A spectacular sunrise soothes the soul

Howletts Hut, Ruahine FP, Sat/Sun 4/5 June 2022
Map: BL36
Banner Photo: Sunrise at Howletts Hut by Fiona Bryant

Saturday 4 June

This was to be the first time to Howletts Hut for Campbell, Sue and Dorothy. Our plan was to get to Howletts on Saturday and then take the route to Longview Hut via Otumore. This is a Ruahine Range tops route and a good way to make it a loop tramp.

After leaving a vehicle at the Kashmir Road-end car park, we all started from the Daphne car park, a 500m climb heading up the spur to reach the first junction.  It was a bit cloudy when we started but the sun came out when we were about halfway up. It’s a grunty hill with bush to start with then through trees and ferns.  We saw some lovely mosses on the way.

From the first junction, it is south to Longview Hut, or north to drop down to the Tukituki River.

After reaching this junction, Sue, who had Covid in the last month, was feeling unwell but decided to continue to Daphne Hut. The track down was wet and tree roots slippery, so care was necessary.

We headed upstream, in icy cold and swift water. It was not that much higher than normal, and running clear, a surprise after observing that the Waipawa River was wide and dirty when driving over it earlier that morning.

We lunched near Daphne Hut and wrung out our socks, before heading up Daphne Spur, with Sue making the short walk and water crossing to rest up at Daphne.

The first 300m of the total 765m climb is steep, and again the wet ground and dead leaves made it more taxing. After that, it eased off. On reaching the bushline, it is only a 100m climb through the tussock and grass to Daphne Ridge.

Howletts sits in a protected spot with brilliant views, although when we arrived it was very foggy and we couldn’t see anything.  Later in the evening, it cleared and the views of lights below and the stars were awesome. There is a good fire box and lots of coal. We had carried up some pine cones and gum bark, to get the base fire going before putting on the coal. The trick is not to put too much coal on the fire until it is settled with a layer of glowing coal embers.

Before nightfall, two couples arrived and, to our relief, they elected to put up their four-season tents on the helipad. They were two brothers and their wives. One couple lived in Havelock North and the other was from Rotorua.  They came into the hut to cook, so food, company and the fire were shared.  They were lovely people.

Campbell was trying to entice us with his aeroplane lollies, but we asked him to save them for the next day.

Sunday 5 June

Next day, the sunrise was beautiful and it was a frosty morning with ice on the ground.  Many of the puddles on the way were frozen. Alison discovered a weta had gone to bed in her boot after she had walked to the toilet and back in her boots and felt a lump in one of them.  We concluded that the weta had found a great spot when her boots had been sitting in the wood pile.

As we were about to leave the hut, Dorothy could not find her camera. She has an Aarn pack, and there are many pockets to check. We set off, still not knowing where it had been stored. After 20 minutes’ walk, when stopped to take in the views, she said: ‘I’ve found it.’ Yep, it was in one of the front pockets.

Juliet went down to Daphne to meet Sue and the rest of us left at 8.30am, back to the signpost and downhill a bit and then up, up, up again over a few tops to Otumore.  The route was well marked with standards, but the leatherwood made the pace slower and more difficult. Keeping to the route, which was covered in tussock or leatherwood, was imperative. The saddle and climb up to the ridge, where there is a junction back down to Daphne Hut, was not hard but we stopped again to look around. The Sawtooth Ridge is not visible as it is behind Tiraha, but the cheval of Te Hekenga was clear.

We passed a group from Heretaunga Tramping Club who had stayed at Longview Hut, and were heading to Howletts for Sunday night.  Some of them had to sleep in the three-walled annex at Longview.  We also passed a solo tramper who had also had to sleep outside. Longview had obviously been over-full.

Campbell spotted deer, the first in the distance, and the second just 300 yards away.

We had a five minute lunch stop just below Otumore highpoint out of the wind, then continued on to tackle the hidden muddy holes and the very muddy track from Pohangina Saddle up to the Longview Hut sign, with quite a bit of spaniard in the wrong places at times. It had started to cloud over and got quite cold. As we were descending, we saw a rather rowdy group of ten people heading for Longview Hut.  Thank goodness we weren’t staying there.

From the Longview Track, it was familiar for all of us, so we just kept going down to the car park, arriving back to find that Sue and Juliet had got there from Daphne car park only 15 minutes earlier.  Great timing, girls.

We had a great day on the Ruahine Range tops, with good weather (it could have been a little warmer) and no wind. The views west and east were just fabulous.

Thanks (and commiserations) to trip organiser Sue, who takes up her story at Daphne Hut:

I had Daphne Hut to myself for a while, so sat in the sun, eating lunch and feeling annoyed with myself. Then I collected water from the river, chopped up firewood and settled in.

Two hours later, three men arrived from Wellington and decided to stay at Daphne, knowing that six had already gone up to Howletts. Then a couple arrived at 6pm, in the dark, claiming that taking their boots off each time they crossed the river (probably about five or six times) had slowed them down.

We all had good company and a comfortable sleep in a warm hut. They were late risers, and with bacon and eggs and baked beans for breakfast, they were slow to get moving. We woke to a frost and as I walked to the toilet, I startled three red fawns.

Juliet arrived at the hut door about 9.30am, much earlier than I expected. Off we went, retracing our steps through the freezing river, up, along, and down to Daphne car park. Our aim was to get there and drive Alison’s car to Kashmir Road-end car park before the rest of them arrived, and we did. While we were waiting for them, a huge contingent of the 4-wheel drive club arrived – and who would jump out of a vehicle but our pals Ray and Pauline!

Trampers: Sue Martin, Dorothy Sole, Fiona Bryant, Alison Greer, Juliet Gillick, Campbell Living and Julia Mackie. Dorothy, Julia and Sue wrote the report