Distance: 10.3 km (5.0 DOC hours) - Unmaintained track - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 1022m to 1508m. Gain: 778m. Loss: 1198m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Streams (2/6)

Unmaintained track (5/9)
Former track, overgrown - markers / ground trail still followable

minor (5/5)
A viable route, not widely used

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Continuous moderate climbs

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Tall, walkable scrub / large rocks, occasional waterfalls or gorges in rivers

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

If descending south-west off Ngapuketurua and wanting to gain the old track down to Ignimbrite Saddle, the track enters the bush off to the left/south-east of the ridge. There are no really obvious markers visible from a distance.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From the Rangitikei, follow the trib a couple of hundred metres up to where the Ignimbrite Saddle fork splits off the slightly bigger fork draining north-east from Junction Top. Climb the spur from the junction towards the north - it's not far to the bushline. I followed the spur further up than necessary and ended up having to drop back onto Ignimbrite Saddle, so better to sidle towards the saddle once you hit the bushline. From Ignimbrite Saddle, you're back on the old track from Waipakihi Hut to Cascade Hut via Junction Top and Ngapuketurua - but it's completely unmaintained now. The section immediately east of Ignimbrite Saddle is the hardest to follow, with almost no markers remaining and an almost-unpickable ground trail. Thereafter, until the bushline, it's pretty easy to follow the mixture of ground trail, old permolats, marker posts and old chainsawn windfall. Cairns then mark the way up onto Ngapuketurua and over to the DOC sign at the start of the Ngapuketurua Track.