Hunts Creek Hut
(Hunts Creek Hut: Photo Greg Ross 2009)
Maintenance Status
Hunts Hut and the track to it over Hunts Saddle from Kellys Creek
are designated as fully maintain. Its proximity to Arthurs Pass and relatively easy access
means it gets higher levels of use than most of the huts on this site. There were 47 visits
in 2005 with peoplw having to
camp outside on occasions when it was full. Outside of weekends or public
holidays however, there is a good chance
that Hunts will be empty. The feeling of remoteness returns with the mist
and is punctuated
but the shrill cry of the kiwi as night falls.
Location
Taipo catchment. Grid Ref: E1477550/
N5255780. Map BV20. Altitude 880m. Hunts
Hut is located on a tussock flat below an old moraine wall in Hunts Creek basin.
The flat is ringed by sub-alpine forest. Further downstream Hunts Creek
drops through an impressive, impassable gorge to the Taipo River.
Upstream, a short section of track leads up onto the moraine, and poles and cairns
up over this into the upper basin. The basin slopes gently for several kilometres
and at its head high-level cols provide access to the Gorgy
Creek tops, Campbell Pass, and beyond. The peaks of the Barron
and Hunts ranges ring the basin. It is a beautiful spot and one of the
few easily accessable huts where Kiwi can still be heard.
Hunts is an easy overnighter, or
a stopover for longer tops journeys.
Access
The principle route to Hunts from Kellys Creek on State Highway 73
10 kms North of Otira. The tracked sections on this route were re-cut by DOC in March 2006.
There is some windthrow from the winter storms of 2008, mainly on the last
hour of the trail. Follow the TL of Kellys Creek up from the picnic area, a mix of track
and river travel. Half an hour upstream the track climbs steeply up
and around a small gorge, then drops back into the Creek. From here the mix of river
and track travel continues.
The climb up to Hunt Saddle commences 100m up an open side creek
around E1479400/ N5258720, and sidles above Kellys Creek through the montane and subalpine
forest, then open areas of red tussock and peat. The trail
re-enters the montane forest, crosses the Saddle, and sidles up the TR faces of Hunts basin.
This section is uneven and rocky with lots of little
ups and downs. The track crosses two large screes then drops down into the
basin proper. The tussock flat where the Hut is located is visible from the screes,
but not the Hut.
Type
Hunts is a standard NZFS four-bunk design built in the 1960's. It originally
had an open fire but this was replaced very early in the piece by a wood burner.
It can be a bit of a scrounge finding dry wood here the higher visitation rate means
more free-lunchers who use and don't replace existing wood. Hunts has a
toilet and a roof-fed watertank.
Condition
Hunts Hut is in good condition currently. It was repainted inside
and out, and resealed in 2004. It also had some framing and a section of floor replaced,
and new skylights and flue installed. The wood burner's grate has disintegrated and
the flue cover has vanished.
Routes
There is a reasonably good tops route to Hunts
Hut from Carroll
Memorial Hut over Kellys Range. The tops are flat with open tussock and numerous tarns
and good campsites. It is necessary to drop off the tops at the SW end of the
Range to connect with the Kellys Creek track at Hunt
Saddle. This requires a scrub-bash from the tussock
to a swampy clearing just above Hunt Saddle, then dropping down the small creek draining it
to meet the track East of Hunt Saddle. Carroll Hut to Hunts Hut takes around 4 hours, or a bit
longer in reverse.
There are a couple of high-level routes to Hunts from
Otira over Barron Ridge or the more experienced. The first of these starts by following
a water pipeline up Goat Creek from SH 73. A track at the top end of this
takes you up onto a spur North East of Mt. Barron. This trail is not officially maintained
but is occasionally trimmed by Gerard O'Malley, the owner of the Backpackers near Goat
Creek. From the spur sidle around
and through a saddle between Mt. Barron and spot height 1629m. Once on the Hunts side
sidle beneath Mt. Barron in a SW direction traversing two large basins until above the largest
of the screes that drop in to Hunts basin just downstream of the Hut. The Hut is visble in fine
weather from the top of the scree.
The other route starts off Highway 73, 100m on the Otira side of the railway
underpass just before the Otira rubbish dump.
The track takes you up onto the southern flanks of Mt. Barron.
From here sidle around the high basins of Holts
Creek, staying South of the summit of Mt. Barron, onto the crest of the
Range. The descent for this route is via the same scree as the Goat Creek route.
Allow a
full day for both
these routes.
For more experienced trampers, a number of high-level
alpine trips are possible from the head
of Hunts Creek via the heads of Gorgy and Tumbledown
Creeks, to the upper Rolleston, or Campbell
Pass and into the Waimakariri. You can continue further along
the Main Divide over a high col between spot heights l805m
and 1801m (North of Mt. Campbell) to Harman Pass.
Access onto Hunts Ridge from Hunts Hut is relatively easy
and there are a number of places you can drop off
into the Taipo valley. The most frequently used of these is down Dry Creek. Mid Taipo and Julia
huts can be reached in in this way.
Another way of getting from Hunts Hut out to the
Kellys Creek car park is via Barron Ridge. This is the same route in reverse intially
as the Goat creek route in, but instead of dropping down the Goat Creek track, continue sidling
along a series of benches in a NE direction to spot height 1359m. From here drop down the leading ridge to the Kellys/ Otira
conflence. There is a very short scrub bash at around 900m altitude that takes you down into more open montane forest.
From here it is a standard bush bash down to Kellys. There is a short well defined section of ridge before and over
spot height 615m with old blazes in places. The drop from here down to the Kellys Creek car park is probably the
least pleasant bit on this route due to a band of dense regenerating hardwoods. Allow 5-6 hours from Hunts hut to
the road.
Do not attempt to attempt to use Hunts Creek as a route down into the
Taipo valley from Hunts Hut as the gorge is impassable.
Repairs
A new grate is required for the wood burner, and the missing flue cover
needs replacing.
Provisions
on Site
Three billies, one camp oven, one aluminium bucket, one small frypan, an axe, a slasher, a shovel,
a broom, and a small hand brush and shovel. There are a few warratahs under the Hut.