Te Araroa : National Park Village to Raetihi

KM this section : 89
KM completed : 1248

Horse sculpture on the way down to Whakahoro.

I certainly picked a good time to take a day off at National Park, as it rains pretty much all day.  At least it stops in time for me to head for Eivin's for dinner and beer - they seem to be giving me discounts too, could get used to this.  From here it's a long but easy walk downhill to Whakahoro on the Whanganui river, I've planned two days for this, but the going is so good that I make it in one, fifty-two kilometres, a new personal best I think.  There is even a cafe open at the end, at nearly 7pm this is a shock, but a cheese and ham toastie goes down very well.

From here I continue on the 'mountains to sea cycle trail', still easy going then, albeit with a six hundred metre ascent before heading back to the river.  Interesting though, this valley is where forty or so first world war veterans were settled, each with their own little parcel of land.  In the end, wresting a living from this isolated, steeply sloped gorge proved too much, and now there is little sign the men and their families were ever here.  As a sort of memorial, near the valley bottom is the impressive 'bridge to nowhere', a substantial concrete structure spanning the Mangapurua stream, with little more than a dirt track on either side.

Camped by the river.

Past the bridge, it's a short distance back to the Whanganui, I'm expecting to find a campsite here, and indeed I spot tents below me... but the path keeps going, still a long way above the water.  OK, maybe it doubles back... I walk on, eventually have the sense to check the GPS, oops - I'm a good four hundred metres away from the route.  Back I go, to where the path diverges from the GPX line, nothing.  Back upstream, check the map, no good... dammit, I can see people camped, so I yell at them, apparently I should keep on upstream.  A bit worrying that the camp seems to be on the other side of the river, but what can you do.  And they're right, in a new low for the official map, I walk fully five hundred metres further upstream before the path doubles back to the riverside, where there is, pretty much, nothing.

The Bridge to Nowhere.

The campsite is indeed on the far bank, here there is a sign explaining the history of the valley and not much else.  OK, the guide says this is a dead end for walkers, but I'd expected more than this.  Sigh.  The idea is that you get a canoe from here, however while I did try, no company seemed interested in bringing a canoe to this isolated spot for me.  Other trampers I've spoken to were skipping sections of the walk to get around this, e.g. by getting a canoe from Whakahoro, this is not for me.  So, I camp on a tiny patch of grass by the riverside, say hi to James and Mary-Kate when they paddle up the next morning, and walk back the way I came.  OK... I will phone from the high point of the track back towards Whakahoro, there was signal there yesterday... but today of course, there isn't.  Well I'm not carrying on walking north on the off chance of getting a canoe, so instead I detour off the route, taking the alternative 'mountains to sea' track via Raetihi.  Which proves a pleasant enough place, the same grid pattern and frontier town atmosphere as National Park.  I've walked around sixty additional kilometres from when I started backtracking, and still have thirty or so to go before rejoining the route, but what can you do.  For what it's worth, I'm aware of at least twenty hikers doing this section around now, and not one has done it the way the guide wants.

Totally worth walking to Raetihi for.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.