Archive Of Remote Huts Removed Or Lost

The following is an archive of some of the huts from the website area that have been destroyed, or removed and not replaced. Shots of original huts replaced by newer structures can be found on the relevant hutpages.

Cropp Hut

(Cropp Hut: Photo Andy Innes 1981)

Cropp Hut was located in the Cropp basin in the Whitcombe valley. The setting was idyllic tussock flats surrounded by alpine forest, waterfalls, and the peaks of Galena Ridge. There were some great high-level routes to the upper Waitaha and Mikonui catchments. Cropp Hut was a six-bunker built by the NZFS. Cropp Hut had an open fire initially and was modified by the Ministry of Works Meteorological division in the late 1960's and used a base for rainfall and riverflow monitoring (the Cropp has the NZ record for the heaviest measured rainfall in a 24 hour period). The Hut was insulated and lined, and had a coal range installed. The batts used for insulation were the its undoing in the early 1990's when the Hut was washed off its piles by during a flash-flood. DOC had intended to repair the Hut, but discovered that the sodden insulation had rotted the frame beyond salvation. The Permolat Group has suggested that DOC fly a hut or biv designated for removal up to the basin. They haven't been keen on this idea so far. Pity!

Jumbletop Biv

(Peter Rouse at the newly built Jumbletop Biv: Photo Ron Turner 1957)

Jumbletop Biv was built in 1957 on a flat bench just below the crest of the Diedrich Range between Jumbletop and Mt. O'Connor. The builders were P.R. (Jock) Fisher, Merv Ellwood, Ross Courtney, and Ron Turner of the NZFS. At 1500m altitude the site was probably a bit too high. The Biv's simple 2x2 rimu frame was probably crushed by snow some time in the 1960's. It was already a flattened mass of iron when I first traversed Jumbletop in 1976. Ron Turner was kind enough to send me a couple of photos (double click on the photo above) when I set the website up. He confessed to being embarrased about the graffiti they painted on the rocks.

Knobby Ridge Biv

(Knobby Ridge Biv and Mt. Robinson: Photo Andrew Buglass 1977)

Knobby Ridge Biv was located on the Diedrich Range on a flat area East of Mt. Robinson. Knobby Ridge separates the Hokitika valley from the Kowhiterangi Plain. The Biv was a second generation NZFS design built in the 1960's with corrugated iron roof and louvre windows. The track to it up Knobby Ridge was a long grind even when it was in good condition. There were stunning views from the Biv out over the Kowhiterangi Plain and the reasonable sized tarn next to it provided water. The access track was already starting to overgrow in 1977 during my first and only visit, and it took us around five hours to get down. NZFS did some extensive maintenance in February 1984. The Biv would have been in prime condition when DOC, in the late 80's, in one of its more inane moves, removed it for use as radio shack down on the plain. It must have cost them a fair bit to fly it down. The Biv was recently rediscovered on the farm track that runs beside the Punakaiki River at the end of the Inland Pack Track. It's only a few minutes upstream from the car park at the end of Waikori Road. How long it's been there or how it got there, we do not know. At the moment it has one mattress resting on the floor and a crude table inside. It leaks.

Noisy Biv

(Duncan Hamilton at Noisy Biv: Photo Glenn Johnston 1975)

Noisy Biv was located on the TR of the Noisy Creek basin in the Whitcombe Valley. It was built in the late 1950's and provided a stopover between Frews Hut and the no-longer-existant Cropp Basin Hut. The Biv was not maintained by DOC after it took over from NZFS in 1986, and became increasingly delapidated over the years. It was blown off its piles at some point and ended up down nearer to the Creek. Noisy Biv was designated for removal in DOC's 2003/ 4 Review and removed in 2006. It was dropped in an irrepairable state in the Hokitika Dump. I used a few of its intact rafters and some of its iron cladding to repair Whitehorn Biv, which was removed and dumped at the same time. The track up to Noisy Basin is to be maintained by DOC as part of a circuit over to Mikonui Spur Biv. The track from the Noisy Creek tops down into the Cropp basin hasn't been maintained and is seriously overgrown, possibly unuseable. There is a rumour in the air that there is a possible community proposal for the construction of a high-stud Biv (see Rapid Creek Biv) in Noisy Creek Basin. Let's keep our fingers crossed on that one.

Rapid Creek Biv

(Rapid Creek Biv: Photo Glenn Johnston 1975)

Rapid Creek Biv enjoyed a brief existance on the North faces of Mt. Bowen in the head of Rapid Creek in the Hokitika valley. It was built in 1974 and was one of the last of a new generation of high-stud Bivs built by the NZFS. Rapid Creek was lined, and had two bunks. The views were stunning and hardly anybody went there. Access to the Biv was up the Miserable Ridge tops track from Rapid Creek into the montane zone. From here you dropped down a gut into Rapid Creek and followed it up into the headwaters. There was a steep ridge climb from the Creek up to the Biv. Rapid Creek Biv was still in mint condition in the late 1980's when DOC decided to remove it (along with Knobby Ridge Biv), at considerable expense no doubt, to be used as a radio shack down in civilisation.

Sentry Biv

Sentry Biv was located above the Toaroha valley on Point 1210m on Table Spur, a couple of hundred meters below the summit of Squall Peak. It was a standard NZFS two-person 1960's design with corrugated iron roof and a louvre window at the end. The Biv had a rather brief existence and I'm not sure what happened to it. It was clearly delapidated when we first cast eyes on it around 1973 from the top of Squall Peak. The route down to it was steep and a bit exposed in places with a band of alpine scrub, so we flagged going down to it that time. Curiosity got the better of us on a subsequent trip, and on a sizzling hot day we made the journey down. The door was off and there was a sheet of iron missing from the roof. Old rusting cans, various FS utensils, and spent 303 cartridges littered the ground around it. The Biv probably wasn't beyond repair at that stage although there didn't appear to be a good water supply in the vicinity. The climb back up to Squall Peak through the scrub didn't endear us to making any future visits. I'm not sure whether the Biv just crumbled away after that, or was removed at some point. Recent attempts to visually locate its remnants from Squall Peak have proved fruitless and I'm not keen to go back down and have a look.

Seven Mile Hut

(Seven Mile Hut: Photo Glenn Johnston 2008)

Seven Mile Hut was an iconic NZFS roadend hut located in the lower Taipo valley. It was built in the late 1950's as a standard six-bunk design, and extended and modified over the years. Accessible via a gravel road and farm track from SH 73, it was vulnerable to periodic trashings by hoons, but always seemed to miraculously restore itself back to a state of homely, semi-dereliction. Local hunters and possumers adopted it periodically, patched it up, and added various items to make it cosier. DOC never did any maintenance on it after taking over from the NZFS, but the Hut was always dry and occasionally tidy. Seven Mile was particularly useful if doing a late night dash from Christchurch. If Seven Mile Creek was running high it was a good place to hang out and wait. Even though there are two Huts on the upriver side of Seven Mile Creek (the new and the old Dillons huts) it would have been worthwhile keeping Seven Mile there.

Squid Hut

(Squid Hut: Photo Andrew Buglass 2005)

Squid Hut was built in the late 1950's on the TR of the Kokatahi River. The Kokatahi had tracks and huts on both sides of the valley, but after Lands and Survey took over its management from the NZFS in the mid 1980's they had to rationalise, and the TR got left to revert back to bush. As time went on fewer and fewer folk ventured up that side and the tracks began to vanish. Scant information was available about the condition of and access to the two huts on the TR, Squid and Whites. Both were designated for removal in DOC's 2003/ 4 Review. Whites was delapidated and barely intact so that was understandable. Squid however, was reportedly OK and salvable. In 2005 we decided to visit Squid. The track was followable in a few places, but generally very overgrown. We needed GPS to find the Hut in the regenerating hardwoods on the terrace where it was located, even though we were only a few hundred metres awfrom it. A vertical face cloaked in forest a few metres from the Hut dropped more than a hundred of metres into the Whakarira Gorge. Squid's floor and chimney were rotting, but its upper frame was dry and in good shape. A local possumer had lived there for a time in the early 1990's, but there was little sign of recent visitation. The Hut was added to the website and a lively debate followed as to whether Permolat would take it on as a maintain-by-community project. DOC were open to the proposal and the group had just decided to go ahead with it when Squid burned down. It had been getting a few more visits since we'd trimmed and marked the track and someone had possibly left a fire going in the delapidated fireplace.

Styx Saddle Hut

(Styx Saddle Hut: Photo Glenn Johnston 1976)

Styx Saddle Hut was located on the Browning Pass track on the Arahura side of Styx Saddle. It would have been a good one to preserve, being of reasonably high historic value. The Hut is marked on a map published in June 1906, so it or a predecessor may well have been built during the construction of the track in the 1800's. I remember stopping here on my first real tramp in 1972. The Hut was framed with timber cut and hewn from the forest and clad in corrugated iron. Bunks were of sacking and the beams and studs were a treasure trove of local history. The names carved or written in charcoal went way back way back and included the infamous Stan Graham of "Bad Blood" fame. The Hut was demolished several decades back, but the hut-site is still clearly visible next to the bench track, just down from Styx Saddle on the way to Mudflats Hut.

Whitehorn Spur Biv

(Whitehorn Spur Biv looking over to the Main Divide: Photo Geoff Spearpoint 2004)

Whitehorn Spur Biv was located in the tussock zone on Whitehorn Spur at the Southern end of the Browning Range. An old NZFS track provided access to it from Crawford Junction in the Kokatahi valley. The Biv was built by the NZFS in the late 1950's, but was seldom visited, even in its heyday. There was a good tops traverse that could be done from it along the Browning Range to Browning Biv. Whitehorn Biv developed a serious roof leak in the 1970's, but nothing was done about it. No maintenance of the Biv or of the access track was done by DOC after it took over management of the valley from Lands And Survey in the 1980's. At a certain point the roof caved in, probably due to snow pressure, and the Biv became pretty much uninhabitable. It was designated for removal in DOC's 2004 High Country review and removed in 2006. We rescued the Biv from the Hokitika Dump, fixed it up, and it is now sitting on a property in the Arahura Valley awaiting its next assignment. The Permolat Group has deliberated recutting the Whitehorn Spur track from Crawford Junction tops. If this were done it would be great to put the Biv back on the Spur, perhaps at a slightly lower altitude. What about it DOC?

Whites Hut

Whites Hut was built in the late 1950's and was located high on a terrace the TL of the TL branch of Whites Creek (around 300m altitude and E145376/ N524623). I have very little information about its level of use or history and no photographs. Along with Squid Hut, Whites became rapidly isolated and unused as tracks on the TR of the Kokatahi deteriorated from early 1980's onward. DOC sent a foot party in to inventory Squid and Whites in 1996 in their post Cave Creek panic. The track was unusable by then and the party accessed the Hut directly from the Kokatahi riverbed. It was surrounded by dense hardwood regrowth, but still intact and upright. The entire frame and floor was rotten however, and the floorboards caved in under the weight of the visitors' feet. Whites was designated for removal in DOC's 2003/ 4 Review and removed in 2006.

Wren Creek Hut

(Wren Creek Hut: Photo Ted Smith 1961)

Wren Creek Hut was probably built in the late 1950's. It was a 4-bunker with an open fire located in the Wren Creek Basin above Cedar Flat in the Toaroha valley. Below the Hut the Creek is relatively flat for a few hundred metres before plunging down a series of falls and impassible gorge into the Toaroha. Access to Wren Creek basin was via a ridge track on the TR of Wren Creek that went up onto Alan Knob. A side-track led from a knoll in the sub-alpine zone down into the basin. Wren Creek was very seldom visited, even in its heyday. The Creek went through it in the early 1970's causing structural damage and NZFS chose not to repair it. I spent a night there in 1986. The front end of the Hut had collapsed by that stage, but the rear was intact and upright and the bunks dry. At that stage the track to Alan Knob was still OK, but the side track down into the basin had become overgrown and it was difficult to follow. The Alan Knob track may still be OK to follow and it's possibly had the odd trim by possumers or hunters over the years. The Hut is likely to be a pile of rusty iron by now. Wren Creek basin is a short, narrow, hanging valley, and the faces of the Toaraha Range above it are steep and gnarly looking in most places.