CLAssIC TRAMPING IN NEW ZEALAND SHAUN BARNETT & ROB BROWN CONTENTS Acknowledgements 6 About this book 6 Introduction 8 The Tararua Peaks The traditional home of tramping 11 The Hollyford Track No place for a road 21 The Pouakai Range In the shadow of Taranaki 31 Northwest Ruahine Range Colenso country 41 Cascade Saddle Soaring peaks and shrinking glaciers 51 The Dragons Teeth Shaped from ancient stone 61 First published in 1999 by Craig Potton Publishing Five Passes Gorges and rusting mountains 73 Revised and reprinted in 2010 Kaweka–Kaimanawa Traverse Across the spine of the North Island 83 Craig Potton Publishing 98 Vickerman Street, PO Box 555, Nelson, New Zealand Makarora to the East Matukituki Two alpine passes, four forest valleys 95 www.craigpotton.co.nz The Three Passes Pounamu trail across the alps 107 © Maps by Geographx Nelson Lakes to Lewis Pass Sublime mountain country 117 © Photography: Shaun Barnett and Rob Brown and individual photographers Text: Shaun Barnett and Rob Brown The Dusky Track Into the heart of a great wilderness 129 ISBN 978 1 877517 24 2 Frew Saddle–Toaroha Saddle In the footsteps of the ‘Good Keen Men’ 139 Printed in China by Midas Printing International Ltd The Copland Pass Across the land uplifted high 151 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part References and Further Reading 162 may be reproduced by any process without the permission of the publishers. Tramping Terminology 163 Title page: Descending from Moss Pass into the West Sabine valley, Nelson Lakes National Park (SB) the whole culture of tramping in New Zealand. It is pleasing that the It was a naïve wish. Having re-walked many of the tracks, it is clear Acknowledgements success of the first edition has continued the publishing tradition begun that the popularity of some trips, including the Tararua Peaks, Dragons with books like John Pascoe’s Land Uplifted High (1952) and continued Teeth, Nelson Lakes, Pouakai Range and Five Passes, has increased over Classic Tramping could not have been published without the assistance John Abbott, Steve Baker, Daryl Ball, Wayne Beggs, Elise Bryant, Sally with Geoff Spearpoint’sWaking to the Hills (1985) and Mark Pickering’s the last 11 years. We have mixed feelings about the impacts that Clas- and input of many people who share a passion for back-country tramp- Brown, Rachel Bryce, Andrew Budd, Gin Bush, Andy Dennis, Mark The Hills (1988). It is our sincere hope that this new edition of Classic sic Tramping may have helped precipitate by encouraging more people ing. The authors would firstly like to thank Dave Chowdhury whose and Kevin Feeney, Dave Hansford, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Tim Kerr, Tramping not only serves as a memento for those who have their own onto these tracks. editorial guidance helped shape the prose of two photographers setting Andrew Lynch, Clare O’Neill, Chris Maclean, Colin Monteath, Geoff experiences on these tramps, but also continues a tradition of celebrating In many cases, the huts and tracks appear to have absorbed the out on the intimidating task of producing the text of the first edition. Norman, Darryn Pegram, Mark Schwarz, John Skilton, Grant Singleton, the spirit of the hills. increased numbers with minimal degradation of the traditional New Robbie Burton championed the project from the start, and with Geoff Spearpoint, Derek Shaw, Louise Thornley and Jeannine Tuffin. We wrote in the first edition that ‘selecting specific tramps and calling Zealand tramping experience. By and large, the Department of Con- the team at Craig Potton Publishing, in particular Tina Delceg, guided Extra appreciation goes to those who helped out with photography and them “classic” seemed at times to be inviting the scorn of our fellow servation has made sensitive management decisions, and only in a few the project through to publication. For this edition, Roger Smith of were patient in even the foulest weather. trampers’. We haven’t had much scornful correspondence, and to judge places do we think regrettable actions have resulted from increased use. Geographx produced his impressive ‘Bird’s Eye’ maps, greatly improving Sadly, Andrew Lynch died of cancer in 2009. He is sorely missed, by hut book comments, many trampers have embraced these trips as The worst of these was the installation of blue marker poles along the on those of the original book. and photographs of him that appear in the Copland and Frew Saddle great adventures. Some people predicted in the late 1990s that tramping tops of the Tararua Peaks route. Aside from their obvious visual intru- The final visual look of the book has been greatly enhanced by chapters provide treasured memories of many trips in the hills with a was dying, but happily this has not come to pass. sion, the poles detracted from the long tradition of the Tararuas being Colin Monteath, Nick Groves, Gottlieb Braun-Elwert, John Rhodes fine man and good friend. The new edition still offers a diversity of landscapes—including coastal a place to develop navigational skills and hone judgement. and Jeannine Tuffin who generously allowed us to use some of their Department of Conservation staff Ted Brennan, Stephen Robson (Hollyford), volcanic (Pouakai) and alpine (Copland)—to supplement Perhaps the most compelling reason for sharing these special places is photographs. and Jason Roxburgh provided useful comments on chapters, for which the more traditional ‘bush and tops’ trips like the Kaweka–Kaimanawa to inspire people to care about them. When our population is becoming For a number of quotes used in the book we are grateful for permission we are grateful. and Nelson Lakes tramps. The tramps reflect a range of length and increasingly sedentary and urban, anything that encourages people to from Brian Turner, Bob Brown and Dorothy Pascoe. The excerpt from From Shaun: many thanks to my parents Karen and Grant Barnett difficulty, which trampers may choose to progress through, and are be active in the outdoors, and reconnect with wild landscapes, is surely ‘Poem in the Matukituki Valley’ by James K. Baxter is reproduced by for their ongoing encouragement. I would also like to especially thank presented roughly in order of easiest to hardest. As an added bonus to a good thing. We live in worrying times where some campaign hard to permission of Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand and my family, Tania, Tom, Lee and Lexi for their support and for their frustrate those who did manage to ‘tick’ the last line-up, this new and convince us of our collective poverty, despite obvious evidence to the con- Mrs J. Baxter from Collected Poems James K. Baxter, Oxford University patience while I was absent in the hills. completely revised edition of Classic Tramping offers two fresh tramps: trary, all for the purpose of justifying misuse of New Zealand’s remaining Press 1980 © The Estate of James K. Baxter. From Rob: thanks to all those back-country people and DOC staff one in the North Island’s Ruahine Range, and the West Coast’s Toaroha– natural landscapes. Increasingly, our treasured parks are being eyed up Many people accompanied us on our initial tramps, and more on who continue to work so hard at preserving what is special about the Frew Saddle circuit. by corporate interests for uses such as hydro-electricity, roads and even trips completed since the first edition was published. Many thanks to network of huts and tracks we have inherited in New Zealand. The obvious omission of a Stewart Island tramp is covered inClassic mining; all forms of exploitation that are simply incongruous for areas Walks; a profile of the gloriously muddy North West Circuit. set aside primarily for nature conservation and public recreation. In the first edition we were acutely conscious that by describing these In that context, tramping is something of a political act, a sustainable About This Book tramps we would encourage more people to visit, and possibly degrade and appropriate form of recreation that does not compromise our role some of their remote or wild feel. We wrote: ‘It is perhaps a naïve wish, as custodians of these places for future generations. Classic Tramping contains 14 chapters which explore some of New It is a book that doesn’t easily fit into any one category. Yes, it is a but we hope that this book doesn’t encourage people to treat these Zealand’s best multi-day tramping journeys through our national and guidebook of sorts, but not in the traditional sense of providing a basic tramps merely as a tick list, and instead encourages them to plan their Shaun Barnett and Rob Brown forest parks. The first edition of Classic Tramping (1999) evolved as a route description and not much else. The size and prominence of the own variations to the standard routes.’ companion volume to Craig Potton’s book Classic Walks, which evoca- photographs suggest it is partly a coffee table book too, or at least we tively profiled New Zealand’s most popular tracks. InClassic Tramping hope that it finds a pride of place in some people’s homes. we have included lesser-known and harder walks, culminating in some Through the writing and photography a conscious effort has been made that contain trans-alpine or off-track terrain. to convey not only the essence of the 14 tramps, but also to celebrate 6 7 Introduction hills. Yet when we reunited further up the valley, our friendship in the day, when a bush robin hopped up and began to check me had never seemed so important. out from all angles.