Psalm 119:18: Mt Matthews

Mt Matthews is the highest peak in the immediate Wellington area, situated in the Rimutaka Forest Park. It stands at an elevation of 941 m, and although there aren't great views from the top because it is covered with trees for the most part, it's a prominent peak you can see from many places in Wellington.

About 20 years ago I was on an ATC camp over in the Orongorongo valley where we talked about going up there, but didn't, and I never really had the opportunity or the company until recently, since Raewyn started getting interested in tramping.

One weekend in mid-March our church had a memorial service on Sunday for a member of our congregation who had passed away. Neither Raewyn nor I knew him particularly well, and with the weather forecast looking great we decided to wag church for the day (!) and go tramping instead.

Saturday we had tickets for the first test match at the Basin Reserve between NZ and Australia in about 10 years. That was mildly unfortunate, but we figured we could leave the cricket at 5-ish, pick up some takeaways on our drive to Wainui, walk over the 5-mile track and up the river valley as far as we could and find a place to camp overnight, then tackle Mt Matthews on the Sunday. This was also an opportunity to try out the new tent I had recently purchased from Macpac.

We made it further than we were expecting - in fact, all the way to Matthews Stream. With fading light and no wind, we decided to just pitch the tent on the flattish gravel bank on one side of the valley. The new tent was a bit cosier than the 3-man tent it replaced, but it was worth it for carrying 2.3 kg instead of 3.7.

The next morning we had breakfast, packed a day pack with water, lunch, cameras, jackets and headed up the hill. And up. And up. We did have views every now and then - north along the main spine of the Rimutaka ranges with glimpses of the Wairarapa, west towards Wellington, south down the Mukamuka valley.

We had lunch at a clearing just above the south saddle, by which stage it was getting quite hot. We were glad we had had a head start on the sun. Back down to our tent, which we packed up and walked back out to the car. They reckon it would be a 10 hr day trip from the Catchpool carpark; we reckon it would be longer - but then we were carrying more than just day packs between Catchpool and Matthews Stream.

Some bits of the track, particularly just above the south saddle, were a bit loose and scrambly. Apart from that, it's just steep and rooty...