Top Maropea Hut, Ruahine FP, Saturday 1 March 2025
Banner Photo: Taking a break at Sunrise Hut
Once again the club had put Top Maropea Hut on the tramp list. I’ve looked through the old trip reports and it seems like the last time the club managed to actually get there was just before Covid, in March 2020, on their way to and from Maropea Forks Hut. Every other attempt since has failed because of high and/or cold winds.
Tony made it to Sunrise Hut and return
Twelve people signed up for today’s tramp. We started off from the Sunrise car park, which was packed with cars, in lovely sunny weather and a breeze. On our way up, we met two women coming down, who told us that there was a breeze at the top but nothing too serious, so that was promising. We had a quick stop at the junction with the Waipawa Forks Track and discussed who wanted to go to Top Maropea. Only four put their hand up: Julian, Sue, Kate, and I. So the four went ahead, followed by the other seven a few minutes later. Tony walked behind at his own pace. He was not sure if he was going to make it to the hut, but he wanted to try.
After 1 hour and 45 minutes and 750m of climbing, the four arrived at Sunrise Hut. We were having morning tea here, but first we had a quick peek up on the ridge behind the hut. We were blasted off, so, again, Top Maropea was off the list. Sue carried an anemometer and measured gusts of 65 kmh. Ten minutes later, the first of the other group arrived. We told them of the change of plan and we all enjoyed a long morning tea in the lovely sunshine, while discussing what to do with the rest of the day. It was agreed that we would go down to Triplex Hut for lunch and then walk the Swamp Track before heading back to the car.
Around 11.15am, we started to make our way down and after 10 minutes or so we met Tony on his way up. We told him of our plans, and he decided to carry on to Sunrise Hut for lunch and then come down and meet us at the car park.
After the seemingly endless downhill, meeting many people on their way up, we had lunch at Triplex Hut and walked around the beautiful Swamp Track. Several of the group had never walked this track and were amazed by the beauty of the forest. We also enjoyed the volume of birdsong here. While the sign says that the track takes an hour, we were back on the main track to the car park in only half that time, and at the car park around 1.45pm. The car park was even fuller than when we left.
Tony arrived at 2.15pm. We gave him a big applause for his amazing achievement to have made it to the hut and back.
We concluded the day with our traditional stop at the Sawyer’s Arms in Tikokino for a drink or an ice cream, and were back at Park Island at 4.30pm.
Trampers: Amelia Moorhead, Julian Phillips, Donna Weston, Mary Campbell, Di Reid, Sue Gribble, Amelia Taylor, Tony Pluymers, Rebecca Thompson, Kate Fuller, Selina Chilton and reporter Elly Govers
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