I remember seeing a lot of headlines about hikers in the Tararua Forest Park going missing. Which is why while travelling up from Wellington on a scorching summer’s day, I wondered what the big deal was with hiking in the area.
The Tararua Forest Park is the North Island’s largest conservation park and has claimed around 22 lives since the 70s. A danger zone for hiking related incidents alongside Fiordland and Tongariro. Most of the accidents it seems are in an area, not on Mt Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit but in a place called the dress circle with exposed ridge lines and very strong winds.
On this particular day it looked like a hiker’s dream – clear views up the down the lower North Island to the South Island – no wind. Days up on the ridge lines in the Tararua Forest Park are sometimes so windy, you struggle to stand and trampers have in fact been blown off. Even experienced hikers in the park are weary.
It was a long holiday weekend in New Zealand & the Wairarapa was in the midst of a drought. The earth parched, the grass yellow & there was hardly a puff of wind.
We’d had a leisurely drive up from Wellington Airport via Martinborough for lunch then spent the night in Masterton. It takes about 1.5 hours drive time to Masterton from Wellington (except on a holiday weeknd!).
We’d never tramped in this park so decided to start with a simple two-day hike of the Mt Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit – a 24km loop. If you’re keen, and the weather allows, make it a one day hike. It’s classified as a intermediate walk on the Department of Conservation website.
Some decide to take it a bit more leisurely and spend three days on the Mt Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit.
There are three huts to choose from, Jumbo, Powell & Atiwhakatu. The Powell Hut is definitely the nicer of the three. You have to book online to stay in either of these three huts. Cost is $5-$15. There’s a campsite at the Mt Holdsworth carpark but no camping on the circuit itself.
We walked it anti-clockwise starting from the carpark in pouring rain early on a Saturday morning. Oh well, good for the drought I suppose – not great for hiking.
A couple of hours later we arrived at the Atiwhakatu Hut having taken it slowly and then began our ascent up the steep hill to Jumbo Hut in wet and slippery conditions. We were inside the hut, tucking into salami and cheese wraps for lunch when the rain turned to mist but it got pretty cold.
So then for this tricky ridge that we’d heard so much about where you are battered about by high winds. Just a few minutes out of Jumbo Hut and it struck me as odd that there was not a puff of wind – rare in New Zealand – rarer still for this part of the country.
A couple of days packers passed us jogging up to the ridgeline. The guy had done the annual January Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race and said you get amazing views down the valley to the Wairarapa. Our view when they passed us was a one metre of visibility as we were enshrouded by cloud. “But still, I’d rather have no views than wind – this is much better,” he said before trotting off into the mist.
It made finding the trail a little tricky in parts but occasionally the mist would clear to give us views into nearby valleys. It wasn’t until we ascended Mt Holdsworth at 1500m and began the descent to Powell Hut that we got an occasional glimpse back towards Wellington and down to Masterton and the Wairarapa.
Around mid-afternoon, before the big family groups arrived, we reached Powell Hut. It was still damp, a little wind had picked up now and it was cold.
Powell Hut is a pretty good size (28 bunks) when several bunk rooms – we got a primo spot near the windows for great views out to the Wairarapa when the cloud finally cleared and for sunrise the following morning.
It was here we realised we’d made one fatal error prior to leaving for the Mt Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit. No loo paper. Some DOC toilets have a supply – most don’t. Thankfully, a small family group of mum, dad and son would not miss a small amount we ‘borrowed’ from them since they had literally bought everything that could be feasibly squashed into two ginormous bags including their pyjamas, slippers and a full chess set.
They, as many trampers in the Powell Hut that night, had just come up the Gentle Annie trail via Mountain Shelter, to spend a night in the hut and were returning the same way – via the long staircase – the next day.
As it turned out – we could have just pushed on for a couple more hours and gone down from Powell Hut to the carpark but we had food, red wine and Kindles and with the stove fired up – it was nice and toasty warm in the hut.
Day 2 was just a couple of hours of easy downhill hiking to the carpark in clear but cold conditions. An easy hike, not the hardest we’ve tackled. The most difficult section was the steep slog uphill from Atiwhakatu Hut to Jumbo Hut in rain.
Was it worth hiking the Mt Holdsworth-Jumbo Circuit? Well since the global pandemic Covid-19 kicked off a few weeks later and within a month we would be lockdown, borders closed with winter closing in – we were actually glad we made a weekend of it and got out amongst nature when we could.
