GRNC1 Stage n°4A : from the Ouénarou refuge to the Muletiers refuge

> Entrance fee to the Blue River Provincial Park

From the Ouénarou Hut to the Bon Secours area (5.4 km – 2 hrs. 15 mins.)

D Hut (GPS: 678 563 – 7 549 260; alt. 178m): join the main road and turn left to reach the Park administration reception.

1 Reception (GPS: 678 602 – 7 549 470; alt. 182m): location where you must pay the entrance fees and use of equipment related to the GR® NC1 and the Park. Take the wooden footbridge.

2 Maison du Parc (GPS: 678 525 – 7 549 495; alt. 182m): go around it to the left and join an old skid trail which runs along a forest on the left bank of a creek to the south before entering a small wooded valley. The path climbs and winds through a thalweg populated by old gum oaks with their trunks bleached by time and joins an old track. After a very sharp right turn, you reach an intersection. Go up to the left towards a crossroads. Turn left (> ignore the wrong track on the right). Follow, towards the west, the one which is marked out and lined with old logs. Reach an intersection. Take the uphill track to the right (> ignore the downhill track, to the left). At the next intersection, take a sharp right. Progress a few tens of meters at level. Cross two wooded thalwegs. At the exit from the second of them, climb in zigzags up the side [> beautiful view of Lake Yaté]. Come out at a dominant point.

3 Shoulder (GPS: 677 503 – 7 549 896; alt. 385m): after a break (cairn), the path resumes its slow ascent, winding through the scrub and joins a track covered with blocks of rust colour [> elements of dismantled ferruginous cuirass] or of ochre colour [from outcrops of peridotites, rich in nickel]. Turn left to go up. And, in the stony embankment, follow a path that intersects the zigzags of the track (multiple cairns). Get back on the track. Go through the pass north of Gwé Daru.

4 Timba Pass (GPS: 677 074 – 7 549 976; alt. 493m) [> windy lookout, the glaucous Tristaniopsis (Tristaniopsis glauca) is common there]: then dive towards the valley of the Bon Secours, following the track up to a ridge; circumvent it by the south-west.

5 Fork (GPS: 676 750 – 7 550 516; alt. 340m): turn left and ignore the unmarked path that goes north-west. At the next intersection (GPS: 676 357 – 7 550 371), go straight ahead (> ignore the horizontal track, on the right, that is unmarked). Find the entrance to a trail (GPS: 676 315 – 7 550 371). Leave the track which descends straight down the slope and take the path to the left in the scrub. Enter a small clear forest. Cross an often dry creek. Cross another more shady creek. Reach the junction with a botanical path.

6 Palm Track (GPS: 676 042 – 7 550 213; alt. 200 m): turn left. Arrive at a faré( equipped area and an information panel). Continue to the left. At the intersection, turn left.

From the Bon Secours area to the Muletiers Hut (9.2 km – 3 h 15)
> Possibility of taking the 4C variant track to reach the Tristaniopsis Hut.

7 Bon Secours reception area (GPS: 675 877 – 7 549 964; alt. 190m) (car park, WC, water point): leave the main track on the right and turn left to cross a creek [> faré, wooden barrier and information panel for the Koureu Deni Track], then, at the intersection, go left on the uphill track. Reach another intersection. Go straight ahead and cross the creek. Continue to climb.
> Shared section with the Koureu Deni Track, marked in yellow.

8 Intersection (GPS: 675 276 – 7 549 625; alt. 251m): turn left to follow an old forestry track [> the Koureu Deni Track goes to the right]. Enter the forest. Cross a trickle of water and walk among the pandanus. A short distance later, a facilitated climb [> steps carved into the earth]. Higher up, the path turns to the right and abandons the old forest track. It joins another track, descends slightly to the right and comes out of the forest in an area with eagle ferns. Reach the top of the cleared ridge.

9 Crest (GPS: 675 089 – 7 548 485; alt. 429m): follow the path among the ferns and the low scrub, towards a high point. At the western end, the trail enters low forest. Then it climbs up the mountain.

10 Summit of Pouédihi (GPS: 674 303 – 7 548 758; alt. 533m): descend south-west towards a wooded pass and, after a short climb, emerge in an open area.

11 Mining Scrub (GPS: 673 891 – 7 548 108; alt. 474m): continue straight ahead and reach a bend to the right (> ignore the tracks that go off to the right, staying on the marked path). Turn west. Reach an intersection. Turn right, towards a cairn. Ignore the track that goes up to the left towards a summit (alt. 569m). Walk on level ground to go around it to the north until you reach an intersection. Turn right towards a cairn. Stay on the main track.

12 Intersection (GPS: 672 885 – 7 548 234; alt. 497m): abandon the track and turn left towards a cairn (> difficult orientation in the maze of old tracks that criss-cross the ridge, follow the beacons). Continue straight ahead (> ignore an old dead-end mining prospecting track on the left). Walk west to the next cairn. Turn left and, 50 meters further on, at the next intersection, turn right towards a cairn. At the next intersection, turn left (> leave the flat track that goes to the right). About 80m further, following the beacons, leave the track (GPS: 672 635 – 7 548 146) and go down to the right towards a cairn and an open area.

13 Red earth platform (GPS: 672 586 – 7 548 125; alt. 446m): at the south-west end (> ignore the old track that goes west), turn left to find the mule track which takes a long curve to the left. Cross two wooded thalwegs. Cross a creek (water point). Enter the forest. Cross a second creek (water point). The trail loses altitude along a steep side. After a sharp bend to the left, it enters a beautiful formerly logged rainforest and winds its way among moss-covered blocks and under the blooming fronds of tall tree ferns. Turn west. Reach an old red dirt track at the exit from the forest (> ignore the beginning of a track, on the right). Go directly to the main track. Turn left. At the crossroads, go to the right towards the picnic area [> on the left, the former Rivière Blanche Hut: picnic areas].

14 Sanitary facilities and information panel on the Renaissance Mine Track (GPS: 671 611 – 7 547 866; alt. 188m) [> toilets, water point]: cross the barrier.

15 Creek des Électriques Ford (GPS: 671 618 – 7 547 819; alt. 188m): cross (> be careful, in heavy rain, crossing prohibited). Continue on the good track.

16 Muletiers Hut (GPS: 671 180 – 7 547 985; alt. 195m): located on the left bank of a perennial creek [> emergency call terminal].

© Text by Jean Francis Clair

FFrandonnée® grading
* Effort: IBP 82 Not very difficult (orange)
* Technical difficulty: Not very difficult (orange)
* Risk: Not very high (orange)
* Overall grading: Not very difficult (orange)

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