This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 93, no 6, July 2021
Smith Creek Gable Ends M/F
Wednesday 9 June 2021
The late Neil Challands frequently employed the term ‘gable end’1 to describe ridges or spurs that, nearing their termination, bifurcate symmetrically. Creeks rising within and below the bifurcation might then be called gable end streams.
The true left flanks of Smith Creek feature three such gable end streams. Our aim, on a sunny calm June Wednesday, was to circumnavigate the northern-most which lies between Shepperds Stream and Fell Creek. (A more ambitious project, the ‘Smith Creek Challenge’, would be to circumnavigate all three in a day.)
We followed the Old Puffer (Barry’s Track?) to Puffer Saddle, then on down to Smith Creek and along the valley track. An animal trail inviting us off-track, northwest up our chosen spur, was soon lost and we grappled briefly with the usual thickets of kiekie, supplejack and windfall before finding easier going. After 45 minutes we reached the area of regrowth which starts at about the 460 m contour, is indicated on the topomap and which is clearly visible on Google Earth. A handy animal trail took us higher until it was necessary to turn left (southwest) to continue the circumnavigation. Here we really struggled for a few metres through tight beech regrowth and bracken undergrowth before breaking back into forest and skirting around the stream headwaters.
Lunch in the sun with good views to the south and east, then down the spur to finish the job, at first avoiding the spur crest to find forested going.
Back on the lower Dobson Loop (or Smith Creek) Track and with a little time to spare we opted for the Joe Gibbs route, referred to in recent club publications2, and offering an alternative way out of Smith Creek. The leader had travelled it before without difficulty and knew to ascend the spur whose base is found at the second side stream on the true left. Sadly, the first side stream on the true left went unnoticed, we overshot our turning and had a steep climb out of a narrow, cluttered stream bed to get onto the route. (Memo to leader: consult the map immediately before setting out on any off-track diversions. In the present case there may then have been a better idea as to location of that first side stream.)
- Party members
- Colin Cook (leader and scribe), John Dement, David McNabb, Janette Roberts, Lynne White