In December last year we hiked one of our favourite day hikes in the Nelson Area, the Kaituna track( you can see our blogpost for that trip here). While we were hiking through the Kaituna track we stumbled on a sign for the Kaituna Toe Rag trapline, and it sparked some curiosity to what lay beyond this sign.
Way back in 2017 Cyclone Gita raged across New Zealand leaving a wake of destruction across the top of the South Island. Most of the news footage was focussed on populated areas in the region but the wake of damage that slipped by relatively unnoticed took place in the Kahurangi Forest. The Kaituna track at the tip of the South Island bore a lot of the brunt of this storm, and the Department of Conservation were scratching their heads and wallets about what to do with this little used track.
Fortunately enough the residents of Golden Bay are a rare and special breed of people who band together as a community very easily. So as DOC took a back seat they put their best foot forward to ; metaphorically, kick a few very large rocks off the track. They quickly reopened the Kaituna track to the Kaituna forks, where the majority of damage had been sustained.
I’m guessing that there was a moment when they reached the Kaituna forks and someone glanced at the old benched track veering away from the current Kaituna track, someone else scratched their chin , and an idea was born.
The Toe Rag trapline vaguely follows an old mining route from the Kaituna forks and pops its head out on the west coast at snake river road, near Mangarakau.( see Map)
We set off down the easy benched track with a few elderly friends who were keen to walk part of the track through the jungle like west coast forest beside the Kaituna river. The day was scorching , and so it was certainly the place to be ; ensconced in a river valley with a cool breeze under the forest canopy.
From the Kaituna forks you cross over the right branch of the Kaituna river, and follow the old benched 1906 track through Nikau palm forest. The trapline put in by the volunteers here is not merely a rough trapline route ,but a very nicely benched track that rivals the quality of the nearby Kaituna track.
The route meanders gently from here up the left branch of the Kaituna up into Teleff creek, before branching off and climbing up towards the Toe Rag plateau . As with the Kaituna track, there is incredible change in diversity walking through the track due to the unique geological substrates in this area that host a wealth of flora that you won’t find anywhere else in the country.
The last portion of the climb up to Toe rag Plateau is really quite spectacular, the ridge narrows and this affords good views of the weird and wonderful rock outcrops that dominate this landscape. As you approach the plateau itself you have to traverse under some of these rock outcrops where you will be greeted with the small private bivvy embedded into the rock that has been built by the Kaituna track restoration society, this quaint prefabbed bivvy is a great place to stop for a rest to enjoy views over the undulating landscape towards Knuckle hill before proceeding onwards. Please be aware that you cannot stay the night in this locked hut, it is for the use of the trapline workers only.
We’d actually chosen to camp on the route somewhere near the hut, but we were still feeling quite fresh, so decided to push on, with the hope of finding a better campsite to enjoy the sunset.
The next section of the route crosses the Toe rag Plateau which is dominated by Pakihi swamp land and rocky outcrops. Pakihi swamp would be the New Zealand equivalent of peat bogs, slightly acidic infertile soil, which hosts ground cover plants such as rushes and umbrella ferns.The trapline from here on in is still under construction and can be deemed to be more of a vague route. We didn’t find it to hard to follow though.
At the end of the Toe Rag Plateau we still hadn’t found a great campspot, a combination of our tent having quite a large footprint and that the sharp and spikey rushes are not a great place to pitch a tent. So we carried on out of the plateau and descended down a ridge to Thompson creek, which reaches its confluence with Patarau river. The route down to the confluence follows old bulldozer tracks in the forest before following the creek itself, with multiple stream crossing.
We found a great place to set up the tent at about 7pm, cooked some dinner, and then discovered that one of the air mattresses that we had brought with us had sprung an unfixable leak. Our options were an uncomfortable night in the forest or simply to walk out to the vehicle and camp in the back with the extra mattresses we always carry. We opted for the latter and packed up the tent. By now it was getting more towards twilight, and as the river was low we opted to walk down the river bed , as it allowed us more natural light than the forested route. We walked down the river until we found the old Patarau bridge which would have been heavily used in early mining, timber milling days. The track from here is quite well defined and changes rapidly from a quad bike track into a 4wd access road before hitting Snake River road.
We managed to get back to the vehicle and get our heads down to sleep at about 11pm, after reminiscing about a great day’s adventure in the hills.
The Toe rag trapline takes roughly 7- 9 hours to get through, which is roughly the same time as the Kaituna track.
Both the Kaituna track and the Toe rag trapline make a great day out for adventurous fit people in some pretty remarkable country. I believe that the low use of these routes is more to do with vehicle logistics in how to get yourself back to your vehicle from the west coast end of the hike. We were lucky to have some relatives in the area that helped us out relocating our vehicle to the west coast end so we could walk out to the vehicle.
In lieu of the above we are throwing on some relocation transport for the 19th January to get you from the west coast route ends back to your vehicles. Have a look at what’s on offer here
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