A great walk and a great hut! Not without its steep climbs as is to be expected in the Tararuas – but this time we were lucky to dodge the bad weather that has become associated with the ranges.
After a cosy van ride on friday night to the Waiohine road end, the MF group disappeared in to the darkness and Sarah, Richard and I set up camp. After a chilly night we woke up to a beautiful morning, and set off for the bush. Driving from the Waohine camp ground, we couldn’t drive right to the road end because of a slip, so left the van in a make shift carpark about a 10 min walk from the start of the track. Saturdays walk was about 5hrs including a 1 hour lunch break at Cone Hut. The descent to Cone Hut was steep and pretty slippery, but other than that the track was good. The walk from Cone Hut to Tutuwai was along the river, a nice change from the steep climbs and descents of the morning.
Saturday night at Tutuwai was incredibly comfortable, a big clean hut all to ourselves and a wood fire to keep us warm. Plenty of fuel but the wood was a bit damp.
Sunday mornings walk was a rather fast wake up, straight up in to a steep climb directly out the back of the hut. After an hour or so of steep climbing we hit a fork in the track. If you are heading back to the Waiohine road end via Mt Reeves you take the left, but watch out, the track markings are a little ambiguous for the first 15 mins or so. Sundays walk was around 5.5 hours including a 45 minute break. There were some awesome views to be had along the ridge, especially with the fantastic weather that we were lucky to get!
Near the end of the walk back to the road end there was another slippery descent and a small river crossing.
A great trip; thanks to Richard for organising, keeping us on the track and making sure the fire was stoked for a cosy night at the hut!