Te Aroha Killer Loop

on
Te Aroha Killer Loop
7th September 2019



The Video
and, interactively,


The Plan
Neville decided that he was going to head off down to the Coromandel for a running weekend, and wondered if anyone wanted to join him. That sounded just fine to me :)

Initially the plan was to run two shorter days in the Coromandel, but I suggested a single juicy route around some tracks in the Kaimai's, thusly:


The only potential trouble with the plan was that we had little idea what was in store for us...

The Day
I drove me and Neville down to Te Aroha, leaving his place at about 6:45am. We were lucky with the weather, with a break on Saturday from endless days of rain, and the day was pretty clear and dry. (At least initially)



Hey wait, what is that hill in the clouds?

We got down to Te Aroha, and were ready to run at 8:45am.




 Track 1 - FromTe Aroha Domain up Mt Te Aroha
5.1km, 1h:20m

The trail from the Te Aroha Domain heads past the little Mokena Geyser.


 and then into some serious uphill via the Te Aroha Summit Track.
We fast walked the endless up, gaining altitude rapidly from 50m up to 986m.
Stunning views.


The top has the trig and the massive telecoms tower.
We'd got up into the cloud in the last 100m, and sadly lost the views :(




It was cool at the top, but luckily there was little wind, and our light jackets were fine without needing to resort to thermals etc.

Track 2 - Mt Te Aroha to Waitawheta Hut via Waipapa Track 9.2km, 1h:45m
We slipped down off the summit via the Dog Kennel Flat track, which skirts around the side of the mountain, avoiding the need to use the road. We then turned onto the Waipapa Track for the long slog to the Waitawheta hut. We enjoyed this track, largely angling downhill and fairly runnable.
A few pretty rivers crossed our path.

We came across one tramper. It was my old mate John Scott! He was tramping over to Te Aroha, to be picked up by Suzanne. Small world!

After what seemed like a long time, we got to Waitewheta Hut.
We had a break here, using the toilet, filling out the intentions log book, eating a snack, etc.





It started drizzling just as we got to the hut. 15 minutes later precisely as we were leaving the hut, the rain stopped. It was like magic!!

We considered our situation - we'd run 14km in 3 hours and probably had as much as 30km still to go. We had 6 hours of daylight remaining. Hmm. Nev assured me that the next section would be much faster running, and it was, fortunately!


Track 3 - Waitawheta Hut to Daly's Clearing Hut via Waitewheta Tramway Track and Daly's Clearing Track. 9.2km, 1h:20m

The track for the next 9km followed the big river downhill in a gently graded path, consisting of the ancient tramway route. The big swing bridges across the river were numerous - perhaps 15 or more? The cliffs and deep river chasm were spectacular!



The track was well formed, yes, but for walking, Nev, not for running! The footing consisted of fist sized boulders interspersed with railway sleepers separated 1 foot apart.
I didn't enjoy this section of the run so much (apart from the scenery) - Nev was setting a cracking pace, and it was a constant struggle to safely choose a foot-landing spot. But we covered the distance fairly quickly, and it was nice to arrive at Daly's Clearing Hut for a quick rest.



Track 4 - Daly's Clearing Hut To Tui Mine Road via Mangakino Pack Track. 11.5km, 2h:45m

We had caught up some time, so entered the Mangakino Pack Track feeling comfortable with our progress. We were both feeling pretty ok - we had each had a small tumble, but no injuries or serious aches. This track had been upgraded a few years ago, and started nicely. It skirts endlessly around on the true rhs of the Mangakino river - never at the top of the ridge, and never down in the river. Pretty strange. As we progressed, the track deteriorated quite a bit. There had obviously been a recent storm, and the track was frequently blocked by impenetrable treefall.
 These required detouring around, and our velocity slowed dramatically. Sometimes it could take 5 minutes just to travel a few tens of meters on the track.


In addition, there we lots of small tributary streams that crossed our path. Lots of them. Did I mention there were lots. Yes, lots. It felt like hundreds! These were all individually easy enough to cross, but meant that we hardly were running at all.
But anyway I much preferred the lovely rooty, slightly muddy track to running over rocks :)

 We eventually got to Tui Mine Path (gravel rd) after a small detour to the Mangakino Shelter.
Track 5 - Tui Mine Road to Te Aroha Domain via Tui Mine Track. 

Once we hit the Tui Mine Road (gravel), we started down it, but took the early option to head off the gravel onto Tui Mine Track. This was barely marked - just by a large orange plastic triangle. (You could also run down the road a bit further before turning onto the Tui Mine Track if you wanted).
This track is another beauty (once you are off the road), descending down through nice bush and soft to run on.
Eventually this "Tui Mine - Te Aroha Mountain" trail becomes "Tui Domain Track", and flattens off and heads more due south. Just keep following the blue track signs.

 We got back! (with more than an hour of daylight left)
Summary

We were super happy with our day. Both knackered, but no problems all day really. I got thwoked a few times in the head by the ubiquitous supplejack when following too close behind Nev, and we both had small flesh wounds to prove that we had really been adventuring.

 We did 39.77km in 8h:10, gained and lost 2006 meters, and supposedly burnt 4107 kcalories.

 Staying overnight in the Te Aroha Palace Hotel was an experience best not repeated.... It was like a cross between Faulty Towers and a Stephen King novel. Oh well, it was fun!






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