Journal Entry – February 3, 2007 – The Dam Hike!

Author: Scott

After our hike from hell on Bora Bora, Pam said she was done with mountain climbing. Time must heal all wounds because today found us balancing across streams, pulling ourselves up steep inclines on our hands and knees, and most challenging of all descending down steep terrain while getting the oh so attractive “brown butt” look. When we woke to our second day on the Barrier we got a radio call from Bill on Windsong asking if we would like to go for a three hour hike up to the Kauri Dam. Apparently the Kauri Dam was used early in the 20th century as a way to bring massive Kauri logs from atop the mountains to the sea. The loggers would pull the logs to the dam with horses and when a sufficient quantity of logs was attained the dam would be released and the logs and water would flood down the mountain tearing trees, rocks, and anything else in the path down to the bay.

The hike or tramp (in Kiwi) was along the Kaiaraara Track and the map said the round trip would take us approximately three hours. Sounded like a great way to see the island to Pam and I, so we quickly agreed to join in the fun. We packed our snacks, water, first aid kit and other tramping gear and headed to shore in the dinghies. We pulled the dinghies up on a grassy embankment just as the rain started to pitty patter on us. The gentle sprinkle turned to real rain as we made our way over to the information station and we huddled under the porch for protection. When the rain returned to a taunting sprinkle we set out to find that dam. At first we were lured into believing the hike would be on well groomed roads and trails as we wound our way to the base of the mountain that would make up the remainder of the hike. The first real obstacle we encountered were various streams that needed to be crossed by jumping across paths of dry stones. With Pam and I both challenged with depth perception someone was finishing the hike with soggy socks. As the forest grew denser (apparently there are no vegetation eating possums on Great Barrier) the hill grew steeper it soon became clear that our gentle hike was to be an all out, crawl on all fours, slip slide and grapple, potential ankle twister! Our vow to avoid mountain climbing that was made in Bora Bora was now shattered on this dam hike.

For lunch we found a beautiful spot next to a waterfall and licked our wounds, and massaged our joints under a beautiful summer sky. We shared our various snacks and carefully savored our supply of fresh water. Another forty-five minutes brought us to the Kauri Dam and although interesting in an engineering sort of way it was not the spectacular vista we were rewarded with on Bora Bora after half a day of conquering the mountain. We all turned away slightly more informed on the mechanics of logging dams, trigger points, and mathematical stress calculations. Now our task was to retrace our path back down the hill without going for a tummy toboggan minus the slippery snow. We grabbed, groped, slipped, and slid our way back home. Now, you may recall that I mentioned earlier that the hike was estimated on the map to take approximately three hours, well that must be for eighteen year old Olympic marathon athletes, who have not yet been busted for stamina boosting steroids. There is no way that we were on a three hour hike unless the estimated hiking time is calculated using some complex Kiwi time space worm hole paradigm that we were intellectually incapable of working out for ourselves.

Upon our return to earth we found that someone had moved the coastline because somehow the edge of the water had miraculously moved out to sea about a quarter of a mile leaving a muddy bog for us to cross in order to return to our boats. The slog across the muddy sand gave Pam and I a chance to test out our new dinghy wheels and overall they did the trick without sinking into the slime.

We spent the evening recovering from the ordeal over on Windsong. We shared drinks, snacks, and company and as the sun was setting our friends Jeff and Raewin arrived on their boat Aspect of Arran. Jeff and Raewin joined us and they were deluged with stories of the Dam hike.