Distance: 2.7 km (2.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 914m to 1417m. Gain: 0m. Loss: 503m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Streams (2/6)

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

minor (5/5)
A viable route, not widely used

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

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

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

Descend steep snow grass west of the lake down to Death Creek, following a ridge down to. Cross the stream and head down valley following the true right of Death Creek. Good travel can be had down to about 1100m where light scrub is encountered. Near the bottom of the valley the scrub belt thickens considerably before the creek drops away down a gorge. Make sure you're on the true left side and look for a cairn mounted high up on a large boulder. Behind the boulder a ground trail pushes through knee high scrub high above the true left side of the stream before dropping straight down for the bush tongue extending up from the Kay. Reach reasonably open beech forest, and drop down through the bush via a gully to reach scrubby open flats just north of Kay Creek Hut. Locate a large orange triangle which marks the beginning of the Kay Creek track and follow it for about 100m to the historic Kay Creek hut which was restored in 2016.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From tree line, push northwestwards though low scrub to reach the forest above Death Creek. Climb up through the trees via a gully and when you hit the tree line try and locate a trail that leads through the knee high scrub climbing further up the hill. Drop down to Death Creek once you spot the cairn on the boulder. Initially follow the true left through light scrub but cross to the true right once the going opens up and continue up valley. The outlet stream from the unnamed tarn in Death Valley is where you cross Death Creek back to the true left. Begin climbing a ridge here which leads all the way up to just west of the tarn. Make your way north around the tarn and drop down to the large plateau at 1400m.