Parkaeology

On this particular day we didn’t feel like much of a climb, but wanted to at least go up the Mangatepopo Valley. We made our way part way up the new staircase and then dropped over the side back down towards the valley. Initially steep in places, the terrain soon levelled out and we picked a line across the various lava flows.

Our first view of the stone-bordered path

Heading towards the base of Pukekaikiore (on the route marked as “Cross-Country” on the map below), we stumbled across an old track. Certainly not built by the current generation of track builders, this track had been cleared of rocks, and the path was bordered with rocks. We would be able to follow the track back towards the carpark, but we decided first to follow it in the other direction, towards Ngaruhoe, to see where it led. For the most part the path was easy to follow, with only a couple of places where it was indistinct. And then the path abruptly stopped at the foot of a lava flow.

It seems that we had probably stumbled on one of the earliest tracks in the park, tracks that have long since disappeared from public consciousness (or event that of DOC staff). The gravel access road from State Highway 47 follows the same route as the original cart track. An old map (below) shows the hut on the true left of the valley, near the base of Pukekaikiore, rather than the true right as it is now. The cart track does not extend beyond the hut, but it seems reasonable to assume that the foot track from the hut continued up the true left of the valley. At some point the foot track may have split into two directions, with one arm aiming for the saddle between Ngaruhoe and Tongariro, and the other for the saddle between Ngaruhoe and Pukekaikiore.

A Mead and W Mead, "Part of Tongariro National Park in the vicinty of Whakapapa Cottage", National Library of New Zealand. Complete map available online at http://natlib.govt.nz/records/21977887.

In 1954 Ngaruhoe erupted several times. The map below shows lava flows mapped by Fiona Sanders as part of her thesis. The GPS trace of the stone-bordered path is indicated. The terminal end of the path is very close to the indicated lava flow from 30 June 1954.

Source: Fiona Sanders, Rheology and Flow Emplacement Processes of the 1954 Lavas, Mount Ngauruhoe, thesis, University of Waikato, 2010. Available online at http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/4398.

On the basis of this map, it seems reasonable to assume that the 1954 eruptions rendered existing tracks unusable for a considerable period of time. Lava would remain hot, and the prospect of fresh lava eruptions would deter people from re-establishing tracks. For those still intent on gaining access to Tongariro, it would make sense to establish one or more tracks on the other side of the valley, in the general position of the current track. Another track also exists atop the ridge above the Mangatepopo Stream.