Thread: Another armed tramp

Last weekend we thought we might as well get in ahead of the cullers that are working their way through the Mount Owen area.

I know an area on the south side of the mountain where goats are regularly seen, so we thought we'd give it a go. We tried a month or two ago, but the first ford on the way in was way too high to drive across.

After an early start on Sat morning, and a quick stop at Wakey Bakey for pastry based supplies, we hit the freshly gravelled road, got through the ford easily and started the walk in.


The lad was pretty pleased with his birthday day pack and knife.

Just as you get into the steep sided stuff (this is a primo climbing spot) there is a big old slip on the other side of the valley, and bingo, there was a small mob of goats moving up and across the slip. I've shot goats across the valley there before, but it's been a while since I checked the sighting in on my rifle, and it was too far for the lad to be taking shots.


There are a few goats in that photo


We followed the track up the valley and down to the river, with lots of glassing along the way.


By the time we got down to the river,



back to the bottom of the slip and snuck up it to the top of the tongue of vegetation in the middle of the slip, the goats had moved on.

There was a good view from the slip, down the valley to where we parked the car.



Back to the river, had some lunch, the lad did some micro-naughting finding cool crystals and rocks (his pack slowly getting heavier with each keeper...) and we continued up the river.



We checked out some nice waterfalls which would be lovely to swim at the bottom of when the water isn't quite as icy.



As we were hauling ourself up the bluff to the side of the waterfalls (the steep sections of track have fixed, knotted climbing ropes on them for when going gets slippery), Mr "spot a sandfly at 20 meters" picked up an old mk 7 CAC 303 case from the middle of the vague track. A nice trophy from cullers chasing goats in bygone decades.

The going is pretty rough in there, rock hopping in the river, and sides of the valley are vegetated boulders/scree. With my left ankle very bung, I tend to favour my right leg, which only is only moderately bung, and by the time we were half way up the gorge my right calf gave up.

The lad went for a wander by himself for 20 mins while I took some ibuprofen, massaged my calf and took the opportunity to dry my boots and sock in the sun a bit. We made the call to turn around, hoping to get onto some more animals on the way out. The chances of that happening dropped significantly when we met a couple at the waterfall. It's the first time I've ever seen anyone other than climbers in there (it's unusual to see anyone at all), and it's not an easy place to navigate into. Maybe they were climbers who didn't have their gear with them but found the spot in the climbing guides?

Lots more sneaking and glassing was done on the way back out, but nothing more was seen, even the slip was empty.



We got back to the car about 3pm, and tucked into a flask of tea and half a cold pie (bliss), both tired but happy.



On Sunday we went to visit Tararua Phil to pick up a stock, bumped into ROKTOY there too and got loads of good advice of places to try next. Thanks guys.

The best thing is that the lad isn't getting down about not getting any animals yet. Each trip we do just gets him more amped about the places we are going and the progress we are making.

We're heading out Murchison way this coming weekend, so fingers crossed.