My BNI commitments took me to Gisborne on Friday for a breakfast meeting. As it was my last meeting for the year I thought I would treat myself and go home via the Waikaremoana Rain Forest route and run a new trail.
After a bit of research I decided that the Ruapani Circuit looked about the right sort of length for the time I was prepared to spend (about 2 hours) and so I left Gisborne at about 9am and hit the road. Turn off at Wairoa and follow the signs. This is the easiest route into and out of the Waikaremoana area. This road has about 20 or so kilometres of gravel road and most of it is pretty good. Coming from Murupara and you have about 80km of very tight winding gravel road absolutely guaranteed to have all but the passengers with the very strongest stomachs needing to stop. If you are travelling this way in winter, check before you leave as slips are common.
From the Gisborne end you keep driving past the entry to the Great Walk (saving that for another weekend) and past the turn off to the main camping ground and not long past that you will see the sign for the Information Centre. Park in the carpark opposite the information centre. The entry to the trail is about 200m further down the road and while there is parking opposite the entrance, I am not sure how secure it would be. Parking in the main carpark seemed a much more sensible idea.
Once you have walked (run) up the road from the carpark to the entrance, head up the trail not more than about 20m and you will see the start of the Ruapani Trail on the left. You can run this loop either way, but clockwise works best for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the climb this way is much more progressive and enjoyable. The climb in the anti-clockwise direction is pretty much straight up a '4-lane highway' type trail. However that is just my taste.
Secondly, running anti-clockwise brings you to Lake Waikareiti near the end of your run and it is worth the wait. More on that later.
The climb at the start is steady and almost all runnable. The trail quality is excellent and further reminder of just how lucky we are here in Godzone to have a fabulous organization like DOC to run our reserves.
You will pass several wetland areas to the left and right of the trail as you wind your way up... and up... and up.
It's one of those trails where you know you are climbing, but as most of it is runnable (well should be) it seems to slip by. I say should be, because as I mentioned earlier I had a business breakfast in Gisborne that morning and - in my wisdom - had bacon, sausages and egg... not a good move. A motor only runs as well as it's fuel and I was very flat for this run.
Nevertheless I
decided early on that I would be breaking no records and would run where
I could and walk where I had to and enjoyed it immensely.
In amongst a series of wetland areas (all signposted) you will pass on your climb, you will also pass Lake Ruapani on the left of the trail (left).
You will also get a few fabulous views through the canopy and at times you will realise just how high you have climbed. There is only one marked trail that leaves the main route. This is the trail to the Sandy Bay Hut. This trail takes you around the back of Lake Waikareiti. If you still have loads of energy to burn you may like to head down there for a bit, as the toughest part of the loop is behind us.
However I ignored that trail as I was rather weary and headed to the right.
Shortly after this turn off I began to see glimpses of Lake Waikareiti through the trees and the trail meanders down to where you can take a short detour (less than 30m) to the side of the lake.
As it was a lovely day and I was hot and buggared, I decided to cool my legs off. Being used to the Rotorua Lakes I carefully eased into the lake expecting a very cold dip and was very surprised at the lovely water temperature.
After this short refresher it was back on the trail along the edge of the Lake until you reach the boat shed. There are some hireable rowboats and a launching area in the bottom corner of the lake and this is the point we start our downhill route back to the trail start.
You may enjoy this bit, for me it was just a little disappointing in that the trail was so well looked after and wide that it felt like a State Highway. This is in no way a criticism of the trail... more a measure of what I personally like in a trail.
The benefit though is that it's fast and safe and quick and 95% downhill... so take the brakes off and go for it. At the end of the trail I backtracked a kilometre or so back to the Motor Camp to grab a drink and a bite to eat.
This was a trail that was harder than I expected, partly because I ate badly and partly because it had over 700 metres of vertical climbing. But wonderful scenery, some amazing and enormous trees. Mix this in with Lakes, wetlands and great running trail and it is well worth a visit. Below are some more pics I took and a link to my Garmin map. Click on any of the pics in the blog to see the original size.
I have had a few excursions into the Kaimai's and with a bit of time on my hands this week I thought I would check out a new trail.
The Tuahu Track is an East-West crossing of the Kaimai range that can be started from either side. As I had been in Morrinsville for the morning I chose the Waikato side. From Morrinsville you head out to Te Aroha and at the main intersection you will be looking at Mount Te Aroha right in front of you (I will climb that trail again in the future for the blog). Take a right at the intersection and follow the road right out of town. About 14km out you will reach Thompson's Road off to the left. There is a rather large sign indicating that this is the way to Thompson's Track, Tuahu Track and Killarney Lakes. Follow Thompsons Road for about a kilometre and turn left into Wairakau Road. Another kilometre or so along you will come to a forestry road on your right with a barrier over the road. Find somewhere safe to park... you are there.
The first part of the road is just over a km of pretty boring forestry road, but not unpleasant. After about 1.3km the little orange triangles, that we know and love from trails around the country, indicate a left turn and we have our first stream crossing. Don't bother taking your shoes off... your feet are going to get wet, if you can't handle that then hop back in the car. Just after the crossing the road splits in a 'V', take the left branch and head through the second crossing and start climbing - still on the roads.
Just over 2.5km you will come to what appears to be the end of the road with nowhere to go. However at the left hand edge of the forestry skid you will find a small trail leading up the hill (left).
This is where the real work starts, a tight narrow climb up sometimes grassy, sometimes clay trail. Not much running here unless you are a machine and I found myself wondering if it stayed like this.
But it doesn't... right out of the blue this grassy trail slides into a classic native bush single trail. And even better, most of it is at a lovely angle for uphill running, enough to know you are working but not enough to make you totally knackered.
The only negative was that the day I ran it was wet underfoot after two days of rain and a heavy dew. As the trail has lots of stones/rocks and roots it was rather treacherous in the wet. Especially as it gets very narrow in quite a few places and you would not want to slip with a 150-200m bank about 100mm to your right.
That couldn't detract from a lovely trail. I crossed 3 waterfall crossings and stopped at the 4th as it looked rather treacherous to attempt on my own and I was very near the saddle anyway and headed back.
The overall impression to me was that this trail would be fantastic in the middle of summer, the trail would be pretty dry and and waterfalls would have a lot less water and be easier to cross. Another option for those feeling fit would be to complete the trail to the BOP side where it meets up with Hot Springs Road just south of Katikati... just a couple of km down the road to Sapphire Springs, have a soak and lunch and the run back!
On the way back I stopped for a few more pics of some of the great views over the Waikato.
My total run was just over 10km with 795m of vertical climbing... so it is a nice workout and worth the time. Probably better with 2 or more... but up to you.
Here is my link to my Garmin recording...
Tuahu Trail - Kaimai's by mike3950 at Garmin Connect - Details
Once you have walked (run) up the road from the carpark to the entrance, head up the trail not more than about 20m and you will see the start of the Ruapani Trail on the left. You can run this loop either way, but clockwise works best for a couple of reasons.
The climb at the start is steady and almost all runnable. The trail quality is excellent and further reminder of just how lucky we are here in Godzone to have a fabulous organization like DOC to run our reserves.
