Mt Karioi - Raglan

Mt Karioi from Raglan (innocent looking isn't it!)

Today, Sunday, I am suffering; my calf muscles hate me and my lower back isn't being too friendly either. My knees are forgiving me, although when I got up during the night, my right one reminded me forcefully that I am no longer in my 20's and I had to have a second attempt at standing on it. Thank goodness I've got another round of acupuncture tomorrow morning.

Why am I being reminded that I am not as young as I'd like to think I am? My daughter and I climbed Mt Karioi yesterday. An ancient volcano, the summit is at 756 metres above sea level. We started off about 100-150 metres above sea level at the car park. As I've said before, both of us are part of a team of 4 completing the Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge next July, so need to get lots of km's under our feet of mountain climbing to prepare.

Christina told me there were two ways up Karioi, the easier, quicker way which doesn't have many views, or the harder, longer way, that has great views, and then asked, which did I want to do. I said the one with the views - silly me.  About 3 minutes into the walk I said "ok, my legs are tired now and I'm puffing, time to turn back", just joking though. It takes a while for the legs to get used to it and the lungs to get their "2nd wind", once that's happened, it isn't quite as hard.

The cars are way down the bottom.

We started off walking through low native bush and then out into grass land. The initial climb up to the main bush line is steep and the cars parked below quickly look like matchbox cars. The path is very narrow and quite rocky. We were reluctant to forge a new path through the long grass, as you couldn't see the rocks and we weren't that keen on breaking toes, or twisting ankles.  In the photo to the left you can see the narrow path following the fence line. The car park is the white blob in the middle of the green way down the bottom.

Once in the bush, we struck mud, ankle deep mud - oh yah! I did manage to keep my shoes relatively clean on the way up, but on the way down, I gave up, I was too tired to hop from dry spot to dryish spot, or pick my way delicately around the edges of the mud puddles. Thankfully not all the track was muddy, in fact it was probably only 1/4 of it. Parts of the track follow a ridge line, with the sides dropping steeply off on each side of the narrow path. Christina commented that she couldn't stand with her feet side by side on some of it. I tried not to look over the bush lining the edge of the path. We also had to be careful not to plant a walking pole over the edge, expecting it to give us leverage.

Tree roots and rocks provided steps up some of the path. In one place, were there are chains to assist, we estimated it was a good 6 or metres up, using the chains to haul oneself up with, while using tree roots as ladder rungs as well as the occasional rock. Going up wasn't difficult, coming back down took a little more time. Here is Christina making her way up the chained area. It is hard to depict in photos the steepness of the track here. I so wish someone would make a camera that showed exactly what the eye sees.

It was here we meet a gentleman coming down, who told us it had taken him an hour, yes only an hour to reach the summit. Recommended time is 3 to 3.5 hrs. He is a trail runner - idiot. He hadn't realised how "technical" this track was and hadn't been able to run it very much. His shoes and lower legs were covered in mud, obviously he wasn't like us and just jogged straight through it. I'm picking he went down in half that time. Amazing to be that fit and agile.

Tree roots are great steps and hand holds. 

Another part of the track where a chain had been installed to assist, however, we found it easier to just use the tree roots that were conveniently placed as steps and handholds.

The views on the way up, up and down the coast line were amazing and if my stupid phone's battery hadn't gone flat so quickly, I would have taken many more photos. Next time, yes there will be a next time, I'm taking a small camera with me.

Raglan Harbour

Kawhia Harbour

We reached the summit in 2 hrs 50 mins, had a bite to eat, and then started down. Going down was torturous - our knees protested mightily and to be honest, the exhaustion hit. I hadn't really eaten many carbs the day before and half a banana and an egg for breakfast, wasn't really a clever idea. I should have carb and protein loaded for dinner and breakfast. While the snacks we took were nutritious, an apple each, nut bar, sweet and salty popcorn, a nut/fruit mix and lollies, they were not really sufficient for the amount of energy expended climbing up the mountain. I'll be better prepared next time with protein balls, electrolyte tablets and protein bars.

It took us 5.5 hrs approximately, with stops for "catching the breath", knocking mud off the shoes, our lunch at the top, getting caught behind a large group of tourists, who weren't really prepared for that type of hike and a very slow descent. Five hours of that was actual hiking. I am now much more aware of how much exercise I need to do to get fit enough for the GC Kokoda Challenge. I need to build up my knee strength and general cardio fitness and ultimately, I just have to get out there and climb mountains, one after the other. 

My watch is trying to cheat me out of height climbed (it's actually 756m to the summit), but this gives and idea of the terrain profile we climbed.

Below are some other photos taken of the bush, and the rocky cliff below the carpark.

Rock climbing anyone?

NZ native bush.

The dark hole in the middle of the bush is where the track goes. This is after the open grassy area of the climb.

It's a long way down and we aren't even 1/2 way up yet. 

2 comments family, Fitness, leisure, Mt Karioi