50
MAY 2019
Theyalsoconsidercarefullybefore
fellinganytreeandavoiddoingsoif
possible,addsHopkins.“Iftheyhaveto
fellit, they’llcutit intosmallpiecesand
distributeit throughtheforestsoit’snot
seenandwilldecomposequicker.”
Nature,whenit comestotreefelling,
hasnotbeensodiscerning.Gordon
saystheviewsfromPororariHutare
courtesyof windsthattoreoutsur-
roundingtrees.In thevalley,snapped
andsplinteredbolesofbeech,totara
andrataarea reminderofthefuryof
lastyear’sFehiandGitastorms.How-
ever,it wasCycloneIta,in 2014,that
reallyblastedthelowervalley,leaving
a chaosof massivetreesstrewnabout
likematchsticks.Happily,thefallengi-
antshaveprovidedtheperfectsource
for corduroy,the timberflitchesso use-
fulonboggysectionsoftrack.
At first glance,I thoughtthese tidy
lengthshadbeenmachine-milledand
flown in. Wrong.The corduroyis the
workof ‘genius’Williams,whocut
metre-longlengthsfromthewind-blown
treesthentrimmedthemwithmachine-
likeprecision,allbychainsaw.With
mattingunderneathandcrushedrock
compactedontop,thetrackwilllastfor
years,saysGordon.
Giventhepropensityforheavyrain,
watermanagementis a majorfac-
torin trackdesign,headds,before
expoundinga technicalexplanationof
how‘swales’areconstructedtoensure
maximumdrainage.I didn’tfullyunder-
stand,but he soundedconfident.
Walkingout,wemetWestReef
‘crusherguru’DwayneIngham,ma-
noeuvringa heavy,vibratingmachine
thatcompactscrushedrocksonthe
tracksurface.It seemedlikea lonely,
noisy,shudderingexistencebutIngham
sayshelovesworkingon his own, with
no-one to hassle him.Somewalkersbemoanthehardsur-
faceof a built-for-bikestrack,butI found
Dwayne’scrushingandcompactinghad
workeda treat.Wewalkedthe16km
in,thenoutthenextday,andevenmy
tenderfeet were fine. And apart from
onesmallzigzag,therewerenolong,
gradedswitchbacktracksthatarefound
onsomebiketracks.Atleastnotthat
wesaw.
Hopkinsdoesn’tseeanissuein the
dualtrackuse.“Theminimumstandards
fora GreatWalktrackandGradeFour
mountainbiketrackarealmostidentical.
Theonlymajordifferenceis a gradient
requirementforbiking.A walkingtrack
couldgosteeper,however,thatmight
notprovidethebestuserexperiencefor
ourtargetwalkinggroup.I thinkthatthe
gradientofthistrack,andthewayHam-
ishhasdesignedit to makebestuseof
theclimbing,hasworkedoutwell.It’s
certainlyeasierto walka bike-friendly
trackthantheotherwayround.”
Heknowsthatsharinga trackwith
mountainbikerswon’tsuitsomewalk-
ers.“However,basedontheresponse
ontheHeaphyTrack,Taupo’sGreat
LakeTrailandtheincreasingnumber
of trampersusingtheOldGhostRoad,
we are confidentthe two groupscan
cohabit,aslongasthey show respect
towards each other.”“I USED TO
WORK IN
MINES. I WAS
IN PIKE RIVER
FOR A WHILE
and I’ve got
mates still in
there.IT FEELS
GOOD TO BE
UP HERE,
CLOSE TO
THEM.”
- Tom Hopkins
BarryGordonandJye
Hawes at Pororari HutGREATWALKS