Thread: Who walked the Makino River?

Planning a few days out around Mangaturutu hut and was thinking to walk up in the riverbed from Te Puia track. Is it possible?
Never been that way before and can not find much info about the river.

Thanks

BF

Never tried it
The faces down to the river, from the Mangaturutu - Tira Lodge track used to hunt pretty well 10 years ago !
Let us know how you get on
7mmSAUM's worth a PM though ?

@Boar Freak

From memory I believe you'd get through ok.

Maybe not the fastest route and keep in mind last winters snowfall has made travel anywhere more difficult.

Only way to tell for sure is to Give it a Crack Nigel!

Let us know how you get on

Cheers
Pete

Originally Posted by P38

@Boar Freak

From memory I believe you'd get through ok.

Maybe not the fastest route and keep in mind last winters snowfall has made travel anywhere more difficult.

Only way to tell for sure is to Give it a Crack Nigel!

Let us know how you get on

Cheers
Pete

Are there any big pools or dodgy crossings? That's the only thing am worried about as I can't swim

Just talking to a doc guy about that route yesterday...you will have no trouble with the water crossings, the lower reaches track/route has been opened up by the kiwi monitering crew although expect some windfalls from the snow event...the track up to mangatarutu is a real lung and leg burner.The road into the hotsprings is currently closed due to the fire danger.

Originally Posted by Hindquarters

Just talking to a doc guy about that route yesterday...you will have no trouble with the water crossings, the lower reaches track/route has been opened up by the kiwi monitering crew although expect some windfalls from the snow event...the track up to mangatarutu is a real lung and leg burner.The road into the hotsprings is currently closed due to the fire danger.

Thanks mate.
Yeah heard about the road closure, is it still burning?

Makino from Te Puia is a piece of piss this time of year. Push all the way up and you can hook onto the Mangatainoka track. I have been meaning to do a trout mission up that way for ages, as well as stay a night at Brookwells. All for naught though if the raid is closed.

I have done it but it was a long time ago. From memory there were no problems

Thanks Guys

I walked down there last week.

From TePuia hut go upstream and cross the big swing bridge.
Walk 50m further up river along the track.
Turn left and you can spot a single chainsaw cut branch. A surprisingly large benched track goes up a terrace and climbs to the lip of the terrace but after 100m that's the end of it then down onto pretty easy flats and a cleared ground trail mostly on the true left.
The middle third of the route crosses the river a few times and the top third is on the true right. Came across just one wasp nest.
All easy going and cleared; no snowfall branches to push through; river was ankle deep only, no gorges, not even horribly slippery.

3 hr 15 min from Makino 3 wire swingbridge down to Te Puia hut.

The whole place was very dry with heaps of fallen branches and trees on the ground. With all the fires in the area recently, I'd be a bit nervous doing the trip again now until there had been a good drop of rain. Take care, don't use an open fire.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

I walked down there last week.

From TePuia hut go upstream and cross the big swing bridge.
Walk 50m further up river along the track.
Turn left and you can spot a single chainsaw cut branch. A surprisingly large benched track goes up a terrace and climbs to the lip of the terrace but after 100m that's the end of it then down onto pretty easy flats and a cleared ground trail mostly on the true left.
The middle third of the route crosses the river a few times and the top third is on the true right. Came across just one wasp nest.
All easy going and cleared; no snowfall branches to push through; river was ankle deep only, no gorges, not even horribly slippery.

3 hr 15 min from Makino 3 wire swingbridge down to Te Puia hut.

The whole place was very dry with heaps of fallen branches and trees on the ground. With all the fires in the area recently, I'd be a bit nervous doing the trip again now until there had been a good drop of rain. Take care, don't use an open fire.

@Bagheera. What were the trout numbers like? Last time I walked it the fishing looked good.

Sorry, can't be much help there. I didn't see any fish but I was at the back of the group and I am the world's wortst fisherman !
There wouldn't be much water deeper than your knees. Not sure if that's discouraging for fish or not. There's a reasonable amount of trees around. Some areas are fairly clear for flicking flies but most of it would be cunning spinner plops if you're allowed to use them there.

I was in there 3 weeks ago, but did trip in reverse, down from makino to te puia. Track crews had just cut open the tracks after snow damage and done a great job.

Two French guys were catch and release fishing. They were beautiful to watch, with perfect form. They really new what they were doing...first class fishermen. On average they were catching and releasing 20 fish per day.

Numbers were excellent, but they made it look easy.

Kj