Daniel planned a pretty good base-camp track-cutting adventure to Rapid Creek. After initial excitement and many sign-outs, four of us left Christchurch on a chilly autumn morning and headed to the West Coast, aiming for the Hokitika Gorge car park. From there, we followed a 4WD track along the Hokitika River to a cableway crossing. It was pretty fun getting across. George, a prospective member who set off later to chase us, apparently managed to cross by himself by pulling himself across the river in the cableway using just his hands.
After dropping our packs at Rapid Creek Hut, we ventured off to cut the track to Mt Browne. Rachel and I headed for the higher sections, while Daniel and Garry tackled the windfall lower down. Rachel soon decided she wasn’t feeling it that day and turned back, while I made it up to around the 1000m contour, maintaining the track as I went. I have to say, it was in pretty good condition already and it didn’t require as much attention as I expected. I turned back and reached Rapid Creek Hut before dark.
The next day, Rachel and I decided to climb up to Miserable Ridge and cross to Explorer Hut. The track to Miserable Ridge from the Rapid Creek side starts near where a bridge across Rapid Creek used to be and climbs steeply – about 1300m over just three horizontal kilometres. We left the lower sections for Garry and Daniel while we aimed to clear the upper parts. There was a lot of flax to cut, so we focused on the worst bits and the scrub that had fallen across the track. Just before we reached the top, George caught up with us, and we had lunch together. While George returned to Rapid Creek, cutting as he went, Rachel and I continued towards pt1433. It’s a pretty steep route up, I can tell you, but not too exposed – though some sections of steep tussock could be quite “fun” on the way down when wet.
When we reached the top, it started raining, so we didn’t linger and kept pushing towards pt1177. This part was the crux of the crossing for us – not because of technical difficulty but because we were caught in thick fog, and navigating among the similar-looking ridges was tricky. I think a couple of waratahs would be great up there to indicate the correct ridge to take, as there are several options, and in low visibility, it was not easy to tell. It’d certainly be much easier to navigate in fog on the way up. Following markers wasn’t an option since it’s still mostly just tussock in the higher parts. We nailed the correct descending ridge anyway so I guess that it wasn’t that bad. When we finally came across some cuts, it was clear that we’re on the right ridge.
A couple of people had mentioned a steep section around the 1270m contour, but to be honest, I didn’t even notice it. It might be more prominent in the other direction, but for us, it felt much the same. Once we left the scrub, the terrain looked flat on the map, but there were still a few knobs to climb over before finally reaching an easier, faster section about half a kilometre before pt1122. It took us about two hours to travel between pt1433 and pt1122. From pt1122 down to Explorer Hut, it was “just” another 1 hour and 30 minutes of relatively easy travel – at least compared to the previous scrubby section between pt1177 and pt1433. The whole crossing from Rapid Creek Hut to Explorer hut took us 9 hours, but that includes some track cutting so I reckon that a fit person can do it in 7-8 hours easily.
We spent the night at Explorer Hut. The next morning, we left before sunrise, unsure how long the journey back to Hokitika Gorge would take. We had arranged to meet Daniel’s group there at 1 pm. The route from Explorer Hut follows a bush track initially, which could use some maintenance (quite a few windfalls), before entering Doctor Creek, which was easy to travel through. From the confluence with Vanina Stream, there’s a continuous track marked on the Topo map. However, in reality, the track is short and soon disappears into the riverbed again, only to reappear just before Smith Gorge. We got a bit muddled there, searching for a track that didn’t exist.
Another point of confusion came where the Topo map shows the route entering Surveyors Stream and following it for about 700m on the bench on the right. Well, once again, there’s no actual track – the route just follows the stream bed. The track at Minnow Creek is very flat and a place of immense beauty – about as scenic as a flat stream can get, with plenty of good camping spots and swimming holes. The final steep descent to the Hokitika River was surprisingly cruisy – not as steep as expected. It took us 4 hours and 30 minutes to get from Explorer Hut to the Hokitika River, including about 30 minutes of searching for non-existent tracks. The Hokitika River was fairly low, and we crossed it right where the track meets the Hokitika River.
It was a great, challenging tramp with excellent company and plenty of track-cutting done.
Stats:
Hokitika Gorge to Rapid Creek Hut: 9 km, 2 h 30 min, 50 m ascent (see the TopoMap, download below)
Rapid Creek Hut to Explorer Hut: 10.7 km, 9 h (includes track cutting), 1670 m ascent (see the TopoMap, download below)
Explorer Hut to Hokitika Gorge: 10 km, 5 h 20 min, 280 m ascent (see the TopoMap, download below)
Participants: Daniel Gillies (leader), Michal Klajban (photos, scribe, GPX), Garry Sotheran, Rachel Perkinson, George Williams
Tramped on 8-9th March 2025.
Photos
Maps
Hokitika Gorge to Rapid Creek Hut and up to the bushline of Mt Browne
Max elevation: 976 m
Min elevation: 85 m
Rapid Creek Hut to Explorer Hut
Max elevation: 1421 m
Min elevation: 117 m
Explorer Hut to Hokitika Gorge
Max elevation: 474 m
Min elevation: 85 m
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