women missing, kapakapanui area

Te Araroa drops down to the Mangone Sth roadend, does not pass through private land between Pukeatua and Kapakapanui. Though that ridgeline turnoff to Pukeatua via the Henderson's Hut site was my 1st guess as to where they might have gone wrong. Going anticlockwise round the loop, at the knob above the hut, there's a good ground trail running north towards Pukeatua from the large DOC triangle on the knob, and old track markers / new marker tape once you get away from the DOC track. But that doesn't fit with the creek-bed bit. However, there is a spot at the 1st saddle as you drop anticlockwise from the hut. You get led south off the ridgeline onto the face - the track cuts slightly south down the face around a windfall and it's easy (in the dark at least) to miss the bit where you swing right back onto the main trackbed - goat trails lead you on diagonally down the face for a bit. If you weren't watching it might be possible to make that mistake in daylight too. You'd really have to push on once you lost the track though to drop into the river though, and it's quite a thick steep face to drop the last 50m or so. The river is reasonable travel though, unless it's up. Had traplines down all those spurs and grew to hate that 50m of scrub - present throughout the catchment and tangled thick with supplejack. Couple of sets of secateurs to be found in there somewhere ...

Thanks for the context, @madpom. Are you referring to the spur that drops north off .755, north-west of the hut? [Edit: After re-reading, do you mean they might have dropped SW off that saddle before .755, in towards the middle of the loop?] I'm sure we'll find out from someone who's in the know within a few days. I was thinking at first that it must have been a fairly well-known mistake point given they were found within a matter of hours once the search began, but then I read they'd initially been spotted by a helicopter, so not necessarily.

How about NE off .1094, north of Kapakapanui Peak, and into the Waiotauru catchment? Is there any ground trail down there which could confuse people? I can't think of one, but I haven't been there for a while. (I also normally follow it clockwise for no particular reason.)

there used to be another track that ran north off the kapakapanui track from point 755 further down, it was still on the 2009 topomap http://www.mapspast.org.nz/

more details of the rescue ""They went all the way up to the summit on that trail and on their way back they thought they were following it but [my wife] told me the orange markers turned to blue," he said." http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631593

Ok. That proves me wrong. Unless I'm mistaken that photo is in Ngatiawa stream. Tha looks very much like the clearing you reach at the base of the old 4WD track that drops north down the spur from pt764 on Odlins Rd (the Akatarawa saddle-Waiotauru 4WD Road). There was a possumer based there a couple of years back - got himself in all sorts of trouble with DOC judging by the fierce notice they'd pinned to his burgeonning camp. I'm assuming from the location thatthey were going clockwise round the loop when they got mismothered. Two guesses as to how they got there. There is indeed a blue-marked track starting at a cross on a tree dropping into the creekhead just east of pt862 on the map from the Kapapkapanui track (southern access). I've never followed it as I was working spurs, not creeks. But that photo is 1.5km downstream from there ... It is the first open space downriver that is out iof the riverbed, so if they were thinking of rescue maybe they headed down until they found somewhere they could be spotted ... Otherwsie maybe possumer / hunters have marked a track down the spur west from pt862. There are a lot of goats in there and a good ground trail, but I've never found a way down the last 50m into the creek off that spur: very very steep. As a result my trapline sidled onto the next spur west and climbed back up when I was there. Both spurs dropping SW from 862 are reasonable travel - with steep but manageable-with-care dropoffs into the creek. But neither had good ground trails last I was there. Btw: I did not mark my lines as I was using a dog to track them and never use blue tape ... thankfully, as otherwise I'd be stressing as to whether I'd missed pulling a line and was responsible.

why doesnt the first blue marker have a sign with it telling people they have strayed off the official track and turn around and go back to the track with orange markers? various other places will have signs up telling people not to follow any markers that are any other colour than orange... that latest NZ herald article, the police SAR guy says they did everything right and it was a text book scenario of what to do if you get lost. well they did some things right, after doing various things completely wrong not notifying anyone of their intentions and when to raise the alarm. continuing to move around the bush and exhaust themselves for days when tehy knew they were lost and couldnt find a way out. no mention of using a map or compass or other navigation device. unlikely they had them or if they did, they didnt know how to use them. a lot of recent rescues have happened quickly because people were lucky enough to have cell phone reception, but now we see how much different the scenario is when you dont have cell phone reception, no PLB and havent given anyone your trip intentions... no one comes looking for you for some time and then they have to guess where you might be... they were lucky there are locals living at that particular road end or no one would have known where they left their car and no one would have come to rescue them... a lot of people are being rescued by good fortune and luck as much as anything... but its not always that way, don't rely on luck, rely on following correct procedure and bushcraft skill

Suspect those blue markers will be disappearing pretty soon ... it's a very old track,looks like its not been maintained or marked for a decade or two.

"why doesnt the first blue marker have a sign with it telling people they have strayed off the official track and turn around and go back to the track with orange markers?" Maybe because it's the Tararuas and there would need to be signs at the top of every spur? Perhaps DOC will put a sign there or remove some markers now that there's evidence of a mistake being made.

Yep. As a cocky accurately observed upon seeing a new sign being installed on otherwise unspoiled tops: "More DOC pollution!"