Kawhatau Base road access closed

A lot of work went into trying to get access legally established when the property was subdivided for sale but the regional council wasn't interested in making it a condition of subdivision so it didn't happen. At this stage it is not looking likely that access will be re-established. I think if you cross the cable way from the hikurangi side you come up onto the roadway just before the Kawhatau base so for this little bit of road you are on private land.

Any idea if the Walking Access Commission had much involvement? I wish I'd been paying more attention at the time. As someone who's appreciated that cable-way in a flood (at least when it was working), I'd like to say that I hope this doesn't mean it will be removed, but without access over the land it's not terribly (legally) useful, except maybe for people somehow wanting to skim steeply down and steeply up around that edge of the park for no obvious reason. If you were to crawl along the bank above the river (something I've never tried so I'm unsure what it's like), the WAMS still shows about a further km from the edge of the park boundaries before you finally hit a public road other than the river. I guess you could hack half way up to Colenso, try bashing across what I imagine is leatherwood-hell to .904, and get onto Makopua Road that way.

I don't know for certain but I am pretty sure WAMS would have been contacted. I got the impression that it was up to the council and they weren't interested and/or couldn't justify including public access into the subdivision. If it had been included it would have reduced the saleability of the blocks. My understanding is that DOC won't be maintaining the cableway and when it fails an inspection it will be removed. It's a fairly boring 2 hour walk up the river from the road bridge to access the base (low flows only). There are also some routes up onto the range from the Hikurangi stream starting from the road bridge. Haven't looked into the legality of using the Hikurangi stream for access - working on the ignorance principle.

Revisiting an old thread. I was just looking into this route, and was disappointed to hear about the access problems. Looking at the maps though, it seems like the best option might be to abandon the Rangitane Road altogether and establish a new track up the ridge from the end of Smiths Road, at Cryon. It sounds like we have legal access to there at least. Cutting a new track is easier said then done, but volunteers and community groups have been doing some impressive things in the NZ backcountry of late, and I don't see why this couldn't be the next success story. The route would go from Cryon and follow the Hikurangi Stream for about 2km, then follow the ridge up to pt 1137, 1339, 1468 and to the crest of the Hikurangi Range. It doesn't solve the access problem of Colenso, but at least then Mckinnon and Crow Huts wouldn't suffer the demise of limited use and eventual removal by DOC. Just curious what people with more experience in the area think about the idea. I hate the thought of losing access permanently.

Hi @USAhutbagger. Do you mean to stay in the stream through the gorge? I cannot recall what it's like to follow, but a quick check of the LINZ data suggests that it's private property either side. The public land of Ruahine Forest Park doesn't actually start until you hit a north-south line, maybe 450 metres west of .1137, which pays no attention to the local topography. Would it be any better than simply walking from the same point up the Kawhatau River to where the cableway crosses, which is what I think most people are doing at present? I do know a group who came down that spur once, several years ago, when the river was flooded and the cableway had broken as they crossed the first time. It was typically walled with Leatherwood as is so much of the Ruahine but they managed it. They knew they were going through private property and it'd been a last resort. I was in a different group at the same time. We found our own way out having reached the cableway, sidling along the edge of the Kawhatau River, crossing Rocky Creek and managing to climb up to the farm-land and back to the other bridge at Smiths Road. Again, not at all all preferred under the circumstances, but the farmers were really good about it back at that time. They gave us a lift back to the carpark on the back of the truck.

Access to kawhatau base is actually in the process of becoming easier. Check the Ruahine users group website for more info.

The improved access will knock about an hour off the walk up the Kauwhatau River but you still have to walk up/down a river that is prone to becoming dangerous quite quickly with a bit of rain and suicidal with a reasonable amount of rain. When I was last at McKinnon I did a check back through the log book and the number of bed nights is about the same now as before the access was lost. What has changed is the type of user. A lot less trampers, almost no visits in winter, but a lot more fly in hunter groups that stay for multiple nights. The hunter groups are very good at using hut tickets (which I suspect might be due to the helicopter pilot). What makes quite a nice summer good weather, low river level, round trip from the twin road bridges is to go up the Hikurangi Stream (to the best of my knowledge streambed access to the park is legal), up the side stream with the slip at the top that leads to point 1468 (gets you through the leatherwood zone) and around the tops to McKinnon for the night then out down the track to the cableway and down the Kauwhatau River to get back to the twin road bridges.

But the fact the is a little give and take going on in regards to access is good news for the future.

Sorry I don't read it that way; the current 'solution' is to cut a track from the road (about half way between the twin bridges and the road end) down to the Kauwhatau River through Rangitane Reserve land. It doesn't involve the farm (who aren't the access issue) or the private bush/hunting block at the very end (which is the access issue). To me the implimentation of this 'solution' indicates that there is no hope of getting direct access to the Kauwhatau Base or even an all weather/river level access to the cage. I don't mind a longer walk to access the cage but I have issues with having to walk up/down the Kauwhatau river bed. While it's very straight forward (rather boring actually) at low to normal flows, unfortunately, in NZ people aren't always the best at judging when they shouldn't cross a river, particularily if they are almost back to their car and have to go to work tomorrow. I don't want to see anyone drown.

Half full, half empty. I almost bought one of those blocks. My mum and dads farm is just down the road.