A Nice Way To Finish Of the Year
Most normal visitors to our region would drive down to the Remutaka Forest Park then hike to the river on the Orongorongo Track (family-friendly). But for me, the start of my journey would be either the Whakanui Track or the McKerrow Track, Trail heads less than an hour's walk from home.
All 3 tracks are DOC maintained tracks, which means along the track are various fluorescent plastic markers, The orange markers are the ones we follow, that represents the track and can be found on trees 5 to 10 trees apart.
Planning
To the River
Whakanui Track: DOC Estimate 5 hours Actual time 7.5 hours
I was not in a rush, throughout the journey I met 3xcampers, 1xhiker, 4xtrail runners and 1xDOC volunteer.
Return Home
McKerrow Track:P Doc Estimate 8 hours Actual time 12 hours
This was tough going, while camping on the river there was 2 days of heavy rain which eventually made these tracks boggy and swampy. It did not dampen my enjoyment, the outdoors has to be experienced in all its glory!
Camping
This is the least favorite part of the journey for me. I did set up camps for the 2 nights 3.5 hours walking distance apart but you have to let your body recover. What did I do while at camp? nothing really but plan my next hike. I even walked down the river bed to discover where the Orongorongo Track ends, here I found DOC toilets, must look after our tourists :-)
There are a few DOC huts here in this valley that can be hired but are heavily booked during the summer holidays. I met a trapper and his family, who owns one of the huts here. He told me the 2 tracks I'm using are quite popular than one would expect.
My brother wishes to come out with me one day, so who knows, I might do this again soon. He has never been inside a sleeping bag LoL. Challenge accepted!
Photos were taken with Samsung Galaxy Phone.
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