Kakapo Hut – Little Wanganui circuit

18 – 21 December 2023

Clambering up the side-stream draining the Black Lakes, we came around a corner in the gorge to see Bill gazing up at a 40m waterfall. He turned, and laconically remarked “Now what’s the plan?” For those of us, who enjoy rambling around in the back country away from tracks, obstacles shouldn’t come as a surprise, but neither the topographic map had shown the waterfall, nor had another party, who had recently descended the side-stream, mentioned it! The small gorge didn’t appear to offer any easy way of bypassing it, so after some discussion, we decided to drop back down to the Kakapo River and look for the newly cut track over Kakapo Saddle.

Kakapo Hut is tucked into the west side of Kahurangi National Park; one of those places that lies outside the club’s normal tramping and climbing haunts. On the map, its location looked intriguing. The catchment lies north of the Wangapeka Track, draining steep, rugged granite country. An outlier of younger Tertiary sediments, between Stormy Ridge and Scarlett Range, forms more subdued topography, and provides the line for a recently cut track from the Little Wanganui River to the Kakapo River. The other motive for a multiday trip was to try to acquire some much-needed fitness for the upcoming February alpine trip.

At the early morning rendezvous at Peter’s place, we managed to squeeze five chaps plus their gear into Mike’s Toyota Camry for the long drive to Karamea, broken by an obligatory ‘refueling’ stop for coffee and food at the Reefton Bakery. The first obstacle we encountered, a fallen tree, about 500m from the start of the Wangapeka Track, blocked the road. It was too large for us to remove, so we parked the car on the roadside and ate a late lunch before heading up the road to the start of the track. During recent floods, the Little Wanganui River has encroached on the old track, and the new route meandered around scrubby flats and along the river bank before picking up the old road line to Gilmor Clearing. It was a hot, humid, afternoon plod into the new Belltown Manunui Hut. Signs of the recent heavy rain were evident with pools of water on the track and the river running high. 

The new 10 bunk hut was constructed last year, a 20-minute walk downstream from the old hut site. It’s on a sunny terrace above Lawrence Stream. https://www.backcountrytrust.org.nz/kaimahi-blog/belltown-mananui-hut-relocation
A large area had been cleared of fallen trees and white granite boulders marked out the clearing and helicopter pad. A solitary Czech tramper was in residence, but he didn’t have a lot to say.

Tuesday was another hot and very humid day. Bill was up, packing and organising a brew before the rest of the party started stirring, so we got another early start! Behind the old Belltown–Mananui hut site a white permolat marker indicates the start of the newly recut track. The track, which is not marked on topographic maps, climbs up Drain Creek, sidles around to Lawrence Saddle before dropping down to Bellbird Stream. This is followed by an open area, then a steep climb up to the locally named ‘Unknown Saddle’ above the Kakapo River. Once over the saddle, we started seeing signs of an earlier track—old blazes and rock work—as we scrambled down and up old screes, before sidling down to the Kakapo River. We stopped in the forest for lunch. Bill and Gary began an in-depth discussion on the Battle of Normandy, prompted by a book Bill had been reading recently and Gary and Margot’s visit to the invasion beaches.

The Kakapo River is in a very attractive valley—a lively river flowing down granite boulders, surrounded by a mix of lush beech and flowering kamahi forest. With the aid of his newly acquired book on fungi Gary was able to identify lots of interesting fungi on logs and trees. The last section of the track to Kakapo Hut was straightforward, following a DOC biosecurity line up the valley, marked with somewhat ostentatious, pink triangles.

Kakapo Hut is an old classic, 4-bunk New Zealand Forest Service hut. After decades of neglect, several work-parties have restored the hut, cleared away surrounding vegetation, and it is now in good condition. The valley doesn’t get many visitors. The hut log book went back to March 2009 and the last entry was in October when a DOC team checked the trap lines. As we arrived mid-afternoon, there was plenty of time for brews, a chilly dip in the river and an opportunity to potter around the valley in the vicinity of the hut.

Despite the setback to our planned route over to Little Wanganui Saddle and the prospect of a long day, we headed up the true left of the Kakapo River, clambering through the riverbank scrub and bush for about a kilometre or so until we picked up markers indicating the start of the Kakapo Saddle Track. Like the Lawrence Saddle Track, the track is not shown on topographic maps. Fortunately, the track has been recently recut and marked up to the saddle and down the true left of Herbert Creek. After a very pleasant lunch-break on the saddle, we dropped down the Herbert Creek Track to the Wangapeka Track and headed up the valley through the beech forest to Taipo Hut for a brief stop, before the final 400m slog up to Stag Flat Bivvy and Little Wanganui Saddle. Taipo Hut is an interesting design with the main living area orientated to capture the views of the upper Taipo Valley, Mt Zetland and the Zetland Basin.

Surprisingly, for such a well-known walk, we encountered very few people on the track. Before Taipo Hut, a woman runner passed us, pausing briefly to say that she was doing a circuit of Kahurangi National Park. Apart from meeting people on the first and last day, we saw no other people on the track.

On the last night we camped on Little Wanganui Saddle in the tussock by Saddle Lakes. A superb spot with great views down the Little Wanganui and Taipo valleys, the surrounding peaks, and later, a stunning night sky. During the night, the wind picked up and rustled the tents for a while, but fortunately for us, camping in such an exposed spot, it didn’t blow any harder.

We made another very early start on our final day, as we intended to drive back to Christchurch. The track drops quite steeply down through subalpine scrub and beech forest to Wangapeka Bivvy—another emergency bolt hole in case the saddle was impassable. Below Tangent Creek, numerous slips, wet logs and upended tree-stumps testified to damage caused by the series of cyclones in recent years. The track has been repaired, with support from the Kaimahi for Nature Fund, and is now in a reasonable state, although it no longer follows the old line of the pack track. After a lunch stop at the new Belltown Manunui Hut, it was another very warm three hour walk back through Gilmor Clearing to the car.

Many thanks to the lads for an enjoyable trip, and to Andrew Barker and his team for all their hard work on the Kakapo circuit tracks. We were: Raymond Ford, Gary Huish, Peter Umbers, Bill Templeton and Mike Bourke.   (RF)