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Arete Forks Hut
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| TararuaHunter | 22 Nov 2013 | First visited this hut in about 1963 as a young Tramper/hunter. In 1966 joined the NZFS and arête forks was one of our main huts when hunting in the Northern Tararuas. Travelled the sidle track frequently but at the time, the river was preferred when low enough. Made several visits lately when passing thru, or as a destination. Hut is in excellent condition, wood burner is very warm and plenty of firewood. The sidle track is bit over grown and has windfalls, but most have been makes with pink tape. The tr,ack is the quickest route to the hut, the river route takes about 4 hours and several deep holes to swim. very low river levels, might be bit quicker, but the track takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours heading down. bout 3-3 1/2 up from cow creek The old route up to Tarn ridge that ascended a spur about 45 minutes walk upriver is washed out at the bottom and hard to find due to log jams and re growth. Went up to the Tarn Ridge hut by ascending the spur that leads to e ridge top with Blatchfords cross on it, couple minutes from the hut. Steep to start with and required travel upriver from the washout, which was rough going. Very thick leatherwood patch on the way to the top The old track up to Waingawa from the junction of Arête stream/Waingawa river is reasonable to follow, thanks to some of the leatherwood being cleared. pink tape marks the route down thru the beech forest to the river. The route down from Table ridge to the hut is now well marked but wee bit overgrown in places. Can be followed ok, with care. | |
Gaiters
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27 Mar 2013 | Sidle Track took me 3 and a half hours from Cow Creek, but is as rough as guts with 900m of climbing up and down steeply . A couple of spots where it would be easy to lose the track and ongaonga to boot . The gorge back to Cow Creek took two and a half hours and I didn't get wet above the waist . Quite a bit of rock scrambling is needed to achieve this though . Though the gorge was about as low as it would get because of the long dry summer we have had . A nice gorge to traverse and would not recommend the sidle track to my worst enemies . A traverse of table ridge would be preferable . | |
John Saunders
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1 Jan 2010 | Wow, PhilipW apparently had a tough time of it, the intentions book in Arete Forks Hut has similar horror stories! But I've only ever used the river route. There are a couple of places in the gorge where you have to lie on top of your pack and float across some deep pools. (seal it up before you start) Also watch that weather and be ready to bail out if there is a flash flood.(climb to the sidle track) But this is magnificent Tararua tramping. This is what it's all about.... | |
Gpsboy2
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14 Jan 2009 | ||
dmolnar
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1 Jan 2007 | ||
madpom
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1 Jul 2005 |