REMOTE RANGES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 13

REMOTE RANGES

CENTRAL TARARUAS'

CRAWFORD TO PUKETORO NOT QUITE.AS IN MAP The brief account of pioneer work in the Central Tararuas, which appeared in last Monday's issue of "The Post," ended with a reference to the - latest trip in new country in this rogion-^viz., a five days' journey by Mossrs. J. W. . Butcher and J. X, Nichols, during which the main range was traversed from Mt. Crawford to Mt. Puketoro. The following account is from the pon of Mr. Butcher, who has made several expeditions into this little-known region. Toj-eaeh Mt. Crawford from Otaki -Forks, the best route, and the one we followed, lies up the Waitatapia Stream until almost abreast of the junction of the Otaki and Waitewaewae, on the other side of the' Waitatapia Ridge, which is here crossed at ah elevation of somo 2800 feet. An easy spur leads to the' top of this ridge and, if the right connection is made, another good spur runs,down to the Waitewaevvac, about 100 yards above the junction. We turned off a little too soon, but were fortunate enough to strike a blind spur which,, led down to a creek running in an open course. This we followed- down to the Wailewaewae, which it meets just ; above the junction. As pointed out by Professor Boyd-Wilson, some three or four years ago, this creek is not shown on the map, though of considerable size. FIGHTING WEATHER AND : leatherwood: We were on the eastern bank of the Otaki by 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, and, after a swim and a meal, commenced the ascent of Crawford from a point about 200. yards east of the junction. To avoid descending the rivef, we wont straight up the face from the river-bed instead of going to the foot of the spur up which a blazed trail runs. . Twenty minute's' stiff climbing, with our packs proving a nuisance in the undergrowth, brought us to the blazed' spur, after which the going was good, bad, and mixed, by turns. Three hours later we reached the wide belt' of Prince of Wales Feather fern, and were soon among the scrub above the bush-line proper. Here we met a cold south-easter, and a smart showar of rain led us to pitch camp in a hurry. . Rain fell off and on, during the night, and in the morning prospects were far from pleasant. About 9.30, however,_ a slight improvement in the weather induced us to move on," only to find the top of the range shrouded in mist. To cross "Crawford, and attempt to find and keep to the ridge on the northern side in such mist was too risky a proceeding, and ass we were loth to. abandon the. trip at this stage we hung round the intersection of the spur from Shoulder Knob with the main range, for some time, lighting a fire after some trouble and getting: a hot dnnk. About 1 p.m;,.' mist and light "rain continuing, we decided"wo should have to return to the Otaki, but before doing so we determined to climb to the top of Crawford, which we did without packs.. Shouldering our packs again;- we had descended into the saddle between the range and. Shoulder Knob, wheii suddenly1-the: top cleared for a couple 'of; minutes'. So we'promptlyturned and climbed to the top of Crawford again, this time with packs up. After an initial false start, we found the right, ridge from the top, . and whenever we came to an intersection thorea,fter. we, waited for a. lifting of the fog - befbreOmoving on. By 5 o'clock we were off the Crawford massif and on the beech-covered ridge leading to Kelliher; iAn hour or so further on we camped for the night. .: (Next day (Tuesday) commenced auspiciously, the sun rising in a cloudless sky,; an( j.. the beech forest affording such excellent going along the' winding and undulating ridge that we were on the bald' top of Kelliher by 9.30. After a short stay we set pff for tho tnple-peaked Puketoro, about a mile away. After several hundred yards of burnt beech and inaka, we entered a difficult region of stunted beech, which soon gave way to scrub, mainly inaka and olearia Colensoi, the more objectionable of the two leatherwoods on account of its harsh leaves and unbending twigs, which score one's flesh on any but -the .lightest contact. It took-"us two solid hours under a hot sun, to reach the highest and most northern peak of Puketoro,' where we had a waterless lunch. " ALTERNATIVE, VIA PARK RIVER FAILS. Resuming- our journey .al 1 o'clock, -wo immediately entered a region of olearia Colensoi proper, growing in rounded^ bushy form with six-feet arms Stuck out in all directions like the spikes of a hedgehog, and the branches of each bush woven in among those of a dozen others. The short-handled slasher was practically' useless here, our-packs-precluded any attempt at burrowing under the branches, and we were obliged to force a way over or between bushes as opportunity offered. After 40 minutes' slogging we reckoned we had gone 200 yards, so we took stock of the situation on top of a small-rise. Two miles or more ahead this type of vegetation persisted till the range dipped sharply down to tho saddle through which the early mapmakers assumed the Park River wended its way to the Otaki, till Mi. Adkin showed that this river was part of the Waiohine system. Beyond this saddle again, tho long . south-western spur of Mt. Dorajooked open and inviting, but the difficulty confronting us was the long stre_teh of leatherwood. A simple calculation showed that, at the present rate of progress, we could not po^sib'ly hope' to get. through in anything like the timo necessary to permit of our reaching Levin by ThursHs,y night. ■ ■". ; Bather than.turn back, we decided to try ascending the Park Eiver to Mt. Dora, about five' miles away by air-line. We accordingly commenced the descent of a steep spur towards the river. The farther we went the steeper the spur became, and though we crossed a creek to a somewhat better^ spur, we were jit lengtlr~"compelled to admit that we were descending into a. canyon. The spurs from Mt. .Carkeok across .the river dipped almost perpendicularly for hundreds of feet, the spur to the south of us ended abruptly in a cliff that we. reckoned to be at-least 500 ft highland :v loud roar rose from. the_ rivor though we were still several hundred feet above it. So wo dismissed the Park ißea from our minds, laboriously climbei? the thousand feet or so to the top', and pitched camp on the ridge between t^vo of the peaks of Puketoro after a. strenuous and thirsty day. Tho pnly water wo found on the ridge was a gallon or two in the saddle between Crawford and"; Kelliher. We supped that night and breakfasted next niorning with nothing but butter (and plenty of it) to help our meals down. -'■ "' ' On Wednesday we retraced our steps to. Kelliher and descended to the Otaki, where-was water in plenty. "We spent nearly three hours by the river, which ■is here bordered by flats covered witli open bush which are obviously much frequented by deer and wild cattle.

Before commencing the ascent ■- of Oriwa about 8 o'clock, we filled the billy, and before reaching tho Lost Lake had washed away the last remnants of a big thirst. The final part of our trip, from Oriwa to Levin, via Waiopehu, was made next morning in light rain. THE DORA-PUKETORO GAP. The net result of our efforts was to reduce tho untouched gap between Crawford and Dora by about, one half, probably more in actual distance. Tho obvious way to eliminate the Pukc-tora-Dora section is for a slasher party to proceed southward, from Dora, pitch camp in the saddle, and cut their way to. Puketoro unimpeded with packs, coming back to camp in the evening, and roturning to Levin by way of Dora. Tho main range between Crawford and Dora by no means follows the nice curve shown .on the map. From Crawford top the direction is nearly -northwest for a mile, at which stage the ridge takes an abrupt turn to the north-east for another mile or so. An equally abrupt turn towards the northwest precedes the descent towards the saddle between Ciwyforu and Kelliher. The general direction 'is here north-north-west, but there are nuiner* ous abrupt turnings all the way. Be-; tween* Kelliher and Puketoro, which lies j about east-north-east, the direction | varies again botween north-east and i north-west. The longest stretcli in' any one general direction is that be-' tween Puketoro and a knob two miles \ on, where little variation from the; north occurs. The dip into the next i saddle and the climb from it on to the : Dora spur runs about, north-north-west, ! and the spur itself rtfns north-east to ! Dora. . ■ ' | AVIFAUNA AND FLORA. '... j Apart from wonderful mountain, j river, and forest scenery, this region ': is rich in'bird life. The pigeon, kaka, ■ tui, bellbird, grey warbler, fantail, and j in season both cuckoos, aro plentiful; the whio, or blue mountain duck, is a common sight on the Upper Otaki; ! and occasionally robins, parrakeets, | and whiteheads are to be seen. On I this trip we had the good fortune ito j see a pair of native crows' when crossing from the Waitatapia to the Waitewaewae. Along the top of the range, both in the beech forest and in the ] scrub, the pretty little green wren is quite, plentiful, appearing to be the wly denizen of the bush at this elevation, though bellbird and grey warbler aveto bo heard not far down the slopes. The top of Kelliher is gradually bocoming re-clothed after, being burned off about two years ago. Of the vegetation fired, only phormium Colensoi seems to' have survived, and new shoots have come from the old roots. Beech, dracophyllum, and danthonia are all dead, and so is the original astelia; but young plants of the last mentioned are now showing. Many young pimelias, and a few specimens of nothopanax Colensoi and n. Siriclairii, have sprung up. A peculiar kind of ground lichen, growing on good rich soilj is abundant and is obviously, spreading. Notwithstanding the isolation of .Kelliher, dandelion has taken advantage of tho opportunity to establish itself.