Adventure close at hand

Putaputa Shelter, Kaitoke Regional Park

Adventure is a word that I often associate with far away things. Adventure is found in foreign countries or in the remotest of our mountain ranges. It is not a word I would associate with a council park. When Emily suggested a day trip to the mysterious A-frame Putaputa Shelter I learnt just how wrong I was.

It was early in the morning when we set off across the swingbridge that spans the Hutt River. The air was cold and the forest glistened with the remnants of recent rainfall. On the far side of the river we briefly debated our plan of attach before heading north through the bush along a trapping line. It didn’t take long before we were climbing steeply up the south east spur of pt 641. Thankfully a rough route was visible through the mess of kareao, making our progress a lot quicker than it otherwise would have been. The route improved considerably when we reached the ridge proper, with a mix of fading paint and markers indicating a winding path forward through the ngahere.

Despite my hands starting to feel slightly frostbitten it was an enjoyable walk along the undulating ridge to pt 641. Here we departed from the ridgeline, dropping down to the saddle to the west. From here we headed south along much less obvious tracks to reach the curling spur that reaches down from pt 641. The…