Stanfield Hut, Ruahine FP, Saturday 9 May 2026
Banner Photo: The Tamaki west branch riverbed, strewn with trees scoured out from the banks
With due respect for the rahui that had been placed on the A-Frame track because of a tragic hunting fatality in April, we had decided to change our route to Stanfield Hut by entering via the Homes Ridge track and then, depending on the weather, returning via the river.
So nine left from Park Island at 7am and had an uneventful trip to the car park at the end of Takapari Road. We did an exploratory foray to see if there was access over the bridge on the farm. After that five-minute deviation, we could see that this wasn’t open to the public so back-tracked to the clearing and made our way over the river, with only a few getting wet feet.
The view from the Homes track looking north
From there, it was straight up for the 200-metre climb to the top of the ridge. We had a new tramper with us and it was a bit of a shock for her to be thrust straight into an uphill climb. However, all went well and after we reached the top it was then a matter of travelling across the undulating tops for about another 90 minutes.
We concluded, as we went along, that it was actually the better route for the day. We were quite sheltered with bush on either side most of the way, but could see that on the other side of the river we would have been exposed to strong winds on the high tops and in cloud most of the way.
Stanfield Hut was clean and tidy
The bush going down to the river was lovely and we saw some very large rimu and miro trees. Most people were at Stanfield Hut by 11-ish for a late morning tea. The hut was lovely and tidy – probably thanks to the ‘Love our huts’ cleaning campaign through the summer.
As the river was fairly low and it wasn’t too windy down the valley, eight elected to take the lower route out via the river. Julian decided he was going back on the Homes Ridge track, as he prefers the trees to the river.
There was a lot of storm damage going down the river, with trees down all over the place; but the route was mostly well signed with tape showing where to exit and enter the various side tracks off the riverbed.
It looks chilly, too
We arrived back in rain about 1pm at the clearing, to find Julian already there having his lunch in the shelter. We had thought about doing the Roki track after lunch as our tramping so far had been short, but because of the rain it was decided a better option was a hot drink (or other beverage of choice) at the Tikokino pub. Despite having had lunch not long before, the group also managed to scoff three plates of chips supplied by Campbell, Julian and Selina (thanks, guys).
Trampers: Shona Tupe, Mary Campbell, Di Reid, Campbell Living, Selina Chilton, Dilini Dharmasena, Alison Greer, Julian Phillips and reporter Juliet Gillick
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