Distance: 4.9 km (4.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 196m to 889m. Gain: 785m. Loss: 104m . Gradient: 10 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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 (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

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

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

Occasional rivers (difficulty: 3/6)
Occasional rivers - impassible after heavy rain

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

The route starts with easy up the Okapue as far as the 1st forks. A narrow stream but with an open bed of river stones. Beyond, the valley becomes increasingly gorged; waterfalls become more common. A final long gorge section between 2nd and last forks requires sidling on south face – the gorge itself is less than 2m wide. We take the southern branch at the last forks shown on the map, to climb to the saddle west of Ranganuiatoi. The climb up the rapidly dropping stream is steep with windfall & vines in the creek, but not too bad. From the forks where the map shows the waterway ending (it doesn’t end here) we climb sue south to reach the saddle between Ranganuiatoi and pt814. The climb, and the saddle itself are good going in open, mature bush.

From the saddle it is necessary to sidle round Te Ranganuiatoi, above the headwaters of the Raukokore to reach another saddle dropping into the Huitatariki. We sidled level with the saddle, and confirm that a route at this level is steep, choked with windfall, and not fun. Maybe climbing the peak or dropping to the creek would be an improvement. We climb to the unnamed / unnumbered peak on the ridgeline 1km WSW of Ranganuiatoi using the spur due west of it. This spur was good going in good open bush, as was the main ridgeline at the saddle.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

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