Distance: 4.6 km (4.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate terrain
Altitude: 660m to 1210m. Gain: 576m. Loss: 527m . Gradient: 14 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Prolonged rivers (4/6)

Unmarked route, clear (7/9)
Unmarked route, follows obvious geography (river, spur, trail, etc)

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

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Low scrub in open or bush / river rocks

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

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

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

A well user route runs down the spur from Dorset Hut to the river - unmarked but for occasional flagging tape. Following the river downstream is easy going, but knee to waist deep in pools. After about 1.5km, after the second creek joins from the true left, head up the spur downstream of the forks. This is good climbing in open bush except for a band of cutty-grass between 900 and 100m. At pt1118 you reach the top and join the main McGregor ridge. Follow it up, SE. I didn;t find the tran marked on maps. When you exit the bush into tussock and scrub, climb above the worst of the scrub and sidle left to where McGregor Biv sits on the bushedge on a side-spur dropping north.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From McGregor Biv, climb to the main ridge then follow it down (WNW) into good open bush. Pass a saddle where the map shows a tarn (I didn't see it) and onto the next vague highpoint, pt1118. Head NNW on a bearing, dropping off the main McGregor ridge and picking up the spur dropping to McGregor Creek. The descent is good in open bush except for a band of tall cutty-grass between 1000m and 900m.

On hitting the creek, follow it upriver. Knee to waist deep in normal flows, there are a few pools. Take the northern fork at both major forks, heading for the spur below Dorset Hut.

From the confluence below the hut, ascend the spur to the hut. A good ground trail eists, but not much in the way of markers.