternoon on the Umukarikari tops replacing every second marker pole. Droppings around the poles were a dead give-away for the Sika’s night-time activity of pole dancing.

After a long lunch we prepped ourselves for a “steep” 20 minute ascent to the car park (according to the guidebook) …which we never encountered. The only destination left for us to conquer was to be the Taihape Café. Our route and use of the guidebook taught us that tramping and traversing isn’t really about where you are headed, but the journey you experience with others on the way ..…. and guidebooks … need to come with a warning .... only use when you run of bog paper or need to start a fire!

Waipakihi River Stephen Hope