15 January 2022
Five of us headed off in the new van parking at the Cameron carpark. The weather was a bit iffy, cooler and cloudy, but the river was reasonably low and as we discovered on the first crossing, quite warm.
This first crossing is the easiest on the entire trip. If you find it difficult or scar, turn around and go home! Most of the trip up the river is on sidle tracks, cutting off the corners and a few deeper bits, these tracks are generally much faster than trying to go up the river bed which, while not terrible going, is hardly up to grade one track standards.
One of the features of the river in this part is the large number of kowhai trees, it must be quite a sight in the Spring although I doubt many people ever see it as the river is only suitable for foot traffic when it’s low and warm. Now in the middle of summer a lot of the Kowhai were looking very much worse for wear, many of even the biggest ones having been completely defoliated by kowhai moth.
The river was greasy on many of the crossings, particularly where it was bouldery rather than shingle and we helped each other across, a 100 ml lower and it would have been considerably easier to cross, a 100 ml deeper and it would have been expert only territory. We weren’t going anywhere in particular so we just plodded along taking in the river, the bush and the spectacular slopes on either side of the river heading up towards Kiwi ridge and Te Iringa, very steep and rocky.
A bit before we stopped for lunch we came across some kiwi footprints in the muddy sand on the side of the river ( like a chook but with no back claw ). After lunch, a bit over half way up the river to the hut to Cameron Hut , we headed back down the way we had come, a very pleasant walk, not hot enough to want to go for a swim, but warm enough to not need heavy layers of clothing.
Glenda H, Peter B, Susan L, Jude H, Carol C