Griffin Creek Hut

(Griffin Creek Hut: Photo Mark Buckley 2004)

Maintenance Status

Griffin Creek Hut and its access track from Harringtons Creek on State Highway 73 were designated as fully maintain in the 2003/ 4 Hig-Country Review. DOC are now talking about dropping the track from their maintenance schedule, which would mean the community or volunteers picking it up. In August 2010 Permolat volunteers cleared the windthrow on the track from Harringtons Creek up to the crest of the main spur to Mt. Griffin.

Location

Taramakau catchment. Map BV20. Grid Ref: E1467740/ N5260395. Altitude 665m. Griffin Creek Hut is located in the Griffin Creek basin, 4-5 hour's walk from from Harringtons Creek on State Highway 73. The Hut is in a small clearing on a terrace next to Griffin Creek with emergent pahautea (mountain cedar) conspicuous in the surrounding montane forest. Griffin Creek forks into several branches just upstream of the Hut and is negotiable for a short stretch before getting gorgy, with picturesque amethyst blue pools, water-sculpted rock, and a small waterfall.

Downstream of the basin Griffin Creek drops through an impassable gorge with waterfall to the Taramakau River. DOC is in the process of granting a concession for a small (1.3MW) hydro scheme. This entails putting a pipe in to feed water from an intake at the lip of the basin down to a small powerhouse near the Highway. Although not visible from the Hut or any of the routes to it, the scheme would reduce water flows down in the gorge by half for half of the time.

All the the routes into Griffin Hut require a climb of some sort. It is a great overnight trip and also provides a starting point for a number of longer tramps to remoter spots.

Access

The principle route into Griffin from Harringtons Creek has received no official maintenance for some years and is getting overgrown despite regular trimming and marking by the Peninsula Tramping Club and others. There has also been regular volunteer input an officially unmaintained track over from the Rocky Creek catchment of the Taramakau, although this too is starting to overgrow.

If coming from Harrington Creek, it is possible with the farmer's permission to park your vehicle an old section of road on the TL of Harringtons Creek bridge. The track starts at the bridge and goes up the TL of Harrington Creek for 20 minutes. It crosses the Creek where the valley walls start to close in and begins a steep climb of the hardwood faces onto the spur bounding the TL of Griffin Creek. As mentioned, the windthrow on this section of the trail was cleared in August 2010. Continue up the spur to the junction of the Griffin Creek and Wilson Knob tracks at spot height 974m. A rusting 44-gallon drum in a small tussock clearing in the alpine scrub zone marks the turn-off down into Griffin Creek. The track drops due East down a steep side-ridge into the basin.

Once down in Griffin Creek it's an easy 45 minute amble upriver to the Hut. The Creek is easy to ford at normal levels and by crossing and recrossing at several obvious points, a fairly direct line is possible. A track enters the bush on the TR of the creek draining Rocky Creek Saddle where it enters the Griffin. The Hut is another 15 minutes up from here, a reasonably gentle climb onto the river terraces.

The Rocky Creek route into the Griffin from the Taipo valley is not officially maintained, but the track has been kept reasonably open by Frank King and Honora Renwick. In recent times it has started to overgrow again, and there has been additional wind damage from the winter storms of 2008. Frank and Honora started working on it again from the Taipo end in mid 2010, and will hopefully get to the Griffin Creek section at some point.

Head upstream from Rocky Creek Hut for around an hour or so, to just below the Saddle over into the Griffin. The Creek becomes smaller and more closed-in as you get higher up, and the Saddle has a large open slip on its northern side. Don't go up the slip directly, but continue up the Creek another 20 metres to where the track starts. It climbs up a small gut through the bush for 10 minutes to the Saddle and from here drops into the unnamed access creek on the Griffin side. It is a mix of track and creek travel from here down into the Griffin. Fresh windthrow and slips from the 2008 storms have proved problematic for some on this section.

Allow a full day to Griffin Hut from the Taipo bridge, or 3-4 hours from Rocky Creek Hut.

Type

Griffin is a standard 4-bunk NZFS design with open fire built in the 1960's. It was lined at a later date. Water is from the small creek just past the toilet. A cast iron bath tub was flown in at some point and a fire pit and chimney built by the river about 100m from the Hut.

Condition

Griffin Hut is in good condition currently. It received little official maintenance from the mid 80's until 2004, but was kept exceedingly well maintained, embellished and provisioned by John Dainty and others from Invercargill during this period. The Hut was repainted and resealed in the Autumn of 2004 by DOC.

Routes

An unmaintained NZFS track that provides acces to Wilson Knob and the Griffin Range turns off from the Harrington Creek track at Pt. 974m. There is a pre-World War I serpentine mine on the flanks of Mt. Griffin. The track up to Wilson Knob is overgrown with flax and leatherwood, but still followable according to recent reports. Alan Jemison started re-cutting the bit through the scrub in December 2006 and plans to finish it at some point.

There are some great tops circuits possible from Griffin Hut via Scottys Saddle and the Tara Tama Range. Access to the tops is via the second side creek downstream from Griffin Hut. The creek is steep in its upper reaches with a few small waterfalls just before it opens out at the top. There is a short section of track through the alpine scrub on the TR around the top fall (Someone has also made a route around the TL of the fall, which goes up a spur and sidles, across a side creek onto a knob quite high up. From here it follows deer trails back into the very upper portion of the creek. It is cruise-taped intially but the tape runs out about three-quarters of the way up. It is a hard, slow bash compared to the TR route).

Above the fall it is a straighforward, steep scree scramble to the unnamed saddle (E1469280/ N5259365) 200m South of Scottys Saddle. A cairn at the top of the route is not visible when approaching along the Range from the North, due to being tucked in behind a bump on the ridge. The Griffin creek side of the true Scottys Saddle looks very steep and takes you into a separate branch of the access creek. Scottys Biv is a half hour descent from Scottys Saddle in an easterly direction down a series of tussock benches (Allow three hours from Griffin Hut to Scottys Biv).

In summer the summit of Tara Tama is an easy couple of hours of scrambling from Scottys Saddle, and Newton Creek Hut 3-4 hours away. The head of Newton Creek is accessible via the tussock faces below the unnamed saddle (E1469052/ N5258585) between spot heights 1516m and 1751m. A scrub bash through sections of sub-alpine and montane forest on the TR of Newton Creek is required further down to reach the Hut. This isn't too bad if you pick the right routes.

Dunns Hut is 4-5 hours travel from Scottys Saddle with two possible routes. One over the top of Tara Tama and the other via and Dunns Saddle. On the Saddle route a steep section of the Tara Tama Range above Dunns Saddle can be avoided by dropping down a large scree in a SW direction off the NW shoulder of the low peak of Tara Tama. Follow the scree down and sidle back onto the main ridge just above the Saddle. Ice axes (and possibly crampons) are recommended for this section in winter and spring.

There is a route to Top Olderog Biv via the Tara Tama Range, point 1572m, and the upper Wainihinihi River basin. The more direct route over Mt. Olson is fairly nasty on the Olderog side, with a number of exposed, vertical sections between Olsen and the Biv. Drop instead from point 1572m into the upper Wainihinihi and climb back up onto the Range adjacent to the Biv. The Biv is sited around a 100 vertical metres below the crest of the Range on the Olderog side and is visible from the crest of the range in fine weather. A rock cairn around E1464410/ N5257820 marks the drop-off point and a bearing of 168 degrees will take you down to the bench where the Biv is located.

There is a good round trip from the Griffin involving a traverse of the range dividing the Scottys and Rocky Creek catchments and connecting with the Taipo valley via an old NZFS tops track opposite Seven Mile Creek. The track entrance at on the bushline is around E1473975/ N5261435. The trail was re-trimmed and re-marked with permolat and cruise tape in May 2005 and is good travel. A ford of the Taipo is required at the bottom end, so this is a fine weather route only. There is no reliable water source on the crest of the range from Scottys Saddle to a rusting water drum at 950m on the tops track. Allow 5-6 hours from Scottys Saddle to Seven Mile Creek.

Razorback Ridge in the head of the Griffin is not traversable without ropes according to the infrequent reports of those who've ventured that way. It certainly looks interesting, and aptly named.

Repairs needed

None currently.

Provisions on Site

Billies, a slasher, an axe, a saw, a shovel, and lots more. Most of the gear is John's but he's left an invitation for people to make use of it in the Hutbook.