The Raglan Range

Text taken from the club newsletter.

THE RAGLAN RANGE

A relaxing backup by TONY GAZLEY

We were relaxing in the soft grass at the upper flats in Hellfire Creek. It seemed like on this trip we had done more relaxing than moving. However, we were making the most of the warm sunshine before the bad weather we had seen approaching as we climbed down from the rock ridgetop arrived, and we would once again be rushing for our parkas. Soon enough the sky darkened and it began to rain. Then it snowed. We moved closer to our warming fire. And this was summer and well below the bushline!

Our planned trip to Garibaldi Ridge in Kahurangi National Park had been canned when the weather forecast looked ominous for the next 10 days. The Raglan Range is always a good fall-back option—it is well to the east and has a drier climate than many of the other areas we go tramping and there are some nice trips in interesting terrain, so once again it became our back-up plan.

On day one we had an easy half day wander to Lees Creek Hut arriving with time enough before another group to be able to claim all the bunks. But they were a cheery lot and happily put up their tents in the rain before coming inside for an evening meal.

Next morning we waited for the rain to ease before starting up the south branch of Lees Creek. The travel was easy enough and by midday we were approaching the saddle to Judges Creek. The weather was now calm and sunny and the climb over the saddle and the sidle to the next un-named saddle to Branch River was straightforward except when Amanda took a tumble and lost a good bit of skin from one leg. Undeterred she patched herself up with copious amounts of tape and soon we were heading down into the bush and then to the bivvy on the open river flats. The first to arrive got dibs on the two bunks while the rest of us put up tents.

We had a warm and comfortable night here and next morning was only a short half day to Bottom Misery Hut. By staying here we would have options for the next few days depending on the weather—either up Scott Creek to climb Scotts Knob or a shortcut up to Top Misery Hut. Around the hut were the first of the wilding pines we would see over the following days and we kept a personal tally of how many we could pull out in the time between our relaxing afternoon rests.

We knew some bad weather was due so in the morning we decided yet another short day seemed in order. The walk to Top Misery Hut was along a good track, spoilt only by the invasion of wilding pines in many places, and only took a few hours. We arrived at the hut at the same time as the rain, collected enough wood for a fire and settled in for another relaxing afternoon. The Kindles were getting a good amount of use on this trip.

Given the weather outlook for the next few days we decided to cut the trip short and head out back to the

Lees Creek

Lees Creek basin

Judges Creek valley

Branch River valley road via Hellfire Creek. David had been in the area twice before but bad weather meant he had yet to visit Hellfire so it was an easy choice for him. The next day started with low mist but by mid-morning had cleared with just some cloud lurking around the ridge tops. The climb out of the valley to the ridge above the Wairau Valley was easy enough but then the way down into Hellfire Creek was not obvious at first. I had been here before but couldn’t remember the route I had taken, but we soon found a short chimney that gave access to the scree below and easy going to the tarn on a snowgrass bench.

It was while we were descending the snowgrass slopes here that we noticed tall thunder clouds building to the south—clearly our expected bad weather. But the sun remained shining while we sat on the shore of the tarn for yet another lazy lunch. And it remained fine while we wandered down the valley to the grassy river flats and put up the tents, gather enough wood for a fire, and still remained fine for a couple of hours with the Kindles. We actually had to cover up to avoid the sun and became uncomfortably hot. But then came the rain, then the wind, and finally the snow. We ate our tea snuggled up to the fire then headed off to soggy tents.

Next morning the sky had cleared, it was calm, and the ridges and peaks all around were covered in snow. We packed slowly and headed downstream sidling first on one side of the steep gorge then the other. We were soon on the wide open flats of the Wairau and a short wander back upstream took us to the bridge and our car.

Although it hadn’t been the big Christmas trip we had originally planned all of us had enjoyed a very easy ramble through some nice country, with reasonable weather, and plenty of time for long relaxing breaks with the Kindles. Those on the trip were: Megan Sety, Illona Keenan, Amanda Wells, David Jewel and Tony Gazley.

Branch Valley

Looking out the window at Lower Misery Hut

Misery Stream, a mix of beech and wilding pine

Misery Stream flats and a sea of dandelions

Upper Misery Hut

Relaxing above Misery Stream

Hellfire Stream

Hellfire tarn

A relaxing lunch at Hellfire tarn

More relaxing. Kindle-ing in Hellfire Stream not long before it started snowing