Campbell Biv
(Campbell Biv looking up the Arahura valley to Mt. Lathrop: Photo Andrew Buglass 2008)
Maintenance Status
Campbell Biv was
designated for removal in DOC's 2003/ 4 High-Country Review. Although it was
in relatively good condition, it was not being used by anyone, and this was deemed reason enough to haul it out.
It's hardly surprising that the Biv wasn't being used. Few if any at the local DOC office would have been able
to tell you anything about Campbell, how to get there, or even where it was exactly.
The story gets weirder. Shortly after the removal decision two
DOC volunteers were flown in to repaint the Biv and wire down its piles. Why would you fix up something
if you were planning to remove it? But hey great, this was the first
official maintenance of any kind done since 1974.
In 2004 some members of Permolat submitted a maintain-by-community proposal in an attempt to
formally retain Campbell. DOC seemed OK with this, but because the Biv is located in
the Waitaiki Historical Reserve, the consent of Mawhera Corporation who manage it is required
for the proposal to
progress. This apparently can't happen until they complete their management plan which has
been in the pipeline for six years now.
DOC has
given an assurance that
the Biv will be
minimally maintained in the meantime.
Location
Arahura catchment. Map BV19. Grid Ref:
E1465770/ N5249140. Altitude 1105m. Campbell Biv is located on the
scrubline of the Campbell Range just opposite Styx saddle.
It is tucked in under a scrubby knoll on a spur that divides
two large side creeks feeding into the upper Arahura. There are
panoramic views of
the Newton, Browning and Campbell Ranges from the Biv.
Campbell is probably the least-visited hut on this site. Neale Elder visited the Biv on behalf of DOC
around 1996 and found the preceding 20 years of its history recorded on a roll of toilet paper. Something like six
visits in total. I first visited Campbell over the tops from Harman Hut in 2001. I wasn't sure
about access straight up from the Arahura valley as there was no route information to be had.
There was nothing to indicate that anyone had been there since Neale.
An intact NZFS food drop sat in a cardboard box under the bunk with
items carefully wrapped in 1974 editions of the
Hokitika Guardian. My next visit was in 2004. The route notes
I had left on the cooking bench in 2001 were undisturbed, as were the dry branches
for kindling I'd put in a food bin. Since being profiled on the site, visits to the Biv have increased
exponentially to around two per year.
Access
Campell Biv is tucked in against a scrubby knoll
on the ridge and is not visible when approching from below, or sidling in from the upper and lower valley
catchments. Even when dropping down the ridge from the tops it doesn't come into view
until you are about 100 metres
directly above it.
There are two fairly direct routes
to Campbell Biv from either the upriver and downriver creek catchments bounding the ridge where it located.
The most direct is from the Styx roadend via Styx Saddle and the upriver
catchment. This can be done in 7-8 hours by a
fit, experienced person. The Styx River is running deep and fast next to the cliff face at the roadend, which for the time being,
makes the Styx track only a fine weather option for most people.
The second, slightly longer option is from the the downriver catchment
and would be useful if you were comimg up or dropping down the Arahura.
For the Styx route, head down the Arahura from Styx Saddle towrds Mudflats.
Drop from the track at a large open dry creek (E1464945/
N5250208) down to the Arahura River. There is a reasonable dry-weather ford a short distance
upstream from here. Cross and head back down the TR of the River a couple of hundred metres to where
the access creek comes in.
The creek is steep and fast flowing in places, but reasonably good
travel.
There are two small waterfalls in the mid section. The lower one has a route
cut and cruise-taped around it on the
TR, and the upper, the same on the TL. Continue up the creek from the top fall to a small
side creek that enters on the TR at
around E1465515/ N5248853.
Head up the side creek following the cruise tape and cairns. It is necessary to slither up
a narrow rocky chute in the creek-bed that opens out
further up. Take the TL fork where the creek branches and follow this past where the water peters out, into a gut.
Near the top of the gut
a lightly marked route exits on the TR and leads up the face through scattered alpine scrub
to the tussock line. From here sidle North across to the ridge.
You should be slightly above Biv level when you hit the ridge. There is a rock cairn
on the ridge 20 metres from the Biv, although its's still not visible, even from this distance.
Allow 3-4 from Grassy Flat Hut to Campbell Biv, or 7-8 hours from the Styx roadend.
To access Campbell Biv from Mudflats Hut, use the route up the downriver side creek catchment.
Head up the main valley track from Mudflats to the first open side creek. Drop
down this to the
River and boulderhop upstream to the access creek. The Arahura should be fordable at a number
of places along this section at normal flows.
DOC have cut and marked a rough track
up the TR from Mudflats for their stoat lines, which could be used if the River is too high to ford.
The access creek is large and
swift flowing. Head up it for around 15 minutes to where a very small side
creek comes in through a
toi toi glade on the TL, around E1465800/ N520098.
The route from here up to the Biv is cairned and cruise-taped.
Push up the creek through the Toi Toi for 200m to a slip on the TR. Climb up and around this
and into a steep, dry-rock gut. This provides easy, open travel all the way to the alpine scrub zone.
At the top of the the gut permolat
and a cairn mark the start of a short trail through the scrub over to a side ridge.
The ridge leads up through scattered scrub to the base of a sloping rock face. Sidle West off the ridge here
through patches of alpine scrub
to tussock bench where the Biv is located.
This last section is cruise-taped. Allow 2-3 hours to get from Mudflats Hut to the Biv or 9-10 hours
from the Arahura roadend.
A small bare knoll just next to the tarn by the
Biv would allow helicopter access.
Type
Campbell Biv is a standard NZFS two-person design built by R.J.
Courtney of Te Puke and
K.W. Fisher of Nelson Creek on June the 5th and 6th 1958. It was refitted in
November 1974 by Tony Newton, G. Stuart and L. Bennett of the NZFS in Hokitika.
It has two raised wooden sleeping benches, no mattresses.
There is water in a small tarn nearby and a bucket has been left next to the Biv to
suppliment this.
Condition
Campbell Biv is in pretty good condition currently,
a tribute to the simple, effective design of those old late-50's Bivs.
DOC missed some small leaks along the seam in the roof above the cooking bench when they
did their maintenance in 2004.
I took some sealant up in 2008 and attempted to fix them, however there was no rain
during my visit to test my handiwork.
Some of the floor tongue and groove is a bit dozy at the window end under the studs, in the NW
corner, and under the cooker pad (where water had been getting in prior to 2004).
I laid a couple
of extra sheets of
tongue and groove along the floor under the back wall weighted
with rocks, to stop the mice and rats getting in. This section of floor appeared
dry when I visited in 2008.
Routes
There is a reasonable high-level tops route to Campbell Biv from
Harman Creek Hut in the head of the Arahura.
Head up the Browning Pass track from Harman and drop into
the Arahura at the first open side creek. Cross the River and
climb onto the Campbell Range up a small side creek that comes
in on the TL at (E1463625/ N5246428). The creek forms a
natural staircase with small easily negotiable cataracts.
Climb out of the creek via a gut on the TR about 2/3 of
the way up, onto a tussock bench at around 1050m. From
here sidle up around into the Sphinx creek basin taking care to stay
above the large waterfall just below its lip. From
the basin head up a small side creek coming
in on the TR just below where the main creek forks.
Exit the side creek via an obvious dry gut
that comes in on the TR near its top. This takes you on to a side ridge
that leads to the main spur that divides Sphinx Creek and the
catchment South of the Biv. Drop into the unnamed catchment and sidle around
its upper basin, across a scree slope, and onto the
Biv ridge (Allow 4-5 hours from Harman Hut to Campbell Biv).
To access the Eastern end of the Campbell Range from the Biv, sidle into the upper
basin of the downriver
creek catchment. This involves a short scrub bash followed by a sidle of the tussock benches
on the creek's TL.
Drop into the creek further up
and climb East up onto the Campbell Range. There is a tussock bench with tarns at around
1200m,
above the TL of Stewart Creek.
An old NZFS tops track from Mudflats Hut up to the Mt. Walcott
tops is reportedly still OK to follow, despite being overgrown.
Repairs needed
Further sealing work may be required. Some longer flathead nails
(maybe 1.5cm) are needed in
a couple of spots on the roof where the small nails are not holding the iron cladding in place.
Floor repairs will be required at some point, along with replacement of the rotten stud (91cm 2x2")
on the North wall. A roof-fed water barrel would be useful.
Provisions on Site
Two Billies, a frypan, a bucket,
an antique first aid kit, an aluminium wash basin, a small hammer, some small flat head nails, a small
quantity of permolat, a broom, a hand brush, and a few old lengths of tongue and groove
under the biv.
