Parawai Tramping Club

Old Ghost Road - Kahurangi National Park

12-16 March 2022

Leader: Owen Cox

The Old Ghost Road is an 85km trail that runs from Lyell in the Buller Gorge north to Seddonville. At either end it follows old gold mining trails and the middle three days are recently-completed mountain bike trail. We made it a medium trip and took 5 nights and stayed in four huts which we booked through the trail website.

We had hot sunny weather for the trip. We met up in Westport the night before starting the walk. For transport we had cars and arranged a car ferry with the Seddonville operator. Being a cycle trail the surface is pretty much gravel which means it can be tough on the feet.

Trip Report Photo 1
The track - first day

Day One – Lyell Carpark to Lyell Saddle Hut, 18km, 4-6 hours. The first day was a steady plod up the old gold mining pack track to Lyell Saddle Hut (825 metres). The track climbs pretty much the whole way except the last 4 km which are flat. It passes beautiful beech forest and some old gold mining sites.

Day Two – Lyell Saddle Hut to Ghost Lake Hut, 12km, 3-5 hours. The day starts with a slow zig-zag up through beech forest. At the top the track emerges onto the tops and follows the Lyell Range northeast. It sidles a steep face before dropping through a saddle to Ghost Lake Hut. This hut is in an impressive location above a bluff over-looking a small lake. As an afternoon stroll some of us climbed the ridge to the north of the Lake.

Trip Report Photo 2
Day 2 on Lyell Range

Day Three – Ghost Lake Hut to Stern Valley Hut, 13km, 3-4 hours. The day started with a drop from Ghost Lake which was followed by a short distance along a ridge before another descent down steps. We then crossed a saddle and dropped down into the Stern Valley. We enjoyed seeing some kaka on this stretch. We stopped by one of the bridges over a side stream for lunch and a brief swim. The afternoon was spend lazing around the hut and near the flats.

Day Four – Stern Valley Hut to Specimen Point Hut, 25km, 7-8 hours. This was the longest day. We had low mist for the first couple of hours going up the Earnest Valley. Earnest Valley is open having been covered in rubble by the Murchison earthquake. Near the head of the valley we passed the mist-shrouded Lake Grim and Lake Cheerful. From here we carried on up in mist through the Boneyard (basically an earthquake slip) to reach Solemn Saddle. Here the mist cleared and we dropped down the benched track through Goat Stream to Goat Stream Hut at the fork with the South Branch of the Mokihinui Valley. After a bite to eat we started down the flat Mokihinui Valley. About an hour down we stopped for lunch before heading on to Mokihinui Forks. We spread out for the next stretch which does a bit of up and down to Specimen Point Hut. One of us had a bruising encounter with the track which meant those behind caught up. While the view from Specimen Point is impressive, it is some distance from the river. As it was stinking hot some of us wandered down to the first bridge of a tributary for a quick dip.

Trip Report Photo 3
Ghost Lake

Day Five – Specimen Point Hut to Welcome Bay/Seddonville, 17km, 4-6 hours. On the last day we followed the old mining track down the Mokihinui River. Parts of the gorge are impressive and there are a few cliff sections, with a couple where the track was on bridges bolted to the rock wall. We enjoyed poking around a few of the gold mining relicts on this section.

We got out of the trail early afternoon and then travelled back to Westport for the night and a pub dinner.

Those on the trip were:

Chantal Heller, Julie James, Marian Cox, Owen Cox, Penny Currier, Rob Dey, Sue Sparkes

Trip Report Photo 4
Trip Report Photo 5
Last day
Trip Report Photo 6
Gold mining relics Mokihinui gorge