Warning on Heaphy

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 2

Warning on Heaphy

(N.Z. Press Association) NELSON, December 8. The 43-mile Heaphy track was not a Sunday afternoon stroll as some had tended to treat it, said the conservator of forests at Nelson (Mr P. W. Maplesden) today. It was a four to-five day tramp which needed detailed preparation to be enjoyed to the full. As the track became more popular, he said, it attracted more people with little or no experience of tramping in mountain country. The Heaphy passes through the 884,000 acres of the north-west Nelson forest park. It leads from the Brown River 21 miles inland from Collingwood, Golden Bay, to the end of the West Coast road ten miles north of Karamea. The track rises to 3000 ft on the Gouland range. CROWDED HUTS Mr Maplesden said huts along the track could hold about 90 persons in comfort and 160 to 170 in more cramped conditions. But this did not mean that accommodation would necessarily be available at any particular hut when a party arrived. Groups could walk the track from either end. Many who attempted the track were not regular trampers, said Mr Maplesden. It was most often these people who encountered difficulties because they were ill-prepared for sudden weather changes.

To cover 43 miles, walkers must be well shod in well broken-in footwear. Snow sometimes fell on the tops in mid-summer, Mr Maplesden said. Each pack should contain warm woollen clothing and waterproof

wear, as well as a light shirt and shorts for hot days. Huts were at times grossly overcrowded last summer, he said. Two new huts had been built and the park committee intended to erect fly tents between the huts, but it was still possible that more people would traverse the Heaphy this summer than last. Trampers should enter the

track prepared to sleep out if necessary. He recommended that the Wangapeka track should be attempted only by trampers with some experience because of the steeper terrain covered on that route, and the smaller huts.

The Wangapeka track, which is also in the northwest Nelson forest park, follows for much of its 41 miles an old pack trail used by early miners and prospectors from Nelson to Karamea. It begins at the Dart River and leads to a road-head on the Little Wanganui River, four miles and a half from the nearest hotel. Permits were not needed for tramping parties on either track, but Mr Maplesden advised all hut-users to record their progress and intentions in the visitors’ books. Someone should be advised of a party’s expected date of return and notified that the group had returned safely.