Distance: 2.7 km (4.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Hard terrain
Altitude: 351m to 1098m. Gain: 755m. Loss: 17m . Gradient: 17 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills:

Unmarked route, clear (7/9)
Unmarked route, follows obvious geography (river, spur, trail, etc)

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

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

Hard (difficulty: 5/5)
Thick scrub-bash / continuous river boulders, waterfalls, or gorges

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

The spur leaving the river 2.5km due east of Taumaoteawhengaiao offers a lower, gentler climb. This climbs NW to join the gently sloping EW ridgeline 100m SW of pt 853. This then heads west to the main watershed, hitting it at pt1118, 800m north of the Taumaoteawhengaiao summit.

There are good animal tracks on the spur – mainly goat, but cattle sign is present. However, supplejack is ubiquitous, hooking on pack and exhausting patience. The last section to pt 853 is very scrubby, but once on the main ridge things improve. Cattle clearly travel frequently along the ridge, and good broad cattle-tracks are present, if not exactly direct. We enter a series of interconnecting clearings – the main challenge being figuring out precisely how they do connect. The last 60m to pt 1118 is a tangled climb, but at least it’s all over.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

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