By Jack Huygens, 20 September 2024
Trampers: Jack, Chris, Alan, Marta, Dennis
With the tramping club's year coming to an end, and with so many Tararua and Ruahine trips under our belts, let's go somewhere new!
The Kawekas are quite a unique place, with rocky eroded tops, volcanic plants and red soil, random pockets of old pine forests and tons of obscure huts & bivs. Truly an exciting area to explore.
So we made the 5hr drive up from Wellington on a late Friday evening, making it to the first hut (Mackintosh hut) around midnight. Lack of sleep and late nights are a theme of this trip...
Our next day is a big push over the Kaweka tops, including a side trip to Studholme Saddle Hut (adorable) and passing by Kaweka J. We stop in at Back Ridge Hut and continue on to Back Ridge Biv for the night. The night is so calm and still that both Chris and I opt to sleep outside under the stars instead of cramming into the little dogbox biv. Sleeping outdoors while tramping is amazing and I absolutely recommend it!
A simple guide to bivvying outdoors: Dew is your biggest challenge. Pick a spot under some treecover to help keep the bulk of the dew off you during the night, sleeping directly under open sky = soaking wet in the morning. Wear all your layers and treat your sleeping bag like a cozy cocoon. Sleeping outdoors is awesome and 100% worth it whenever you get the chance, just pick nice calm and dry weather for it!
Anyway back to the trip. The next morning we set off on another big day, including Kiwi Mouth Hut and Kiwi Saddle Hut (via the Kiwi Stream). Rain eventually caught up to us right at the end, but for the bulk of this trip we were enjoying a gloriously clear weekend in a special little corner of the North Islands bush.
