The weird, unusual and downright quirky things you can see in the backcountry.
After working as a summer ranger for DOC in Golden Bay in the late 1980s, I walked the Heaphy Track for the first time. On the Gouland Downs I was surprised to see a pole festooned with discarded boots, some nailed in place, some hanging by a bootlace. This was the now iconic Heaphy ‘boot pole’.
I remember staring at the curious assortment of footwear, and thinking, ‘What did those trampers do after they left their boot here? Walk with one bare foot?’
When my family and I walked the Heaphy recently, I was delighted to see the boot pole still there. It got me thinking about other quirky backcountry stuff, non-standard, random things that have not been ‘cleaned up’ by an overzealous ranger.
1 The Bottles, Tararua Forest Park
The Backcountry Trust recently funded a major restoration of Herepai Hut, one of the more northerly huts of the Tararua Range. Herepai is reached on a track beginning from Putara Road and takes about 2–2.5hr. During my last visit, Tararua guru John Rhodes took me on an old track that dated back to the deer-culling era and followed a small stream up to the ridge just east of Herepai Hut. This track, originally cut in the 1940s by legendary culler Bert Barra, was called ‘The Bottles’ track because there was a pile of old beer bottles at one of the culler’s camps. John remembers seeing the bottles there as late as 1963. These days, on the standard Herepai Track, if you look closely you may spot an old sign nailed to a tree that says ‘The Bottles’.
2 The boot pole, Kahurangi National Park
The boot pole is located on a track corner on the Gouland Downs, about 90 minutes west of Perry Saddle Hut or 30 minutes east of Gouland Downs Hut. In his excellent book about the Heaphy, Chris Petyt writes, ‘This was originally a pole marking a change of direction in the track and a young track worker nailed up a rather fancy woman’s boot he found nearby. A few old boots were added and then more and more. When the old post collapsed, a new pole was erected so the tradition could be continued.’ Some trampers, he says, specifically carry in a boot to nail up. Once, a roller skate was added.
3 Gridiron Gulch, Kahurangi National Park
Max Polglaze was the iconic Forest Service ranger who, in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for creating some of the most interesting features of the Flora Track in what was then Northwest Nelson Forest Park. Max built the upper and lower Gridiron rock shelters and also made other creative stuff, like a hitching post and wooden arch called ‘Gridiron Gulch’, where he and his team had established a work camp.
These features not only add character to this wonderful region – referred to by Max as ‘the Noble Country’ – but they also serve as a monument to a ranger who went beyond the call of duty.
The Flora Track leads from Flora car park to Salisbury Lodge, passing through Polglaze’s Gridiron Gulch en route. Allow about 2.5hr each way to visit the gulch, or 4.5hr to go all the way to the lodge.
4 East Ruggedy, Rakiura National Park
Tracks around coastal areas often make a transition from beach to bush and, naturally enough, these transitions need to be well marked. DOC’s large orange triangles work well, but I was always more charmed by a quirky Rakiura solution: colourful fishing buoys hung from a convenient tree. At East Ruggedy (on the island’s famous North West Circuit) someone with a sense of the absurd had cut a smiley face into one of these buoys. Many a passing tramper, including me, can’t help but grin back.
