Distance: 3.0 km (1.5 DOC hours) - Tramping track - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 716m to 1080m. Gain: 36m. Loss: 386m . Gradient: 8 deg (Moderate)
Skills:

Tramping track (4/9)
Cut, marked tramping track: natural, rough ground surface

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Easy-moderate (difficulty: 2/5)
Tussock / river-gravel / open bush / cut track

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

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

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

Climbing the short track back to the ridgeline, continue south along the ridgeline on a broad track / old roadbed through contorta pine. Protected from the westerly by the pines, it is a pleasant walk. Soon a large grassy clearing appears ahead, scattered with a few lone mature pines. A signpost points left to the Lotkow road.

The track drops east off Black Birch Ridge the valley below is revealed – an unbroken sequence of native bush. The descent is steep and slippery, but the track well cut as it drops down the narrow spur. Lower, the spur levels, become a ridge dividing the valley into two separate catchments, one flowing north, one south. A gravel road climbs from the valley floor to the north to meet us at the southern end of the track.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description