Peak 1718 done!
With Vinodrinker preferring to stay at home and drink vino instead this weekend, it was another solo mission for me.
Since this peak is only 8m lower than the mighty Makorako herself, I thought this one simply had to be ticked off too. Being so prominent, higher and much pointier than the nearby Karikaringa, I can’t understand why it doesn't have a slightly catchier 'name'.
I parked at the top of the Desert Rd. There is a four-wheel drive track from the carpark which you follow initially (don’t even try to drive up here). There are marker poles which you vaguely follow along the first half of the route (they hover 20 or 30m away much of the time from where you’re walking).
The terrain is very different to the other parts of the park that I’ve visited – here it is mostly through tussock. There are however a couple of nice bush sections, and also some marshy patches. Boots recommended. The trail is sometimes a bit vague (such as the recent fire damaged section in which the markers are burnt to the ground) and the GPS made navigating more reassuring in places.
From studying the map beforehand, I eventually came to the point where I had opted to leave the track and take a shortcut over the ridge to the left. I was delighted to see that this was exactly where the rutted track I was following was leading anyway, even though the markers continued on off to the right – this saved a bit of tussock scrambling.
After topping out on the ridge, the view of the route ahead became clear, although the track stopped. There looked to be a vague track going off towards the far right ridge, but this would have added another hour on the time up. So I opted for the direct route straight up. From here it was tussock bashing all the way – not difficult, but it slowed things down a little. After refilling my water bottle at the beautiful Little Waipakihi Stream, I started the climb up. The tussock gave way suddenly at 1500m elev, and from here it was wonderfully fast and enjoyable tops travel the rest of the way.
The view from the summit was stunning. It was such a beautiful, still, sunny day and it was an absolutely wonderful place to be. It was quite something to be able to look out over all the places I'd been already in this huge place. And humbling to see Makorako still winking at me oh so far away, and yet realise that this is the same distance away that I started my return walk to call on her just a few weeks ago.
The total return distance was 34km and took me 8.5 hours with a total ascent involved of 1960m.
