I have a hunting permit so I can take the dog (沫沫 Mor-mor) onto Dept. of Conservation land. I decided to go bushwhacking to develop some fitness, muscle memory and see how the dog handles in the bush. She'll get a chance to run around off leash and sniff things to here heart's content. So, off to Hapuakohe.
The road entrance is a narrow strip of land between farmland. I drove past at first and so needed the GPS to find this. No signs and straight into the bush.
We zigzagged up a steep hill climb through dense bush. Sometimes there were game trails but they were not all human sized. Muttly ran about on her own. Here she's trying to cool off by resting on moss and rubbing the moisture into her fur.
Oh great. Horticultural supplies in the bush. Maybe from the farms, but often an indicator of nearby herb cultivation. Best keep an eye out because active plantations are booby-trapped and maybe even guarded.
Animal sign. Not fresh, but animals are in the area. Muttly found rabbit warrens and insisted on me coming to see. That makes her a legit hunting dog right? ;)
Starting from the road, I turned back at the left-most blue point. The two markers in between were where I took the previous two photos. The reality is I zigzagged up the hill.
I gained about 80m in elevation and was about 330 metres off the road. This took me about an hour because I'm unfit, fat and the bush was dense. I could've gone further but I was concerned about needing more time to go downhill with my bad knee. The going was bushwhacking for sure, and it takes a certain bloody-mindedness combined with a bit of caution.
Since she was really good, I took her to her favourite dog park. Her favourite thing is to roll about in a muddy puddle. Her second favourite thing is to introduce her doggo frens to the puddle. Luckily the dog wash is on the way home. She was tried and spent most of the evening sleeping.
And now, for the standout pieces of gear. A J-hat ... A gortex jungle hat, a Silky Pocketboy pruning saw, and my Morakniv Garberg.
These were bushwhacking essentials: sometimes the best path upwards was blocked by trees or vines. The saw and knife got a lot of work clearing stuff out of the way. The hat was great for pushing through foliage because the brim protected my eyes and ears when I put my head down.
I should get a long sleeved bush shirt. I was in a short sleeves icebreaker merino t-shirt and my arms got scratched up pretty badly. An army surplus smock will fix that.
Thinking about it, I don't feel so bad taking so much time to go such a short effective distance. Next time I'll get further for sure.