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DOC Land
Altitude: 497m to 835m. Gain: 312m. Loss: 354m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills:
Reaching the forks where the track over to the Mangatutara starts, there’s absolutely no sign of a track. Just thick, uninterrupted bush with scrubby undergrowth. Poking around the rising spur that should contain the track is fairly obvious, & heading up that blindly is the best plan. Occasional permolat markers appear and eventually a reasonable ground trail establishes itself. Sections of windfall obliterate the track, and markers are infrequent, but with a good nose it’s followable.
Carved trees mark the summit clearly – possums & people alike carving their mark, but here the track & markers pretty much stop. Selecting the ridgeline south (not being deceived by animal trails heading NW) it’s a case of compass bearings & trying to keep near the scrubby, impassible ridgeline, whilst looking out for the ridge splitting west towards the Mangatutara. The best going is just west of the ridgeline. After 1km the ridge west is fairly obvious, and occasional track markers give some reassurance. I lost the markers around pt790 where they appear to head north, dropping 1 spur upriver of that shown on the maps. I follow the spur where the track is shown on the map, and can confirm that it is steep, scrubby, tangled and has never contained a track. We pretty much fall / slide the last 100m to the valley floor.