12-16 March 2024

Leader: Elisabeth Hynes

Day 1 - Muddy Creek car park to Shelter Rock Hut (Elisabeth). Seven of us left Kinloch Lodge just after 8am. Both cars made it to Muddy Creek car park without any problems. We attached the keylocks for the track transport to the cars and set off up the Rees Valley. The first few hours of the track followed mainly the river bed through private farmland. I expected it to be very boggy and hard going, but other than having to find a way around a few muddy bits here and there and some overgrown sidle tracks, it was fairly easy going. We realised too late that we should have walked up the river bed, which would have saved us quite some time! A special treat was to see a lot of white-tail deer along the way.

Once we got to the Mount Aspiring National Park boundary, a well-marked track meandered through the bush, passing occasional grassy flats. We then crossed a bridge to the west bank of the Rees River. From there the track continued through beautiful beech forest past Clarke Slip to the bush edge. After a few gully crossings we could finally spot the hut on the other side of the river. It was a welcoming site. Time to boil the billy! The hut was quite full, but we all managed to find a bunk.

Day 2 - Shelter Rock Hut to Dart Huts (Glenda). Day two dawned a little grey and misty but soon we were on our way up the Rees Valley. I was quite glad to leave Shelter Rock Hut as some of us were sleeping in a bunkroom separate from the main hut and it featured free-standing tubular steel bunks which creaked, groaned and swayed with every movement! Not to worry, we were soon on our way and the enormity of this great glacier valley opened before us as we worked our way up. It was great to be back in the mighty alpine environment of Mt Aspiring National Park, and it felt good to be there. It took a few hours to work our way through the scrub and tussock and, towards the top, a very steep 100 metres or so to haul ourselves up, before reaching Rees Saddle at 1471 metres. Unfortunately there was too much low cloud around for good views from the saddle, but as we turned, following marker poles, and worked our way across the tussock and tarns toward the upper reaches of Snowy Creek, the mountain tops and the glaciers came into view. Mt Edward with the Marshall and Hesse Glaciers on its flanks looked spectacular.

We worked our way down the steep flanks of Snowy Creek, stopping for lunch amongst the rocks and tussock on the way down. The track was quite steep and narrow in parts, so it was a bit of a scramble and you needed to watch where you put your feet instead of gazing at the scenery. Eventually we reached the Upper Snowy Creek bridge (which is removed in winter because of snow and avalanche danger) and worked our way down through rock and still steep slopes to the lower swing bridge which we crossed to reach Dart Huts soon after. Dart Huts sleep 32 and we all found bunks and settled in for a two night stay. The huts are modern, spacious and in a great location with lovely views. As with all the huts on this circuit, there were flush toilets in the summer season and the standard of facilities was very good – much better than the average backcountry hut in the Tararua Ranges! The huts were fairly full although not overcrowded and there were many overseas travellers as well as the locals.

Day 3 - Dart Glacier (Paula). The forecast for this day was not too good. We knew rain would be coming in so Matt and Thomas left early to ensure they would get to the top of the Cascade Saddle before the weather clagged in. The rest of us left at a more leisurely hour, aiming to at least get to the Dart Glacier, which is exactly what we did. It was a majestic walk along the Dart Valley. Photos do not really show the grandeur of this place. We had mixed weather - at times it was warm and sunny, then cold and windy. We stopped for lunch at the end of the valley and could just see the Dart Glacier.

After lunch we decided to head up some of the way to the saddle to get a better view of the glacier. We were really glad that we did, as with only a short walk up the track we got a great view of the glacier and met Matt and Thomas on their way back down. They had got to the saddle successfully and had got great views before the cloud came in. On our walk back the rain did come in, but not for long. It was a great day's walk.

Day 3 - Cascade Saddle (Thomas). Matt and I woke up at the crack of dawn to get a head start on getting to Cascade Saddle before the forecasted rain came in. We had a 600 m climb over 10 km with an estimated 5 - 6 hours of tramping time. I thought we could do it in 3 hours. Off we went in the early morning, head lights on dim and a pace that resembled a slow jog. We made our way up the Dart River and towards the glacier. Along the river bed we were met by an inquiring Kea, flying down low and following us for short periods of the walk. As we approached the sign for the Dart Glacier, we were very much disappointed in what we saw, a small ice shelf. We turned our gaze to the 400 m steep climb ahead of us. An easy 15 minutes walk later we were delighted with a proper view of the real Dart Glacier. Another 35 minutes of gentle strolling up a scree cliff and we reached Cascade Saddle. And what a view! Back down we went, bumping into the "Geriatrics" on the ascent to the glacier lookout spot. On the walk back the rain had started and the icy wind picked up. We were on a mission to get back to the huts without breaks and solid walking. We were rewarded with the sight of the empty huts.

Day 4 - Dart Huts to Daley’s Flat Hut – 18km – 7 1/2 hours (Sandra). Today we headed off down the valley on the true left of the Dart River/Te Awa Whakatipu. It was a pleasant walk, sidling and descending through beech before emerging onto the 4 km long Cattle Flat. Walking across this undulating flat gave us stunning views all around, with snow on the tops of the ranges on each side. A cold wind blew up at this stage, necessitating the addition of windproof and warm layers.

Back into beech forest for the final leg to the 20 bunk Daley’s Flat Hut. A brief shower of hail fell then the sun re-emerged to warm us. The highlight of the day for me was hearing then seeing a good-sized flock of the endangered mohua (yellowhead), flitting, chattering and feeding through the tops of a grove of ribbonwood not far from the hut. A bellbird was with them. Magic.

Daley's Flat Hut to Chinaman's Bluff car park (Matt). The final day dawned cold but bright and the team had 16 km to cover to reach Chinaman's Bluff car park. We left earlier than usual at 8.15am and had a brisk walk through lovely lowland beech forest, encountering a South Island robin and other birdlife along the way. We also managed to glimpse a hidden turquoise lake formed by two huge slips across the wide Dart River delta.

Soon we were ascending Sandy Bluff, a steep ascent helped by handrails and steps, and then the path evolved into Tararua-like roots and stones... no problem for hardened Parawais, and Thomas took it in his stride. All was still and peaceful in the forest until seven jetboats hooned up the river! Civilisation wasn't too far away. Around lunchtime we emerged from the bush to tussock grass and had lunch in the sun. The track wound its way through tussock and we diverted to see a rock shelter used in case the side creeks are impassable. Pretty impressive. The latter part of the track took us back into lowland forest and parts of the track were graded and Great Walk standard. Thomas took off early to try his hand at gold panning and he emerged at Chinaman's Bluff carpark around 2.10pm with the rest of us arriving at 2.40pm. While he was unsuccessful at gold panning, the swarm of sandflies had a field day biting us, so we quickly got in the cars and made our way back to Kinloch for hot showers and a rest. All in all another memorable trip. Thanks for leading and organising it Elisabeth!

Those on the trip were:

Chris Keating, Elisabeth Hynes, Glenda Robb, Matt Freeland, Paula Richardson, Sandra Rowland, Thomas Hynes