This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 91, no 9, October 2019
Penn Creek Track - Tirotiro Knob
August 7 2019
The party of nine left the Ōtaki Forks day car park under grey, scudding clouds.
After the turnoff to the bridge crossing the Ōtaki River, we entered the bush to pick up the disused track to Penn Creek Hut. We reached the big slip in under three hours and started our ascent to Tirotiro Knob. The first few hundred vertical metres were steep and challenging. As the gradient gave hints of softening, we stopped for lunch adjacent to a very impressive rimu tree. It was about then that drizzle began, and persisted for several hours.
After lunch it took another hour to complete the ascent to the Judd Ridge Track. Then it was a damp plod down, with the drizzle stopping by the time we cleared the bush edge. We were back at the cars with plenty of daylight driving available. Travel time for the trip was just under seven hours. This trip is ideally scheduled as a mid-winter medium-fit day adventure.
- Party members
- Bill Allcōck (leader and scribe), Colin Cook, Tricia French, David McNabb, Peggy Munn, Sieny Pollard, Janette Roberts, Lynne White, Warwick Wright