Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 631m to 785m. Gain: 176m. Loss: 35m . Gradient: 1 deg (Gentle)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
From Red Hut a 4WD track runs up the eastern side of the valley for quite some distance and makes for simple travel. The turn off to the Dasler Pinnacles is not sign posted but an orange triangle is visible at the bush edge if you are looking out for it.
In November 2023 Elcho Hut was clearly visible across the valley when oposite it but the river was running too swift here to safely cross. Roughly opposite from where Cullers Hut is (not visible from the Hopkins River) the river ran hard up against the eastern bush edge and continuing upriver on the true left would involve climbing high above the river through the bush over a bank, so we crossed here (mid thigh deep, very swift current). Continuing upriver on the true right, we crossed back to the true left over some islands and channels near the southern end of the Dodger fan. A ramp leads up through an old gateless fence, and then open grassy travel heads over the fan to the Dodger Stream. After crossing the stream, a small 50m section of open bush leads to more open grass on the northern side of the fan.
A 4WD track climbs straight east from the river up the fan to the bush edge, then runs north against the bush before dropping northwest off the fan by the stream by Dodger Hut, but this can be ignored by simply walking across the fan. A poled route can be picked up and followed for a few hundred metres near the top of the bank over the Hopkins before dropping off the northern end of the fan, crossing the stream, and rounding a small tongue of bush. Dodger Hut is located at the bush edge on the north side of the bush tongue.