I was expecting to be kept awake all night by rats, however i see neither of the species responsible for the faeces in the hut. Its the cold that keeps me awake. Its a clear day and there's a good frost outside. With a lot of distance to cover and the forecast turning to crap this afternoon, i get in a cold but early start. I was intending today to be Aranga to Sunrise but it never happened.
From the hut the track continues through scrub and open tussock to where it swings south and stops. From here it's a case of picking up trails through thick scrub, some of which are dead ends and require backtracking. Eventually i pick up a stoat line which is followable but overgrown. After 1 last scubby saddle the ridge climbs above the bush line and its easy going on open tussock. It climbs steadily to a large plautoe at 1500m where i pass the track down Toatra spur and later the spur to Kylie biv. There's frequent tarns around here, the main water source in the ruahines(when they're not dry or frozen). There's also a fair bit of speargrass, hidden beneath the tussock, the points are sharp enough to draw blood.
From here the ridge narrows to a line a crumbling rock, with an impressive scree slope to the east. After this it opens up again and past the next peak is the Maropea tarn, an almost lake sized tarn, big enough to swim in, tho it'd be a cold one. The rest of the ridgeline is much of a muchness, more ups, more downs, lots of tussock and a bit of speargrass but nothing tricky. The sky turns grey and the sound of thunder increases. There's a bit of a scree run on the ladt down before the bivvy, and again im advantaged by going south.
A track leads for 2 mins down the east side, through Leatherwood scrub to Sparrowhawk bivvy. Sparrowhawk is about as flash as a 2 man bivvy gets, its the normal style underneath with a head height room joined on which would sleep another, tho with a dirt floor it's more of a kitchen. Again there's no fireplace so cooking is done on a campfire, again more smoke than heat. There's easy access up a tracked spur from the Hawkes bay side so it gets a resonable bit of use.
Friday, 20 January 2017
D36- Aranga hut to Sparrowhawk bivvy
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Love the 'tarn', reminds me of my Grandparents. Remember there is a fire ban on!
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ReplyDeleteDon't be afraid of rats Dom. Rats are very clean animals. They are forever cleaning themselves. Unfortunately they clean themselves with urine. That's the only problem.
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