Kahikatea Lodge Circuit, Mt Miserable, 13 October 2024
Nine of us met up at the Mt Misery Road corner on Sunday morning. A quick transference to accommodate everyone into a 4WD and away up the hill through Glencoe Run to the end of the road carpark. The weather forecast predicted a change after lunch, but in the meantime conditions were cold and windy but otherwise fine. The circuit proposed involved going down the fairly steep muddy track ( newly marked by DoC) down to a creek before a short steep pinch (15 min) to the saddle where the Lodge is located. Morning tea was enjoyed here and for those who had not been to this location an inspection of the new hut and the particularly impressive composting toilet.
We carried on from the saddle in a clockwise direction to climb up through tussock, following the ridge all the way up with very good views of the surrounding hills and a great overview of large parts of the Waianakarua Reserve including the entire length of the Staircase Ridge. Meeting up with the 4WD track and marked route to Mt Miserable we decided to carry on to Mt Miserable. This is one of the least impressive mountain tops and only distinguished from other tops by the trig. But great views and the location for lunch. Conditions started to deteriorate and we had to dress up for the occasion, with even small bits of snow coming down and the build up of major clouds from the south.
Down the 4WD track and the marked route back towards the carpark just in time as the rain came pelting down at exactly that point. The road out was still dry enough not to pose any difficulties in the drive back down.
This was a fairly short tramp in terms of distance (just 7km) but this country is steep and and the tussock can be slow to walk in so no speed records were set in our 5 hour walk.
A very enjoyable day out in our own backyard with great views in every direction.
Thanks to Bess,Charlotte, Shirley, Jenny, Rodney, David, Colin and Mike for coming along.
Robbie
