^--\--------->-----------CR---- CR Cobb Reservoir
| ^.*g / / .^ ^.^. .^ | g Grace Creek
| \ m /-CS.^ ^ ^^. | m Marshall Range
|^ \^/ k^ ^. | CS Cub Stream
|^ _L_ ^ _ B . | k Kakapo Spur
Karamea --' `---<___.---' .^ | B Balloon Hut
River | .^^^ | . ^ A | L Roaring Lion Hut
| . ^ | .^ | A Mount Arthur
| ^ ./ ^ |
| ^. | ^ |
|^. ^. | ^ | ^ Main Ridges only
| ^ ^ ^ | ^ . |
--------/----------------------
Karamea River
This is a map of enormous mountain ranges and deep valleys. Nobody lives here. Streams are 1000 metres below adjacent mountains. In some places the map shows ranges constructed of back to back vertical cliffs. What it does not adequately show is that much of the rest of the land is of a similar gradient, nor does it show that each range is made of an entirely different stone, nor that the forest is made up of different plants and animals on each mountain and at each elevation. Nor does it reveal just how soaking wet everything is.
This part of the mountain is actively descending to the sea. The surface is a jumble of rocks of all sizes, poised at an angle at which they would like to tumble en-masse into the valley. My movements would send down showers of rubble, and for several seconds afterwards, marble would clink on marble above and below me, as boulders and pebbles shifted on their perches. It was dramatic and scary, and impossible to display on film. By the time I was able to get satisfactorily close to the indicated site, it was nearly dark and I had to satisfy myself with pictures of the equally steep mountains on the other side of the valley, with the ubiquitous cloud shadows, and also of ants.
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