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DOC Land
Altitude: 237m to 719m. Gain: 761m. Loss: 314m . Gradient: 7 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Prolonged scrambles (4/7) - Streams (2/6)
Head upriver from Hunters past the cab leway and up the riverbed. After a few hundred meters a triangle marks the start of the slip downstream of Poker Bluff. If river levels are low, continue up the riverbed, crossing as required. If you cannot cross safely then you need to climb and sidle over / across the slip. The track has been destroyed so you need to make your won way. I climbed right up the downriver side of the slip, pushed through vegetation above it, and scrambled back down the far side. In hindsight it was probably possible to cross the mid-slopes of the slip safely if you're comfortable on steep slopes. Once across, you need to relocate the sidle track which is 50m or so above the river on the far side. The sidle track is steep with dodgy exposed rock sections before dropping back to the riverbed. Not for the faint hearted or unsure of foot,.
Once past Poker Bluff, continue upriver on the riverbed..A few hundred meters later a second sidle track starts. Again, if you can do so safely, follow the riverbed, crossing as required. If not, follow the second sidle track. This is similar to the first: steep and exposed, and terminates at the head of a ridiculously steep washed out gut, which borders on needing rope and belay to descend. A very trecherous scramble - not recommended if you can avoid it by following the river.
Once past the second bluffs, things improve. Follow the riverbed upstream on the TL (south) to the forks below Devastation Creek. This section is good going on river rocks with minor boulder hopping.
1km below Devastation the valley gradient becomes steep and the boulder become house-sized. 2km of continuous scrambling follows. Occasional sections of track remain, but most have been destroyed. Occasional bushbashing required to avoid impassable sections of riverbank.
Floods have taken the river round both sides of Smyth Hut leaving it on a narrow island in the riverbed. The southern channel is dry unless in flood. A triangle at the base of the 'island' marks the start of the track the last 200m to Smyth Hut.
Note that the swingbridge at Smyth Hut has been destroyed (2011). Some parties report crossing 300m above the hut but the nearest viable crossing when I visited (Feb 2016) was at the Vane Evans forks.