Distance: 6.6 km (5.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Hard terrain
Altitude: 564m to 979m. Gain: 372m. Loss: 442m . Gradient: 7 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

Secondary, unmapped (4/5)
Route not on maps, an alternative recognised access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Hard (difficulty: 5/5)
Thick scrub-bash / continuous river boulders, waterfalls, or gorges

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

Occasional rivers (difficulty: 3/6)
Occasional rivers - impassible after heavy rain

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

No description

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

The most common route into Puketeraki Biv is via Chest Peak. However, this lower route is straight forward and avoids the high steep climbs, if Salmon Creek is not running high.

Note that Puketeraki Biv is a DOC hut but is on private land, ~1km from the DOC boundary. Contact DOC Waimakariri Area Office for details. Ph. 03-313-0820

Follow the track from Lower Salmon Biv upstream to the river. Follow the riverbed up until level with the low saddle to the west. The river has been scoured out by flooding in October 2021, giving it the appearance of a west coast river. Travel is frequently in on the banks of boulders or newly exposed bedrock with short- cuts on scrubby or less often forested terraces.

Take the 1st spur on the west side fo the creek, upstream of the southernmost of the two low saddles, climbing roughly north towards the low knob between the two saddles. Climb onto the knob and drop to the northern saddle. From here it is possible to sidle gently down the western face of the pt1431 ridgeline until you reach the flats indicated by the map at 780m. These flats are actually a shallow valley running parallel to the slope (NNW-SSE) with a low rise to its west. Follow the shallow valley/terrace NNW for 1.5km, exiting onto tussock & scrub terraces.

Follow tussock and scrub terraces north for a further 1.5km, crossing a tight gully soon after leaving the bush at around 740m on deer trails. The terraces leave DOC land but the boundary is not fenced. On reaching the bushedge of the next twin creeks follow the bushedge via an animal trail down to the next terrace at around 680m. The bushedge is clear of scrub and avoids bluffs. When you arrive at a flatter open area, there is a silver (turned-inside out BCC) marker indicating the start of a good track down to the junction of the twin streams.

Travel a short way down to the creek, and pick up the track climbing to the biv with a very brief sidle south - The exit point is marked by a short length of blue rope.

3-5hrs (3hrs Madpom time, 5 hrs estimated DOC time)