Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 227m to 1043m. Gain: 17m. Loss: 833m . Gradient: 17 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)
Turning off the main Southern Crossing track, the track to Penn Creek is a change to a more typical tramping track. Well cut and marked, but marshy underfoot across the tussock and low scrub of the tops. A steady descent leads 1km to the bushedge, where the real downhill begins. The track pretty-much falls off the tops, and drops continuously to the creek 700m below. At first, brief flats provide a break from the jarring descent, but soon, even they disappear and the gradient is constant and very steep. This is not a trip for the unfit or unsure-of-foot,.
Eventually, Penn Creek is reached. Small campspots exist on the true left where the track hits the creek.
Heading to Penn Creek hut there is the choice of the sidle track or the creek. To follow the track, cut left across the side-creek 20m above the main stream, and pick up the cut, marked track on the far side. This follows the river terrace for 50m or so, before climbing steeply to reach a terrace 50m above, Once there, going is good and flat until 200m before Penn Creek Hut, where the track descends back down to the river bank.
100m before the hut a large triangle on the river bank marks the crossing to the track opposite up to McIntosh high point. If you followed the riverbed rather than the track, this is your cue to leave the creekbed and return to the track to find the hut. Penn Creek Hut is 100m beyond on flat terraces.