Longview Hut, Ruahine FP, Saturday 28 February 2026
Banner Photo: No long view today, heading up to Longview Hut
Only three set out from Napier on a cloudy morning with the hope of tramping the Longview-Daphne circuit in the Ruahine Forest Park. As we came closer to our destination on Kashmir Road, it was clear that there were no long views today. The tops of the Ruahines were covered in clouds and drizzly rain was falling on the windscreen.
Rain gear required before setting off up to Longview Hut
So, after arriving at the Moorcock Saddle car park, we donned our rain gear and started making our way up to Longview Hut. It was 8.45am. The climb was not unpleasant, although the vegetation was very wet from the rain that had fallen over the previous days. Despite our rain gear, our boots quickly filled up with moisture. The higher we went, the denser the clouds, and visibility was not much more than 50 metres. We did not see Longview Hut until the last minute, and, once there, we had no views.
We had morning tea at the hut and discussed what we were going to do. We agreed that, because of the low visibility, the absence of a track or any markers on the tops, the uncertain but definitely steep state of the Daphne track, and the cold, it was probably wise to retrace our steps to the car park.
The view after the cloud lifted into the North branch of the Makaretu valley
And that’s what we did. It was very cold when we started walking again; not more than 10 degrees.
On our way down, which was fairly slippery, the wind started picking up and blew the clouds in the valley away, so we finally had a view.
We met two young women on their way to Longview for the night. Fortunately for them, there was firewood in the hut.
We arrived back at the car at 12.15pm. It had taken us 1h30m to walk up and the same to walk down. The tops were still covered in clouds. It was nice to take our wet gear off and put on something dry.
We could not resist a stop at the pub in Tikokino, and were back in Taradale around 2.30pm. Still, it was a very enjoyable day, with good company.
Trampers: Julian Phillips, Bryan Powlesland (photographer) and reporter Elly Govers
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