This article was first published in Tararua Tramper, March 2025, pp 15-16, with a map and photos.
A walk on the wild side: Graces Stream, Clay ridge, McKerrow Track, Harvaard spur
MF 29 January
Three members set off at approximately 8:30 a.m., towards Graces Stream, past the old camping ground at the foot of the former ‘Gutbuster’ track. Remembrances of inter-club sports meetings were summoned. Of course we missed the first easy entry to Graces Stream and, as I realised we were getting a bit high, called a halt. A brief retreat found a likely entry point, and after a bit of struggle with supplejack and other assorted vegetation, we were in the stream.
Since my last visit, fallen trees have blocked the stream bed. The first obstacle, a large solid trunk, looked quite formidable, but was actually fairly easy to get around. The second was smaller debris, but came with a small waterfall. We could not see much beyond the blockage, but there seemed to be a possible route on the true right. We decided to go for it, and the exit turned out to be easier than the entry (surely a first!).
The stream bed has a lot of algae at the moment and is extremely slippery. Your scribe had a couple of bad falls, the first a blow to the lower leg and the second, a blow to the ribs. It was clear that nothing was actually broken, so we pressed on.
The route description says to exit the stream just after the third stream on the true left. Having identified the third stream, we went a little beyond, but were confronted with seemingly impenetrable vegetation. I recalled that on a previous trip the party had gotten onto the spur by climbing (you couldn’t really call it walking) a little way up the stream. We tried this route and after twenty to thirty metres accomplished an exit onto the spur. The spur up to Clay Ridge track is a roughly 400 metre slog; a foot pad comes and goes, but as long as you don’t deviate too far left or right you will eventually reach the track. I was beginning to experience some discomfort in my ribs, which slowed me down, but a couple of Nurofen helped get me up. Lunch was at the junction of Clay Ridge and McKerrow tracks.
After that it is all downhill, more or less. The Harvaard spur was identified by sight and confirmed by GPS. The spur is easy travel; even the inevitable steep descent at the end is relatively mild. This route is a good alternative, and shorter, to McKerrow – Five Mile. We crossed the McKerrow stream, looking for a route to either the Five Mile Loop Track, or the lower end of Clay Ridge, but after gaining quite a bit of altitude, without luck, we decided to return to the stream. Shortly after, we found a marker for the track we had previously missed.
This track is old and deeply incised, now quite overgrown. We followed it as it slowly rises to exit almost exactly at the junction of the Five Mile Loop and Middle Ridge tracks. Forgoing the joys of Middle Ridge, we headed back along the Loop Track to the car.
Glynn Woodbury (leader and scribe), Sue Scott, Peter Smith