Distance: 3.8 km (2.5 DOC hours) - Unmarked route, clear - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 566m to 1101m. Gain: 353m. Loss: 577m . Gradient: 14 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)

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-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Tall, walkable scrub / large rocks, occasional waterfalls or gorges in rivers

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

Occasional rivers (difficulty: 3/6)
Occasional rivers - impassible after heavy rain

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

A rough route with scrub high up joins Haukura Biv and Herepai.

From the former biv site, climb southg to pt1127. A good, obvious ridge leads NE, initally through rock and tussock. Following this down you enter a band of scrub and leatherleaf - but good game trails (2006) keep a route open down the top of the spur. Plenty of pushing through scrub, but not to the extent of crawling!

By pt853 you enter good, mature open bush. Thick game trails lead NE down first a spur, later a broad face to the river. The river was ankle deep and easily crossable in late winter when I visited. Heading briefly downstream I passed a small sidecreek (shown by contours on the map) draining from the NW, then climbed the gentle bush face west to intersect the Herepai track on the ridge.

An easy 500m tramp up the Herepai Track followed to reach the hut.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description