Cedar Flat

6 – 8 February 2020

The last 400m of Middlebranch Road to the Kokatahi car-park has been scoured by floods so our Corolla, laden with four trampers scraped the road in a few places. Kevin and Heather were arriving later. By 11:30, we were walking through very green field. We said ‘hello’ to a big herd of beautiful yearling jersey cows, then onto a pedestrian gate and the track. At the start of the flood track, we decided on the low route and found that manageable. At the far end of the flood track, a formidable side stream made us hesitate and choose carefully which torrent to cross. The exit from the flood track looked difficult.

We got to the hut by late afternoon, taking more than the suggested 3½ hours. A couple arrived soon after with two dogs. We didn’t object to the dogs being in the hut because they were very quiet and were search and rescue dogs so they deserved to be pampered! Later in the day, Kevin and Heather arrived to join our band. Very late in the day another group of eight arrived and divided themselves between the old hut and tents. They cooked dinner on the new hut’s deck. Our dinner had been lentil spaghetti with a fresh leek and runner beans. The lentils went into the mix late so were quite chewy.

Cedar Flat Hut had a resident possum and an almost permanent possum trapper. Dave, a mine of local information, told us of a track to Allan Knob had been re-cut in the last year. We had thought of taking the track to Jumble-top, but the hut’s wall-map says it’s un-maintained. The track to the knob is steep in places and fairly rudimentary. From Allan Knob you can go to Crinkle Top and Pinnacle Bivvy then down to Boo Boo Hut on the Kokatahi River.