Interesting loop in the Kaimais

I've just done a cool 2 day loop in the Kaimais taking in three sections I've track I hadn't been one before. Highlights are Te Aroha summit (in good weather), Waitawheta Hut, Ananui falls, bluff creek Kauri and Tui Saddle.

Day 1: Te Aroha to Waitengaue/Ananui Junction

This took about 6 hours going up over Te Aroha and down the Waipapa track to Waitawheta then to the Ananui falls junction on the Waitengaue track. I was using my new tramplight pack and cloudburst 2 tarptent. This saved 2.7 kg of weight compared to my normal gear. The light weight gear was definitely noticed with a general feeling of freedom and ease despite not being especially fit at the moment.

I found a spot with barely enough space for my tent just downstream from the junctionThe weather packed it in overnight so I got to see how my tarptent was in the rain. As you would hope it was nice and waterproof but there was a build up of condensation on the inside, this didn't seem to cause any problems though. 

Day 2: Waitengaue/Ananui Junction to Te Aroha via Daly's clearing 

This was a longer day of 7.5 hours heading up past the 168m Ananui falls, down to bluff creek past Daly's clearing onto the Mangakino pack track and up to Tui Saddle the descending and heading along back to the Te Aroha domain. Before heading off I had to make a call on what the Waitawheta crossing would be like, I decided it would likely be high but not too bad as I've seen it handle quite a lot of rain at other times without becoming uncrossable. This decision turned out to be correct but not by much, the Waitawheta was quite swollen and nearing the point where I wouldn't have crossed it. 

The Mangakino pack track sidles along a ridge most of the way and often has a steep drop off to the side. The footing is generally good but some extra care is required in places. The head of McCormick creek was very cool with lots of mist and several small waterfalls coming of the drenched hill sides.

So a great 2-4 day loop. I was travelling reasonably fast most of the way, the doc times work out to about 18 hours in total. Great to go on some interesting new tracks so close to home.