Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 351m to 1054m. Gain: 742m. Loss: 1309m . Gradient: 14 deg (Gentle)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6) Winter - Snow/ice underfoot (2/7)
A poled DOC route climbs the spur opposite Cashs Flat Hut, leading to a (private) farm track to Temple PEak station. Permission is required from Temple Peak Station to use this track.
Cross the river below the hut - knee deep in normal flows, can flood. Follow the poled route up the spur/fenceline opposite to a taranaki gate, and then sidle west along the face. Poles are intermittent and more reassurance then guide. The initial section is steep and tussock and no ground trail visible. Later the route sidles below bluffs and a good stock track becomes visible and is easy to follow. Beyond the bluffs the poled route climbs south directly to the ridgeline above. Crossing the fence on the ridge, continue SSW picking up a faint vehicle track sidling and descending gradually (the poled DOC route leaves us here and sidles high on the face into the head of Davidsons Creek where it ends. The reason for the route is unclear as Davidsons Creek has impassable 100mm falls lower down).
The faint track drops into the head of a small copse of beech, and becomes clear on the ground, joining the track shown on topomaps and zigzagging down the face to reach the roadend at the end of the old Temple Peak Station driveway.