Distance: 2.7 km (4.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Hard terrain
Altitude: 493m to 1017m. Gain: 532m. Loss: 69m . Gradient: 13 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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

Primary, unmapped (2/5)
Route not on maps, but is principal 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

Alpine weather (difficulty: 2/7)
Tramp on open tops, exposed to alpine weather

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

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

Leave the marked DOC track where it crosses the south branch of thew Wosley River above the forks and continue up the north bank of the river to the falls. A reasonable but very steep bush scramble exists up the vegetated spur between the waterfall in the main river and the waterfall in a small side-creek 20m to the north. Once above the waterfall you pick up deer trails which make a sidling-climb up the south branch of the Worsley. The trick is to remain on good trails in the scrubby by passable beech (above thick rocky near-impassable scrub near the river) without being led by deer trails up out of the valley onto faces above. Two thick scrubby gullies descend from the faces above and must be crossed - deer trails can help but are vague in thick scrub.

Soon after the second gully a brief dry terrace in the bush offers the only flat dry camp spots I saw in the upper valley.

Not long after the second scrubby gully the valley enters a massive boulderfield covered with thick scrub and fern hiding numerous deep holes and channels. Deer trails become near impossible to follow and the best approach seemed to take a tough, direct route through the boulderfield back into good beech forest beyond and upstream. Reasonable deer trails then lead through scrubby beech to the bushedge.

Above the bushedge narrow marshy clearings follow the river until the entire valley opens to marshy tussock at the point the river swings north. Leave the river and valley and climb due west to the obvious saddle on the western valleyside: the Worsley Pass.

Looking 300m west of the saddle into the head of the Wild Natives river a boulderfield consisting of a single large boulder surrounded by many smaller ones is visible 100m from the river on a terrace on the southern valleyside. The largest boulder is the Worsley Rock Biv - with good sandy flat shelter on the western side - large enough for a couple of tents with much more dry but uneven space for cooking, etc. The last 50m to the biv is very scrubby and water is hard to find at the biv site, so collect some from creek before you make the scrub-bash.

Exposed flay dry campspots also exist on the brow of the escarpment 200m west of the biv.

Forks to Biv 2.5-4 hours

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description