By Chris Russell, 01 March 2025
On my quest to bag all the huts in the Ruahines, next on my journey was Forks hut and Te Ekaou hut. This was also a great one to do at the end of Summer. That's the best time to do river travel! This is the second time I’ve advertised a trip as a ‘Chill stream walk’. Last time it was to Kiritaki hut and it turned out to be very much not chill. I did see on a past trip report of the route that you have to do a ‘bit of a scramble’ around a waterfall so I was kind of taking the piss when I called a chill stream walk. But let’s see what everyone thought of it!
What was your favourite part/memory of the trip?
Jack:
Doing the extra bash upstream looking for the track and seeing some of the most amazing vertical bluffs in the Ruahines.
Vic:
I enjoyed swimming in the stream during breaks. I've been wanting to go swimming for most of last summer so finally getting to do it was satisfying. The gorge we walked through when we got lost was sick as, I wished that was the actual trail lol.
Luke:
For me, chilling in the random places in the river was the best parts for me
Zita:
Walking up the river - that was a new experience for me!
Would you say it was a 'Chill stream walk'?
Jack:
Yes, there was no hypothermia and no drownings, so that's pretty chill on the typical VUWTC scale
Vic:
Since I had a good time for the trip, I'd count it as chill
Luke:
Not necessarily a chill stream walk but was still fun. And I'm not very fit yet I still managed to do it.
Zita:
By tramping standards, it was a chill stream walk on the way in, it was not a chill stream walk on the way out lol
I agree with Jack and Vic that the coolest part was the bash upstream from the hut where we were trying to find the track but it was marked on topo incorrectly entirely. The map casually suggests walking straight up a cliff.
Though this hour long detour meant going up this insane looking gorge so we didn’t mind! On the way out we attempted to exit via Te Ekaou stream before coming across a 10m waterfall, which means this ‘chill stream walk’ came to the same fate as the last chill stream walk lol.
Also Forks Hut might be my favourite hut in the Ruahines! It’s so picturesque. It also gets barely any visits, we checked the hut book and no one had been there for the entire previous summer! I think we spent more time swimming than walking!
