Distance: 0.9 km (0.4 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 441m to 482m. Gain: 41m. Loss: 0m . Gradient: 3 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

Gentle (difficulty: 2/5)
Gentle slopes

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Low scrub in open or bush / river rocks

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

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

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

Though the forks are scrubby, the Tawawharara above is wider with a flat valley floor. Travel on the gravel riverbed is generally easier than the banks, but either is an option. Otane Hut sits just downriver of the first significant sidestream on the east - a sloping rocks streambed descending from a a marked valley. The hut can be seen from the river, but the turnoff is not marked.

Another 3-sided hut sits 100m downriver on a clearing set back from the stream, woodburner removed and sitting beside it. Thanksfully, that is not Otane!

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

The Tawawharara valley below the hut is wide with a flat valley floor. Travel on the gravel riverbed is generally easier than the banks, but either is an option. The Maniaroa Confluence is the first downriver. For those heading up the Maniaroa, an old marked, cut track climbs onto terraces 100m upriver of the confluence, heading east to return to the stream 400m upriver. The riverbed is also an option.