Dickie Spur Hut

(Dickie Spur Hut looking up to the head of the Tuke: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007: Double click to get larger image)

Maintenance status

Dickie Spur Hut and track are fully maintained by DOC currently.

Location

Mikonui catchment. Map BV18. Grid Ref: E1426510/ N5230443. Altitude 1090m. Dickie Spur Hut is located at the northern end of Dickie Ridge high above the TL of the Tuke River. There is a superb panorama from the Hut of the coastal plains and the peaks in the head of the Tuke. Dickie Spur is a great overnight destination, or stopover en route to Tuke Hut and beyond. There are high-level routes over Dickie Ridge and the Tusk to Top Waitaha and Ivory Lake Huts. Dickie Spur gets a steady trickle of visitors, although there is the odd gap of up to six months between visits.

Access

Dickie Spur is most commonly accessed via from the Mikonui valley. There is also an unmaintained route from Polluck Creek Hut in the Kakapotahi valley that connects with the Mikonui route at Truran Pass. The track from the Mikonui was recut in April 2012. It starts in scattered scrub 200m SE of Mikonui Flat Hut, enters the bush, and climbs steeply over a wedge of terrace between the Mikonui and Tuke Rivers. It drops down to a footbridge at the top of the lower Tuke gorge and continues from here up the TL of the Tuke. Around 100m downstream from Truran Creek the track veers uphill here and climbs steeply onto the terraces on the TL of the Creek. It sidles higher than marked on the map around to Truran Pass where the track down Polluck Creek turns off. The turn-off is incorrectly marked on the map as being further down in Pollock Creek.

From the Pass the track begins a steep climb up the bush faces towards Dickie Ridge. It connects with the Ridge in the alpine scrub zone where the going flattens for a bit. The Ridge climbs in a series of steps to around the 1200m contour line where a marker pole indicates the turn-off down to the Hut. Drop down the side ridge here in a NE direction following scattered cruise tape and small wooden stakes with permolat. The Hut is on a tussock bench just off the side ridge and good visibility is required to locate it. Allow 5-6 hours from Mikonui Flat Hut to Dickie Spur Hut.

The route up from Polluck Creek Hut to Truran Pass is fairly gentle creek travel most of the way. A short section of track up to the Pass is not officially maintained, but received a trim from volunteers in 2010. Allow 4-5 hours from Polluck Creek Hut to Dickie Spur Hut.

Type

Dickie Spur is a basic NZFS 4-bunk design built in 1968. It had its wood burner removed in the 90's and a toliet added. A roof-fed water tank was built on in 2003/ 4.

Condition

Dickie Spur is clean and tidy and in good condition currently. DOC repainted and resealed it, installed the watertank, and revamped the toilet in the summer of 2003/4. Water appears to be getting in above the Hut door somewhere and dripping into the cupboard area, and there is a small damp area on the floor in the NW corner.

Routes

Tuke Hut is accessed by heading back up to the Dickie Ridge turnoff. Continue up the Ridge and over point 1326m to the the small saddle at point 1296m. Drop from here into the creek catchment directly below and follow this down to just above where it drops over into the Tuke gorge. A track exits on TR of the creek and sidles upriver for 15 minutes, dropping into the Tuke at the top entrance of the upper gorge. It is fairly easy river travel from here, crossing where necessary, to the Hut. A couple of crossings are marked with orange triangles and correspond with short sections of track. These are not neccessarily at the easiest or most practical fords, so use your common sense here. A a small gorge 20 minutes below the Hut is skirted by track on the TL. There is also a track of up to the Hut from the River which starts on the bank of a small creek just upriver from the Hut site. This is not well marked, but the Hut is clearly visible from many points on the route up the valley, and so shouldn't be difficult to locate. The Tuke tracks were recut in April 2012. Allow 3-4 hours from Dickie Spur Hut to Top Tuke Hut.

It is possible to access Top Tuke from further up Dickie Ridge, but it is a long haul with lots of ups and downs. The faces directly above Tuke Hut are bluffy and caution and good visibility are necessary when picking a line down. The valley route is probably faster and less hassle.

Top Waitaha Hut can be accessed from Dickie Spur Hut via Dickie Ridge, The Tusk and Ragged Peak. A notch in the ridge around point 1920m has inspired one lot of negative comments in the hutbook, along with a recommendation to carry a rope. While there are a couple of places that are reasonably exposed here and call for an ability to downclimb, most folk haven't found it too problematic without. The sections over The Tusk and Ragged Peak are easy in good weather. Access down into the Top Waitaha basin is down the SE spur of Ragged peak to the Stag/ Reid Creek confluence. Top Waitaha Hut is visible from the bottom end of the spur.

Sawtooth Ridge is traversable, mostly on its South side, but take an ice axe on this bit. Ivory Lake Hut can then be accessed over point 1870m via the spur bounding the TR of the Lake.

Repairs

Some sealing may be necessary to fix that leak. You'd need to be there in heavy rain to see where it was leaking, as no water seems to comes in during normal rain. The damp floor in the NW may be a roof or wall leak, or possibly water seeping in from melting snowdrifts around the Hut.

Provisions on Site

Two aluminium washbasins, a hearth shovel and hand broom, a full-sized broom, a pick, a shovel, two bench seats, two spare louvre panes (one perspex), and four 3x3 wooden stakes.