Northern Ruahine Rumble

Follow the track and signs leading from the end of Comet Road to the Taruarau River and onto Shutes Hut. You will initially climb up to Komata running through regen, Contorta and pockets of beech before starting a steep descent down to the Taruarau. Don't forget about this as you will need to get back up at the end of the day. Note the new turnoff to the new location of Comet Hut (now Komata).

You will need to cross the Taruarau, and pick the track up slightly upstream from where you meet the river. This is a decent river at say knee to thigh on a good day. Fill up with water and continue following orange Doc triangles and signs to Shutes.

Enjoy the awesomeness of Shutes before following signage to Taruarau Bivvy and Dianes. This is a steady climb, eventually breaking out of the tea tree into scrubby tops. At the signposted junction on top, take a right for a detour to Tarurau Bivvy before backtracking and following the route down to Dianes Hut.

You're going need to water the horses here so take your time to soak it all in. You need enough water to get to Ruahine Hut. Follow the stream down to pick up the track up to No Mans Road.

Another good climb through beech forest will bring you out onto No Mans, turn left and now you have a steady "fast" run all the way down to Ruahine hut. Make sure you turn left at approx 5.7km down the road at the sign to Ruahine hut. Fill up with water at the creek just before the hut or from the hut tanks, although you won't be too far from streams for the remainder.

From Ruahine follow signs to Shutes Hut. You will have a sharp descent and climb out of Waitutu Stream before sidling out and onto the ridge leading you back to above Koau Stream.

In summer the track can have quite long grass and manuka is overgrown but you should be able to pick up doc triangles until you get the decent into Koau Stream. Here the track zig-zags steeply down to the river, take your time to pick the markers and avoid the few bluffs in the area. Follow the river downstream to pick up the track again on the other side.

Climb up out of Koau Stream and continue on to Shutes. In Summer this section of track has a lot of Ongaonga so use a stick or running poles to whack it down (not your hands). This section of track is the least maintained so take your time and consult your topo periodically. Just before Shutes, you will come to the turnoff back to home signposted to Comet Hut. Re-cross the Taruarau. Remember that steep descent... 700m assent back to the top.

If you have another 700m left in your legs you can detour down to the new Komata Hut site. Enjoy.

---

Dogs with a DoC permit for recreational hunting or management purposes only.