Newspaper Article 1980 – Walk over magnificent mountain offers great views

Mount Miroroa:

Walk over magnificent mountain offers great views

WALKABOUT

A series of articles describing pleasant Hawke’s Bay walks. Material is supplied by the Hastings-Havelock North branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.

This is a walk over a magnificent rugged mountain within the alpine fault system.

To the west, seemingly at the end of Heretaunga St, are the Kaweka Ranges divided by the Ngaruroro River Valley from the Ruahine Ranges. It is within this gap that a prominent peak stands, Mount Miroroa or Cattle Hill to the plains people.

From its vantage point 990 metres above seal [sea] level, Mount Miroroa offers an extensive panoramic view of the surrounding country. Although high by walking standards, the inland Patea Road passes by at an altitude of 747 metres above sea level, leaving only a short climb of about 400 metres in all to tempt walkers up its rugged slopes.

From Hastings the Inland Patea Road or Taihape Road passes over pleasant rolling country, until the Kaweka Forest Park is reached.

From here, the road climbs rapidly to Blowhard Bush and emerges from a narrow rocky pass to the most popular view point overlooking the cliff lined Mount Miroroa standing high on the other side of a deep bush clad valley.

Fifty-six kilometres from Hastings, after passing Ensor Road (Forestry Road No. 18), a sign on the left side marks the start of the track just before Gold Creek a swampy stream which straddles the Comet (Earthquake) Fault.

From close by the start of the track, Mount Miroroa no longer seems as formidable, although the cliff line still commands respect.

To geologists this peak is better known as the Miroroa Overthrust and has an interesting history that started over six million years ago, when a great deal of New Zealand lay beneath the sea.

A rift in the sea floor filled up with sediment, then the surrounding sea bed sunk still deeper. About four million years ago the rift or graben was subjected to tremendous pressure along the main lines of land motion or fault lines.

With continued pressure the land to the south was pushed up over the sediment filled graben and Mount Miroroa rose above the waves. By two million years ago when most of New Zealand was above the sea, Mount Miroroa became a dominant feature.

Today greywacke rock, a sandstone some 200 to 250 million years old, lies partly over much younger strata formed from the sea sediment.

Starting out along this bush track, following coloured plastic ribbons as markers, one of the first features is directly underfoot. A straight shallow depression about a metre wide, crosses the track at right angles. This swampy groove is the surface sign of the long Castle Fault that bisects the gap between the main ranges.

Climbing gently between two low hills the track sidles around a deep gorge before dropping down to cross a small stream set in its own tiny gorge. Leaving the stream and the last source of good drinking water, the track winds its way up the ridge, steeply at first but becoming almost level when the limestone cap is reached.

From here the views unfold as the route winds its way in and out of passages through limestone rocks, climbing only slightly to the foot of Bull Rock.

How this rock gained the name is uncertain, for it appears as the title of a water-colour signed by Williams and noted on the reverse that it was painted during a stay at McDonalds Hotel, Kuripapango.

Two paintings by the same artist exist, the other of Cattle Hill (Miroroa) showing the desolate nature of the area towards the end of the 1800s.

When Colenso passed through in the 1840s he reported fern (bracken) and low scrub with an island of bush (Blowhard Bush).

In 1884 an early coach traveller wrote: “On reaching the top of the Blowhard, one of the most desolate sights burst upon our view. Covering an area of miles, the flats, ranges and mountains are mostly perfectly bare of vegetation; the wind having stripped off everything, leaving the subsoil naked.”

Today many of the scars have been healed by planting pine trees. The bracken has given way to manuka which in turn makes way for taller forest. This is happening to the north between the road and Miroroa, the headwaters of the Omahiki [Omahaki] Stream, a scenic reserve.

In 1965 a 30-hectare block of land was set aside as a habitat for the fernbird which, owing to the clearing of bracken and the draining of swamps, was becoming increasingly rare. Fernbird Scenic Reserve as it is now named, is in the progress of being extended to cover a larger area.

Fifteen years ago it was an inaccessable mass of tangled scrub, flax and bracken but beech tree regeneration is progressing at a rapid rate.

The fernbirds’ natural cover is being replaced and they are being forced out to establish new runs in the surrounding country. Bird life is on the increase, with nesting sites and food bearing trees becoming more abundant. Within the deep beech clad gullies, ferns and tiny orchids are making a come-back alongside several waterfalls.

Fernbird Bush is still an island of forest protected from entry by dense scrub and will remain so for many years to come.

Behind Bull Rock lies a small saddle connecting the plateau and the summit. A pleasant hour or so may be spent wandering along the top of the cliff line, before climbing on up to the summit. On the summit a few contorted pines grow in the protection of limestone and calcite rocks.

All around are delightful views, Mount Ruapehu reveals its snowy mantle, the Kaweka Ranges, blue beyond the Blowhard. To the south, the flat tops of the Ruahine Ranges and the gleam of the sea over the Eastern plains of Hawke’s Bay.

The area lives up to the name Blowhard, the westerly winds of the trades are forced up over the mountain range and in this gap, pour through with frightening force.

Plants and trees claw their way out of the protected valleys, seeking any crack or crevice in which to sink their roots. On the crest of Miroroa the plant roots go down over a metre, tenuously holding the sparse stoney soil together and flowering in profusion during December and January.

The walker, man, has proved to be one of the most adaptable creatures on earth, but for walking pleasure he must choose a day when the winds are only moderate from the west, as occurs often in summer.

The walk is easier in the cool of the morning, allowing for the slowest, two hours to reach the summit.

A pleasant five hours or more can be spent wandering the cliffs, rocks and fellfields.