14-15 March 2025

Leader: Owen Cox

The genesis of this adventure is a little different to most. Kate had planned a leisurely 5-day trip along the southern main range beginning and ending at Otaki Forks. The tramp sounded perfect to me, but sadly it was not to be.

Trampers who earlier expressed interest pulled out for one reason or another including our trip organiser Kate, who hurt her ankle, which necessitated a cunning plan B to be hatched. I had arranged the days off work and was keen to get into the hills, so I joined Owen to knock off Mid King Biv, Dorset Ridge Hut, and Tarn Ridge Hut.

I picked Owen up and we stopped in Clareville for coffee, which was excellent. We set off to The Pines and were ready to start walking at 10am. The weather was looking glorious, with minimal cloud. Over the Barra Track we went and made it to Mitre Flats Hut 3 hours 42 minutes later.

After a cuppa and some lunch, we left at 2:40pm and made our way up the South Mitre Stream to where Baldy Creek enters, which took us about 40 minutes. The travel was a little difficult because of moss covered rocks, which hampered reliable footholds. The creek was eminently traversable whilst lapping the bottom of our shorts at times. On arrival at Baldy Creek we found that the small unnamed creek on the map was no longer there, but about 5 minutes earlier we came across a dried-up creek bed which made for relatively easy travel. We came across tape markers on both sides of Baldy Creek which highlighted the old track up Mid King Spur leading to the bivy.

Tramping up Mid King Spur was relatively easy for four reasons: 1) the spur is narrow for most of its distance, 2) the old track is easy to follow for a good portion of the way, 3) there are a variety of signs that previous trampers had left including cairns, tapes of various colours, and sawn-off branches, which looked to be about 18 months old and done for track marking reasons, and 4) Owen's internal navigation system which seemed to be sixth sense in nature at times. We arrived at the biv 4 hours 20 minutes after leaving Mitre Flats Hut.

The biv was clean and tidy. In the logbook we read that a couple of ladies had been there the night before. We had a comfortable night, waking to the sound of moderate rain and wind. We looked at the sky. Cloud and mist were rolling over the top of the ridge, so we decided to go back to bed for a bit. By 9.45am the weather was looking just as miserable, so we packed up and went up to the ridge for a clearer look. At the ridge our estimate of the weather was confirmed. We agreed that going to the top and along as planned would be unpleasant at best and nasty at worst, so we decided to head home.

We came out via Baldy Creek, South Mitre Creek and Barton Track, stopping at Mitre Flats for a leisurely lunch. It took us just under 3 hours to come down. We came out over the Barra Track, and I couldn’t help but think that there must be a better way to get from The Pines to Mitre Flats…….. Owen thinks not!

All in all, a good couple of days in excellent company with the larger plan scuttled by the weather.

Those on the trip were:

Owen Cox, Viv Roberts

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.