Routes
Huts / campsites
Roadends
Summits
Passes / crossings
Scenic features
Junctions
DOC Land
Altitude: 471m to 1360m. Gain: 892m. Loss: 491m . Gradient: 13 deg (Moderate-hard)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6)
Note: The Upper Caples Hut was given/sold to the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association in mid 2014. It is now a private, locked hut. All track markers and signs between the Caples Track and the Caples swing bridge, which used to pass by the hut, have been re located several hundred metres up valley.
The turnoff to Steele Creek on the Caples is clearly signposted. Follow the good quality track which climbs relentlessly to bush line. Above the bush line follow a good ground trail through light scrub and snow grass to Steel Creek Saddle (Point 1359 on the map). There is limited camping here. Follow markers down into Steele Creek. You quickly encounter very thick scrub. You can see marker poles heading down valley but the track is mostly overgrown by the scrub and its a slow scrub bash down valley. The markers enter the bush just below the 1000m contour on the true right side. I lost them very quickly and spent a bit of time looking on the true left side, where the (2009) map shows the track, but never saw anything resembling them on the true left. I ran into markers again further down stream on the true right. I think the track veers high above the true right of the stream, not what the 2009 map says. Follow the track down to cross the western branch of Steele Creek.