After a wet and rather dreary couple of weeks, our group of 7 Easy Medium (EM) walkers were very happy to see the sun coming out as we drove out of Wellington Train Station with a Medium Fit (MF) group from the club at 8am on Saturday morning.
Day 1 – Saturday
We dropped the MF group off at Kaiporoporo Road end, and then made our way to Putara Road end. We were slightly concerned by the number of cars there!
We were quickly on our way, beginning the walk at 10.45am. The track was a bit muddy and there were some one-person footbridges within the first hour of the tramp as we walked along the river valley.
After about an hour, we stopped for a late morning tea just before the start of the 370m climb up to the Roaring Stag Hut and Herepai Hut Track junction. This junction is the highest point of track (at 770m elevation).
When we got back on our way after morning tea, everybody handled the climb well. It was a bit wet in places, but the sun shone through the trees.
We had lunch at the Roaring Stag/ Herepai Hut Track junction and started walking again when the cloud started coming in, to keep warm.
The walk along the ridge was beautiful, and the drop down to the valley was well graduated. There was more water that usual in the two streams located just before you reach Roaring Stag Hut.
Arriving at Roaring Stag Hut at 3.45pm, we were very happy to see that nobody else was there!
After throwing our packs on the beds, we all went foraging for firewood to re-stock the wood shed at the hut, which only had enough wood for a couple of nights. Some keen team members did a great job of sawing two nights worth of wood ready for the fire.
Soon after this, the 3 MF walkers we had dropped at Kaiporoporo Road end in the morning arrived via a bush-bashing route. We all had a great night at the hut with a decent fire, warming curries, hot chocolates, card games and good books.
Day 2 – Sunday
The next day dawned crisp and clear. Everyone left the Hut by 8am and the EM group was joined by a MF group member who was struggling a bit with the flu.
We found a good steady pace as we headed back up the hill and managed to get to the Roaring Stag/ Herepai Hut Track junction in two hours, where we had morning tea.
Five of us decided to drop our packs and do a quick walk up to Herepai Hut for a look, while our MF group member guided two of our newbies down the hill.
We all ended up back at the van before 2pm, within 15 minutes of each other. Everybody had a good-sunny-day-in-the-Outdoors buzz on!