Longview Hut, Ruahine Range, Wednesday 28 August 2019
Banner Pix: Heading down to the hut
After several days of strong westerly winds, tramp day dawned frosty and calm, just what you need when heading to Longview Hut in the central Ruahine Range.
Twenty trampers convened at Moorcock Saddle car park, with 18 climbing the exposed ridge in sunny, warm conditions.
Vic and Tony went exploring in the opposite direction, over to Awatere Hut by Moorcock Stream.
A cold wind coming off the clouded and snowy main range met us at the top of the climb – not a place to linger – so it was a mad dash down to the shelter of Longview Hut. The majority arrived round 10.45 with the stragglers arriving not long after.
We all rugged up warm and set off, retracing our steps back to the high point then – after the cairn – picked up a track leading us across the ridge. It had been a while since I had done this trip but it’s quite straightforward; we just checked the GPS a couple of times, as we dropped down to a narrow saddle. Looking across, we could see an orange marker showing the entrance into the bush. The wind didn’t seem as bad as first thought and it took us about 50 minutes.
Lunch was had in the sun by the signpost which points down to the Daphne track car park, then a quick downhill to the vehicles, which those who had not done the round trip had kindly driven from Moorcock car park.Seeing it was not a late trip, there was a stop at the Tiko pub for refreshments, then back to Park Island by 4pm.
Trampers: Kelvin Shaw, Ted Angove, Bruce Hodgson, Marg Campbell, Marie Deroles, Murray White, Vic Bullock, Cherie Le Lievre, Juliet Gillick, Tony Plymers, Sue Marshall, Sue Gribble, Lynette Morgan, John Bennett, Keith James, John Burrell, Hannah Munroe, Rosemary Jeffery and reporter Alison Greer.
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