Ruapani Circuit (A Waikaremoana Walk)

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.

 

 

 

 

Ruapuni Circuit (Waikaremoana Walks) by mike3950 at Garmin Connect - Details