The route to Ranger Biv (Dampier L33 198 163) has been a bit challenging in recent years. It's been quite a battle to get there through the extensive patches of wind-throw and regen beech. It wasn't always that way of course. Before the big wind-throw event it used to take not much more than an hour to get up from Fenwick Stream.
When Honora & I had been up there we were always pressed for time, and never explored for a better way through.
We wanted to spend a couple of days clarifying the route up the spur from the Fenwick Stream gorge.
It was near 3.00 pm when we started up the Andrews. Our packs were heavy. Extra cold weather gear, the equipment we needed, and 4 day's food made for big loads.
At Halleluja Flat it was snowing lightly. By the time we crossed Casey Saddle it was dark. We got torches out at the end of the boardwalk.
We've tramped to Casey in the dark so many times now that it seems just the normal way to do it. We've gone there in the dark and rain too, but this was the first time in the dark while it was snowing.
Just as we emerged onto the flats near the hut there were a series of rifle shots.
When we got into the hut the explanation was that the guys had seen a cat and had decided to shoot it.
The guys were Ross, Keith & Paul from Fish & Game. They were up there for a few days doing a salmon survey in the Poulter.
Winna and Penny were there too, on a tramp.
It was great to arrive at a warm and friendly hut.
In the morning we walked up the Poulter and crossed to Fenwick Stream. There were half a dozen cattle grazing in the riverbed. I remembered seeing angry comments about them in the hut book. I've got to admit I'm more concerned about stoats.
The guys were already ahead of us in Fenwick Stream. They were cutting up a wild pig they'd shot the day before.
Up in the bush we spent the day linking up deer trails up the spur.
Where they existed, the deer trails were very well defined. But every so often they would fade when they came to a dense patch of regen through wind-throw or tangled coprosmas in soggy areas.
We called it a day when the sun went down behind the western mountains.
Just as we were about to cross the Poulter in the dark my maglight bulb died. I'm sure glad I always pack a spare light, plus spare bulbs for both lamps.
The next day there was a particularly hard frost when we set out.
The day went pretty much to the same routine.
Higher up, the spur runs into an easy angled face. The whole slope is covered entirely with an extensive stand of thin pole forest. The poles are solid enough and grow so densely it's difficult to walk through with a pack.
We followed a new deer trail sidling off high on the Fenwick Stream side. It went quite a long way off the spur, but eventually it turned up a rib. Higher up the rib flattened out and the deer trail faded again.
We spent quite a lot of time scouting all around the hillside but couldn't pick up a new one. The beech poles weren't as bad as earlier and I think we were maybe only 100m horizontal short of the ridge were the biv is. However time was against us exploring further.
As sun dropped behind the hills, back down we went to Casey in the dark again.
The guys cooked a magificent chicken dinner for us, and followed it up with a very rich chocolate pudding.
Tuesday morning came too soon and we had to head out. We had lunch in the weak sunhine at the Andrews Biv, while the Fish & Game guy's helicopter shuttled their gear out overhead. The walk out down the Andrews was even nicer than usual and added to our sense of satisfaction of some good work done.
Recent Comments