20-30 January 2021
Leader: Owen Cox
This summer a good number of us headed south to the Wilkin and West Matukituki Valleys in Mt Aspiring National Park. The weather was pretty variable but we managed to do much, and in most cases all, of the planned routes.
The first leg was up the Young and over Gillespie Pass. We started from the Blue Pools car park in the Makarora Valley in rain, with fresh snow down to the bush edge from the day before. Quite a full day down the true right of the Makarora River and then up the Young River to Young Hut. We had two nights here because of the snow and rain in the morning. We did walk up the valley to where the track climbs to Gillespie Pass. The next day we headed over the pass and had some snow on the top, which made the first bit of the descent slower. By the time we hit the bottom by Gillespie Stream it was sunny. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon wandering down to Siberia Hut.
We had two nights at Siberia Hut with the plan being to go to Crucible Lake for the day. It rained overnight and part of the morning which brought the Siberia Stream up so we didn’t start walking until after lunch. While the Siberia Stream was still up, we had no real trouble crossing it where the track leaves the main valley. We climbed through the bush to then sidle into the stream headwater below Crucible Lake. The crossing was interesting but with a bit of mutual support we got over without getting too wet. From there we did the steady climb to Crucible Lake. We had been to told to expect rock wrens, but these failed to show themselves. A pretty cool lake and well worth the climb. From here we headed back down. The Siberia Stream was then quite a bit smaller. Once we were over the Siberia Stream, people headed off at varying speeds back to the hut.
The next day was an easy one, just down to Kerin Forks in the main Wilkin Valley. The only tricky bit was crossing the Wilkin River. As the summer wasn’t a drought this was pretty big. Still the Wilkin has a nice bed for river crossings so we joined up in fours or fives and crossed. Just up to my lowest rib in the deepest bit. David and Peter came up in the jet boat with extra food a bit after we’d got to the hut. The weather forecast wasn’t promising for those wanting to go over Rabbit Pass so we stashed some gear as we were now all planning on returning down valley and driving around to the Matukituki.
The next day we headed up the Wilkin to Top Forks Hut. We wasted a bit of time near Top Forks as our front runners overshot the easy crossings, and with the river still not being small, the steeper upper section didn’t look very inviting. After a small backtrack we arrived at Top Forks Hut mid-afternoon. There are two huts here and one has recently been rebuilt.
From Top Forks we walked to the lakes up the North Branch: Lake Diana, Lucidus Lake and Lake Castalia. It was a bit chilly but we still managed to swim in each of the three lakes, plus a fourth in a tarn that is next to Lake Diana. It was pretty frigid by the time we arrived at Lake Castalia.
We then headed back to Kerin Forks with the front runners arriving in time for the jet boat just after lunch. There was no later jet boat because of the wind so most of us had another night in Kerin Forks. By late afternoon we had really strong winds followed by a thunder storm. It cleared in the morning. We jet boated back to Makarora, finding some ass had broken into our car, smashing a couple of windows and nicking gear from the car. So we had to stop off in Wanaka to report the damage and to drop the car off to get new windows. A window needed to be freighted from Christchurch so it would be ready following the weekend.
Nine of us packed into the remaining cars to walk up the West Matukituki to Aspiring hut. From here we headed up the valley to the base of French Ridge. Four of us climbed up the ridge to spend the night in French Ridge Hut. The other five climbed up the other side of the valley to Liverpool Hut for the night. Both tracks are straight up. With awesome weather both groups enjoyed some pretty spectacular views.
The final walk was back down the West Matukituki. The groups both hit the river about the same time. Good enough for a swim about an hour up from the road-end. We then had a night in Wanaka at the Youth Hostel before people headed back to Kapiti via different routes.
Those on the trip were:
Owen Cox, Marian Cox, David Williams, Peter Davis, Paula Richardson, Graham Richardson, Kate Livingston, Sue Pate, Neville Grubner, Marcia Goode, Julie James, John Sturgess, Elisabeth Hines
