Iron Gate Hut, Ruahine FP, Saturday/Sunday 27-28 September 2025
Banner Photo: Iron Gate Hut on arrival from the Ngamoko tops
Five gathered at Fiona’s house on Saturday for a 7am departure to the end of Kashmir Road at the foot of the Ruahines. Loaded up with enough supplies for an overnight tramp, we headed up to Pohangina Saddle starting at around 8.30am.
The view from Otumore
As we gained in altitude, the wind grew quite intense and at the saddle it felt like being punched in the face. But we pushed on and, once through the saddle, the wind eased.
At the junction on the Ngamoko tops
By this stage, Fiona had headed off to Longview Hut for a cuppa and to warm up a little. The remaining four reached Otumore in just under three hours from the car park. The last hour was very boggy due to overnight rain.
Around this time, Fiona was heading our way from Longview Hut.
Te Hekenga in the middle distance, still with some snow
We passed the dismantled/broken trig A6GJ at 1519m, before reaching the turn-off on the tops that pointed to Iron Gate Hut (three hours away) there were no waratahs to guide us. But luckily there was a trapline to follow along the route. The view north to Te Hekenga, Taumataomekura and Tiraha, which still had a dusting of snow in their tops, was stunning.
We had lunch just before the bush at 1200 metres amongst leatherwood, spaniard, dracophyllum and hebes. It was lovely to get into the bush and Campbell enjoyed seeing mountain cedar for the first time. We had a snack break half an hour from the hut, which worked out well as the 30 minutes down to the hut were very steep.
Arriving at the hut at 3pm, we were met by Mark and Geoff who had come in up the river on Friday from Peterson’s Road-end. They had the fire going after spending most of the day cleaning the hut and woodshed and chopping wood.
We loved the hut too…
Iron Gate Hut is a great, warm place to stay. It was rebuilt in 2019 on the edge of the Oroua River.
Next morning, four trampers headed out via the river while three went back over the tops to Kashmir Road. For the trio, it was an uneventful trip, but the wind was a blowing big time until they dropped down from Otumore summit.
Thanks to Mark and Fiona for driving, and Juliet for being tramp organiser.
Julia reports on the tramp out from Iron Gate Hut to the Peterson’s Road-end.
The group photo at Iron Gate Hut
On leaving the hut, it soon became apparent what was to come when we saw orange flag tape which guided us through a diversion. After a about an hour, we came to a major diversion where the track has been cut and marked. It took us up a small sidle, and then down a very steep drop. The small tree stumps which had been left especially for hand holds to negotiate the up/down were crucial. At one point, ducking around an outcrop, holding on to the stump seemed like madness. Perhaps this section is why so many noted in the hut log book that they were taking the ‘river route’ out.
The notice on the DoC website
It’s certainly not the easy walk I remember. I think that the many slips have caused this change and level of difficulty. However, we made it to Heritage Lodge in 3hrs 15mins.
A great weekend to get out and across the Ruahine Range.
Trampers: Fiona Bryant, Juliet Gillick, Di Reid, Mark Jenkins, Geoff Donkin, and reporters Campbell Living and Julia Mackie
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