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DOC Land
Altitude: 429m to 921m. Gain: 540m. Loss: 177m . Gradient: 5 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
The track starts at a signposted gate / stile on the east bank of Redcliffe Stream at the road bridge. The sparsely poled / marked track follows the bank / riverbed until it reaches the start of an old farm track visible climbing the eastern valley side. The track climbs Jack Stream, swinging away from the Redcliffe & is vague in places, before cutting back onto the spur between Jack & Redcliffe where Jack Stream swings SE. From here the old 4WD track descends back into flats in Redcliffe Stream where it encounters a fenceline. From here you follow the fenceline up the remainder of the valley to the long, flat saddle above.
The 5 km-or-so of flats on Redcliff Saddle are in pasture & are farmed. The track follows the east side of the fenceline, sidling low above the flats, remaining on DOC land. Where the farmland ends, cut west along the fenceline to the 4WD track, which can be followed down into the Swift River valley below. Tribulation Hut is 1 km downriver on the east bank. The river crossing was ankle deep after gentle persistent rain.
Various landowner-rants in the Tribulation Hut book state the land west of the Swift River at Tribulation Hut is private. This is not the case - the only private land is the pasture-flats; these are north of pt. 823; they include Cookies Flat, Redcliff Saddle, & the cliffs bound by the Cascade Glen, north of pt. 907. The faces & ranges immediately due west & due east of Tribulation Hut are crown-owned PCL - part of the DOC estate.
3-5 hrs.