Edwards Hut

2-3 May 2026

A spell of good weather lured us and many others into the mountains. We set out from Greyneys Shelter at 09:30 and soon crossed a fairly low Bealey River just below where the Mingha flows into it.  A big triangle directed us onto a forest track which avoids the lower 1 km of the Edwards River as it cuts a corner. Patches of forest track and river flat led to the East Branch of the Edwards, then it was forest track for the next 3km. The track winds in and out of gullies and rises high enough for the trees to be stunted as they struggle to flourish on rocky patches.

 One memorable spot on this leg of the Edwards Track was the waterfall viewpoint.

 Getting near the hut we knew to look for blue ducks and were rewarded as a pair perched quietly on river boulders. 400m from the hut some of us knew to pick up firewood as there is usually very little at the hut.

With our five and various other groups, the hut was nearly full and later a father and daughter team arrived. The girl must have been nine or ten and had found the track fairly taxing. There are lots of places where you need to haul yourself up using tree roots. The dad and daughter brought out a pack of UNO cards, and Wendy joined them for a game. Kerry joined when he saw that the rules weren’t too complex and it seemed like fun.

Chris volunteered to provide dinner. Kerry had suggested a minimal, easy, macaroni and cheese with no trimmings. Chris elevated the meal with special touches and we gobbled it down gratefully. Kerry’s standard 3C’s&A (custard, coconut, chocolate with apricot) was also successful, with some left over as a topping for muesli in the morning. The evening grew cold, so the fire was stoked with the little wood available; never-mind the people who in future might arrive cold and wet at the hut.

On a frosty Sunday morning, the hut came alive at first light. Keith, Wang and Kerry crossed the Edwards and headed up through scrub towards Williams Saddle. Chris had another cuppa in bed waiting for the sun to catch the superb view of tarns above the hut. A kea visited the hut to say hello.

The saddle walkers made the common mistake of staying too long in the stream bed and exited towards a rocky patch, needing to descend to find a good approach to the saddle. The map shows a gentler gradient fairly close to the main stream from the saddle. We entered the forest and found a campsite and easy travel in a NE direction, then the gentle contours vanished and it was the usual hard descent avoiding bluffy bits and dense phyllocladus alpinus patches. The map showed a scree running to the river and we reached it, but it wasn’t the highway we were hoping for. It was steep and coarse, requiring care not to send rocks onto people below. It got us to the Mingha where we had to cross it a few times before meeting the main track. 

Keith hales from Kentucky and the famous derby was about to run. Rather than guess the outcome of the race a track-side commentary was needed. Wanganui Wang was good in the wet and Kerikeri Kerry could handle a rough track. On the day Kentucky Keith showed good speed in the home straight and stayed out front all the way to the finishing post. In the next event, on a different course, the favourites, Cruisy Chris and Willing Wendy dead-heated for first. All contestants boarded the transporter and headed back to greener pastures.

We were: Wendy McCaughan, Chris Leaver, Wang, Keith Hoard and Kerry Moore.  KM