Distance: 2.1 km (1.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear
Altitude: 372m to 1136m. Gain: 0m. Loss: 764m . Gradient: 22 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)

Unmarked route, clear (7/9)
Unmarked route, follows obvious geography (river, spur, trail, etc)

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Continuous moderate climbs

Unknown (difficulty: 0/5)
Not specified

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

No description

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From remotehuts.co.nz:

The route to Townsend Hut starts at the unnamed creek 400m upriver from Michael Creek. The creek has changed course at the bottom and now runs through the bush downriver from the original creekbed. The lower section of the track has been obliterated and it's now easier to head up the original creekbed to where it meets running water further up. The odd large orange triangle on dead spars mark the route from the 450m contour to where a cut track exits the creek around 500m. It climbs steeply up the bush faces onto a narrow ridge, and follows this up a short distance onto a bench the montane zone. From here it ascends in a series of steps through sub-alpine forest to the scarp on which the Hut is located. The last stretch along the scarp is through open tussock patches with small tarns.