Distance: 3.4 km (5.0 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, hard - Hard terrain
Altitude: 606m to 1257m. Gain: 657m. Loss: 16m . Gradient: 12 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: - Prolonged rivers (4/6)

Unmarked route, hard (8/9)
Unmarked route, no clear geographic features to follow

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

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Continuous moderate climbs

Hard (difficulty: 5/5)
Thick scrub-bash / continuous river boulders, waterfalls, or gorges

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

Prolonged rivers (difficulty: 4/6)
Frequent river travel - impassible after rain, risk of getting trapped

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

After heading downstream from Anatoki Forks Hut for roughly 5 to 10 minutes, bash down to the river bed to the old hut site. Cross the river (at roughly grid reference 673 682), and after crossing make your way up on top of the river terrace. As with any major river, if there has been any significant rain the Anatoki River cannot be crossed safely. Once you reach the terrace, travel NNW through thick scrub until you get to the unmarked creek that begins from the saddle between points 1407 and 1348.

Stay in the creek bed for easier travel, leaving to bash up the sides at obvious points. You can sidle, but this is difficult at points due to sections of very thick scrub. I found I could stay in the bed itself for most of the travel up this stream. Roughly at the 1000m contour the staircase creek becomes waterfalls, and easier travel can be found on the true left along animal trails. Continue this up to the saddle, where you will see an obvious cairn.

This route has no markings and is seldomly used, however the creek itself is quite navigable and only your boots will get wet in normal flows.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description