Distance: 5.5 km (2.5 DOC hours) - Tramping track - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 190m to 762m. Gain: 505m. Loss: 585m . Gradient: 12 deg (Moderate)
Skills: - Streams (2/6)

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

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

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

An old roadbed heads briefly up the north branch of the Mangaterere stream before the tramping track swings west and starts to climb. The climb is not exciting - the whole area has been logged and it's a steady rise though regenerating bush to reach the 750m ridgeline.

After a wander SW along the ridge, a steep drop follows though mature beech thick with fern-trees and supplejack down to Sayers Hut. The track is marked but there is not a clear ground trail and it can be hard to follow in the dark. The gradient finally flattens, and the bush becomes more diverse, thick trunks of totara, rimu, miro appear, and then Sayer Hut.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description