Altitude: 497m to 665m. Gain: 45m. Loss: 210m . Gradient: 3 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey
Above Makakoere Hut the valley again opens to broad flats – grass and moss becoming established and making great walking. Sadly this only lasts a kilometer or so, after which normal service resumes: rough river rocks and travel in the riverbed to the major forks. Taking the eastern fork (the Makokoere) the stream narrows further, dense vegetation crowding us into the riverbed. Gradient increases and the rocks become larger, and we spend most of the time scrambling over rocks or hopping over the now-narrow flow. Passing the 2nd (after the forks) major sidecreek on the west, keep a lookout for a large DOC triangle 80m further upriver, which marks the start of the track to Rangaakapua Hut.