Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 262m to 742m. Gain: 554m. Loss: 452m . Gradient: 8 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
Leaving Otanetea Hut, there's the choice of the river or the old sidle track on the true left. Following the new marked track leads to the latter - old white markers climbing to side high on the south valleyside. The river may have been easier!
We drop to the river at the forks with the Maukuroa, 1km upstream, and cross tp climb the south-east side of the sidestream opposite (upriver side). Good going on well-travelled deer tracks takes us past the first gorged 200m section of the creek and back down to the next forks between the Maukuroa Stream and an unnamed sidestream from the east. We follow the small sidfestream westwards upriver through good open bush to the base of the spur leading to the ridgeline 500m west of pt727. The spur starts very steep and slippery, but once past the first 100m it opens to a well-defined clear spur, climbing steadily to Te Mauia Range - great going.
The saddle heading east to pt727 is easy to miss - turn east just before the 1st descent on the main ridgeline (i.e. if you get to the descent you've gone too far!). A bit of supplejack tangles what is otherwise a simple zigzag east to pt727, then generally NE down the spur to the 1st major forks in Ohaki Stream. Ohaki Stream is generally good going, often on open grassy banks, but patches of ongaonga (dog nettle) frequently force me back into the creek itself. Avoidable, but the dumb mutt keeps chasing piglets into it ... making for a frustrating trip.
The river gets better and better, and after some good travel on open wooded banks emerges onto grassy flats at the forks below Te Panaa Hut.