Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Wilderness

Tramping with a purpose MORE AND MORE PEOPLE seem to be tramping with a purpose. Whether it’s the crews painting huts, cutting down wilding pines or members of the tramping clubs who have made it their duty to check traps in Ruahine Forest Park every other weekend (see our feature on p38), going for a hike while simultaneously improving the environment and infrastructure seems to be becoming as much a part of tramping in this country as is staying in a hut. Every month brings news of another group doing something to improve the recreational experience for others. In the old days, such work might have been called a working bee. But these days, because it’s happening so often and so regularly, some trampers have coined a term for it.…

LIFESIZE MOA AND LIGHT SHOW PROPOSAL for OPARARA ARCHES IN AN EFFORT to enhance and promote the Oparara Basin on the West Coast, DOC is considering a design plan which may include building a walkway, creating a lightshow and installing lifesize moas in the Oparara Arches. The arches are along a system of tracks through the basin, and are about 15 minute’s walk from the road-end car park. “There’s a really great system of walkways, created by the Oparara Trust, linking the arches, and also taking you to two caves: Box Canyon and Crazy Paving Cave. Beyond there is the specially restricted area of the Honeycomb Hill Cave system, with the largest deposit of subfossil remains in New Zealand,” West Coast photographer, caver, and outdoor instructor Neil Silverwood said. “Going…

We thought it might be boring TO KEEP GOING BACK TO THE SAME PLACE. But that’s not been the experience at all. REPEATEDLY going somewhere has been a really interesting experience because we see HOW IT CHANGES OVER TIME. Depending on who you talk to, it’s either applied tramping or tramping with a purpose, but there are probably other names for it. Good sorts tramping, maybe. “It’s anything you do to help out,” says Janet Wilson from the Palmerston North Tramping and Mountaineering Club (PNTMC). Wilson is also with the Ruahine Whio Protection Trust and coined the term ‘applied tramping’ a couple of years ago to describe the trips she does in Ruahine Forest Park. Asked what constitutes applied tramping, she says: “Think, what can I do that’s not just…

AFTER BROWSING the Remote Huts website I grew intrigued by Cone Creek Hut, deep in the headwaters of the upper Ahaura catchment on the West Coast. The valleys and ranges of the area are seldom visited, but I planned a loop to visit Cone Creek Hut and then onto the Lake Morgan Hut. After a few hours’ stroll following the Haupiri River, we reached the junction of Cone Creek. The creek is tightly enclosed by the surrounding ranges and we reluctantly turned our backs to the sun to enter the wet, slippery valley. The track, which sidled above the lower gorge, was cleared and marked in 2015 by the Permolat group, but it was still hard going with a lot of windfall to be negotiated. After an hour of steady…

IF A RELATIVELY easy and short hike through a remnant forest, typical of the forests that once covered 90 per cent of Bank Peninsula, is to your liking, then you mustn’t pass up the opportunity to wander the trails of Otepatotu Reserve. Loosely translated as ‘Place of the Fairies’, this, and the reserve’s scenic wonders, should be enough to attract children and adults for a look-see when traversing the Summit Road between Hilltop and Akaroa. It stands above the highway just north of the road to Le Bons Bay and offers the complete package when it comes to the tick-list for a family outing – excellent picnic area, fantastic views, a good track (sometimes muddy), and a rapidly changing forest mosaic that will keep all comers entranced with its beauty…

It’s pretty cool being a trail angel. You meet a lot of people, and they’re usually really nice For the Peppers, the summer months bring a steady parade of people from around the world to their farm near Taumarunui. At least once a week, Shannon Pepper sees a familiar sight: a thirsty, backpack-wielding thru-hiker who asks to spend the night. And because the Peppers are Te Araroa trail angels – their home is right on the trail – the answer is always yes. For four years, hikers have been stopping by their home. The numbers ramp up every year, Shannon said, with more and more foreigners every season. One of her sons, Sam, has become so interested in the hikers that he set up a “rest stop” in their front…

Change your perspective One common mistake when capturing small plants and flowers is to simply shoot from a standing position. Try to get a unique perspective on what you are photographing by lying down and at the same level as the subject. Isolate your subject Compose your image to ensure the flower is the predominant subject in the photograph. Avoid including things that are distracting, such as bright backgrounds and strong colours that take your attention away from the subject. Using a large aperture (f2.8-5.6) and a long focal length lens will allow you to create a shallow depth of field to isolate the flower and keep the viewer’s attention focused on it. Look at the bigger picture Including the landscape around the flower can often make a more interesting…

There’s a phenomenon in tramping that Noel Bigwood calls, “the Sunday afternoon scramble”. “When trampers head out of the bush on a Sunday afternoon, they’ll have their last rest stop, and then head for the car,” Bigwood says. “When they get there, they’ll say, ‘Hey, where’s Charlie? Oh, he was just behind me! When? Three hours ago…’.” In Bigwood’s 40 years as a search and rescue worker, he’s seen it happen several times. “I’d call it lack of team discipline. It’s where they stop thinking about the team and start thinking about themselves, and stop caring about their mates,” Bigwood explains. “That’s why the Sunday afternoon scramble is the most common scenario – where everyone’s thinking ahead. Thinking about getting to the car, getting their boots off, having a nice…

THE ANTS were marching. That was all I could think as I was walking up to Mangatepopo Hut. Since my last trip to Tongariro National Park the track had become a lot wider and busier. Luckily there are ways to avoid the buzz. A friend and I had found inspiration in a trip suggestion by Wilderness. From there we ran into some roadblocks. For one, there seems to be very little water in the park. Then my friend got sick, a storm was two days away and all our careful plans went out the window. So I set out with lots of gear and even more water on a quickly modified route. The desire to be on my own became overwhelming after only 20 minutes, so at Mangatepopo Hut, I…

Ingredients (serves 4) ½ cup semolina 1 cup dried peaches (6) ½ cup milk powder ¼ cup caster sugar ¼ cup brown sugar ½ cup butter ½ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp cardamom Method At home: Pack the semolina, cinnamon and cardamom in one bag, and the milk powder and caster sugar in another bag. Combine the butter and brown sugar. Carry the peaches separately. In camp: Soak the peaches in warm water for 2hr – the longer their rehydration, the more plump they will become. Use only enough water to cover the peaches as this will make up part of the topping. To prepare the topping, drain the peach juice (½ cup) into a small frying pan, add the brown sugar and butter and bring to a low simmer. Stir…

Salewa Firetail 3 $279 Stylish and comfortable for city exploring but built for the trail with a Vibram Reptail sticky sole and lacing that extends to the toe for accurate adjustment. Salewa 3F System provides firm ankle and heel support. www.bobo.co.nz Macpac Hike Tight $159.99 Smart slim styling and a cuffed ankle make these pants at home in the city, while the abrasion resistance, weather resistance and performance of Pertex Equilibrium ensure they’re equally at home on the mountain. 127g. www.macpac.co.nz Macpac Active Hybrid Jacket $229.99 A high performance fleece with DWR-treated Pertex Equilibrium face fabric, PrimaLoft Gold insulation on the chest, fleece back and arms for breathability and movement. 350g.www.macpac.co.nz Macpac Vintage Condor $199.99 A streamlined, no-fuss retro-styled daypack made from AzTec fabric and with a padded tablet/laptop sleeve…

What did you get up to last weekend? Get your photo published here to receive an Opinel No.5 folding knife worth $20. Learn more about Opinel at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

Bettina Grotschel, 34, Germany Start date: October 14 BETTINA GROTSCHEL is in the heart of the South Island, where continuous weather bombs have presented some challenges. She says she loved the final stretch of the North Island, “through the wild and beautiful Tararuas – one of the highlights of the trail.” Grotschel then met up with two friends from Germany for the start of the South Island on the “luxury” Queen Charlotte Track. She rested in Nelson and Golden Bay over the holiday, and jumped back on the trail in early January. “With its green water and pools it was beautiful - but the sandflies made it difficult to enjoy,” she said. The Richmond Range and especially Mt Rintoul provided the first challenge of the South Island. Then it was…

EACH SUMMER, hordes of trampers traipse through Nelson Lakes National Park. In recent years, many of the tracks have become increasingly popular, even more so since the Te Araroa Trail opened, which goes right through the park. But it’s a big park, and the dedicated tramper can find places to avoid the crowds. Mt Misery Hut is one such spot. Despite its name, the hut is perched in a fine basin on the northern end of the Mahanga Range. Unlike most huts in the park, this one is small, with just four bunks. However, acres of great rolling country, with tarns aplenty, offer excellent camping nearby. The hut is best reached on a steep track that grunts up through beech forest from the shores of Lake Rotoroa (watch out for…

To readers who know Kahurangi well, this ‘perfect week’ will be notable as much for what isn’t included. Such is the scope of this park, second in size only to the massive, 1.2 million hectare Fiordland, and protecting a swathe of geological and biological diversity across the north-west corner of the South Island, there is simply not room for everything. Kahurangi, established in 1986, is our second newest park, its formation notable for the diversities of landscapes and ecologies it protects. This was a shift from the first national parks, where scenic grandeur was perhaps a more important consideration for endowing such worthy status. The name Kahurangi, meaning ‘treasured possession’, is apt. The park is a treasure land of marbled kaarst and glaciated mountains, tussock tablelands and downs, beech and…

The old adage ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ rings especially true for outdoor skills. Most of us learn our way through the backcountry by experience, picking up tricks from friends, clubs or guides. But we all have gaps in our outdoor knowledge. The problem is, we don’t often realise what those gaps are until we encounter a situation where they’re put to the test. Wilderness has joined with Wanaka SAR, a team of 80 highly-skilled volunteers, to walk us through common mistakes they see people making. In 2014/15, the Wanaka SAR team responded to 54 call-outs, 90 per cent of which occurred between November and March. Those are just the situations they know about; they don’t have any statistics measuring how many people got by on good luck,…

THE RUAKITURI Wilderness is an integral part of Te Urewera, the former national park and the homeland of Tūhoe which was declared a legal entity in and of itself in the Te Urewera Act 2014. The Ruakituri Wilderness, while no longer gazetted as a Wilderness Area under the National Parks Act, is to be managed as one. Its protection is only stronger for being provided for under an Act with such noble purposes as ensuring Te Urewera is a ‘place for public use and enjoyment, for recreation, learning, and spiritual reflection, and as an inspiration for all’. The Ruakituri Wilderness is unique for its relatively moderate, but immensely confusing, topography under continuous beech forest cover. The majority of the wilderness is a wide basin which funnels into the lower Ruakituri…

Fill There are numerous fills – high-density open-cell foam, down, synthetic and plain air – wrapped in a waterproof nylon shell. Anti-fungal treatments will prevent fungus and bacteria from growing inside the mat – caused by moist breath. Some foam-filled sleeping mats are die-cut or horizontally cored to reduce their weight. Fabrics and finishes Fabrics are patterned and coated to provide a modicum of grip to prevent the user sliding off during the night. They are DWR-coated to provide water-resistance. Inflation Many mats are self-inflating – drawing the air in as the mat regains its shape. They only require a few puffs at the end to reach the desired firmness. Synthetic and down filled mats often require a pump sack to ensure moisture from your breath doesn’t cause mould to…