Camp Creek Hut
Camp Creek under construction 1977
Maintenance Status
Camp Creek Hut is a maintenance anomaly as it wasn't included in Department of Conservation's Remote Hut Management Plan in 2017. Its access tracks are ostensibly maintained by DOC Greymouth. This has been semi-regular over the years and dependent on how much operational funding they have on hand, usually not very much. A few years back they were liaising with a community group to get medium term assistance. Nothing appears to have come of this and there is some potential (which I think DOC would be very happy with) for some kind of maintain-by-community arrangement. They don't currently have anything on their books for this financial year and haven't yet looked into next year's.
Location
Map BU20. Grid Ref: E1482170/ N5270840. Altitude 750m. Camp Creek Hut is located in a clearing in the montane forest on the frontal faces of the Alexander Range. Camp Creek is a steep front country creek that feeds into the Poerua and Crooked catchments. The forest around the Hut is rata-kamahi with emergent cedar (pahautea). Camp Creek gets a reasonable amount of overnight traffic, although you'd expect bigger numbers given its proximity to the highway. Mt Alexander at 1958m is the highest frontal peak in the area and relatively a popular climb and a fair proportion of the traffic up the valley passes the Hut en route to it. The Hut site itself doesn't get a lot of sun in winter.
Access
Camp Creek Hut is accessed up Camp Creek which is a small steep catchment, gorged in places, and fast flowing. It crosses the Lake Brunner Road 2km NE of Poerua and there is a gated farm track that goes 500m up its TR from the bridge to a clearing at the foot of the hill. The track starts here and follows the TR of the Creek through hardwood bush, going in and out of the creekbed for a half hour to the first side-creek marked on the map. It follows the side-creek up 50m or so then climbs out of it onto the ridge on the TL, gaining 2-300 vertical metres in the process. It then sidles across the TR bush faces above Camp Creek proper rising to meet the Creek. It flattens and eventually sidles into creekbed shortly before the Hut. Cross the creek and head up its TL for 15 minutes to the Alexander Tops turnoff. It's five minutes up the hill to the Hut from here. The track is mostly OK and reasonably well-marked. Small shrubs are starting to crowd it in a number of spots and there is a little bit of windthrow. Track times are 2.5-3 hours in and 2-2.5 hours out. The Creek would be problematic to cross safely after heavy rain.
Type
Camp Creek is a one-off Lockwood prefab design built by the Forest Research Institute in 1977 to study the effects of introduced possum on montane rata-kamahi forest. It was not intended for public use at the time. The Hut had a coal range and hot and cold running water. It has a bunkroom with six bunks and mattresses, a kitchen/ dining space with a table, and interior sink. A large alcove on the South side, originally a workshop, provides plenty of extra sleeping space. There are three external doors into the Hut. The twin tank roof water system also feeds an external bathtub which needs to be heated by fire. There is a relatively new external long drop toilet. The research work ceased at some point and FRI's functions and oversight of the Hut were taken over by Landcare. DOC took over from them in 2006.
Camp Creek Hut is a maintenance anomaly as it wasn't included in Department of Conservation's Remote Hut Management Plan in 2017. Its access tracks are ostensibly maintained by DOC Greymouth. This has been semi-regular over the years and dependent on how much operational funding they have on hand, usually not very much. A few years back they were liaising with a community group to get medium term assistance. Nothing appears to have come of this and there is some potential (which I think DOC would be very happy with) for some kind of maintain-by-community arrangement. They don't currently have anything on their books for this financial year and haven't yet looked into next year's.
Location
Map BU20. Grid Ref: E1482170/ N5270840. Altitude 750m. Camp Creek Hut is located in a clearing in the montane forest on the frontal faces of the Alexander Range. Camp Creek is a steep front country creek that feeds into the Poerua and Crooked catchments. The forest around the Hut is rata-kamahi with emergent cedar (pahautea). Camp Creek gets a reasonable amount of overnight traffic, although you'd expect bigger numbers given its proximity to the highway. Mt Alexander at 1958m is the highest frontal peak in the area and relatively a popular climb and a fair proportion of the traffic up the valley passes the Hut en route to it. The Hut site itself doesn't get a lot of sun in winter.
Access
Camp Creek Hut is accessed up Camp Creek which is a small steep catchment, gorged in places, and fast flowing. It crosses the Lake Brunner Road 2km NE of Poerua and there is a gated farm track that goes 500m up its TR from the bridge to a clearing at the foot of the hill. The track starts here and follows the TR of the Creek through hardwood bush, going in and out of the creekbed for a half hour to the first side-creek marked on the map. It follows the side-creek up 50m or so then climbs out of it onto the ridge on the TL, gaining 2-300 vertical metres in the process. It then sidles across the TR bush faces above Camp Creek proper rising to meet the Creek. It flattens and eventually sidles into creekbed shortly before the Hut. Cross the creek and head up its TL for 15 minutes to the Alexander Tops turnoff. It's five minutes up the hill to the Hut from here. The track is mostly OK and reasonably well-marked. Small shrubs are starting to crowd it in a number of spots and there is a little bit of windthrow. Track times are 2.5-3 hours in and 2-2.5 hours out. The Creek would be problematic to cross safely after heavy rain.
Type
Camp Creek is a one-off Lockwood prefab design built by the Forest Research Institute in 1977 to study the effects of introduced possum on montane rata-kamahi forest. It was not intended for public use at the time. The Hut had a coal range and hot and cold running water. It has a bunkroom with six bunks and mattresses, a kitchen/ dining space with a table, and interior sink. A large alcove on the South side, originally a workshop, provides plenty of extra sleeping space. There are three external doors into the Hut. The twin tank roof water system also feeds an external bathtub which needs to be heated by fire. There is a relatively new external long drop toilet. The research work ceased at some point and FRI's functions and oversight of the Hut were taken over by Landcare. DOC took over from them in 2006.
Camp Creek bathtub - photo Hugh Van Noorden
Condition
Camp Creek's solid construction and durable design have meant that it has needed very little maintenance over the years, probably a good thing, as DOC Greymouth has never been that flush with operational funding. In 2014 they did do significant bit which included Z-nailing the piles, replacing a bit of rotten flooring, replacing the coal range with a wood burner, and the cover battens and flashings on the external plank overlaps. The Hut is currently in very good condition although the hut site is overgrowing in dense toi toi and the helicopter pad unusable due to this. There is very little dry wood in the surrounds and visitors are not making the effort to search further afield. The woodshed is currently empty, so tough if you're looking to fire up the bath after a hard day at the office.
Camp Creek's solid construction and durable design have meant that it has needed very little maintenance over the years, probably a good thing, as DOC Greymouth has never been that flush with operational funding. In 2014 they did do significant bit which included Z-nailing the piles, replacing a bit of rotten flooring, replacing the coal range with a wood burner, and the cover battens and flashings on the external plank overlaps. The Hut is currently in very good condition although the hut site is overgrowing in dense toi toi and the helicopter pad unusable due to this. There is very little dry wood in the surrounds and visitors are not making the effort to search further afield. The woodshed is currently empty, so tough if you're looking to fire up the bath after a hard day at the office.
Point 1795m with Mt Alexander behind it.
Routes
The access track continues from the Hut turnoff, crosses a side-creek and ascends the bush faces onto a narrow steep rib which takes you up onto the Range. The top section of this is steepish, but well poled and sidles east across a tussock face under a jumble of huge obelisk-like boulders to a bench with a tarn and camp spot at the 1400m mark. The poles continue up to Point 1795m from where it's a deceptively long rock scramble in late summer and autumn along to the summit. In winter, spring and early summer you'll need to carry ice axes and crampons and be outfitted for alpine travel. Allow 2 hours from Hut to Crest of Range and 5-6 hours return in good conditions from the tarn to the summit and back. The track is reasonably open and well-marked with a bit of low scrub regrowth at the top end that will need a trim at some point.
There are some big tarns and there is good open tops travel down the SW spur of the Range. Head up and over crest from the tarn at 1400m. Sidle on the south side of the rocks to just before where the ridge begins to drop steeply, then cross over to the north side and drop to a low saddle to the NE. Drop down the tussock gully into the fault scarp with the tarns. There is a good campsite at the eastern end of the first tarn.
It is also possible to traverse Mt Alexander and continue along the Kaimata Range, although the descent route from the summit down to Point 1427m needs to be chosen with care due to the steep and bluffy nature of the terrain.
The access track continues from the Hut turnoff, crosses a side-creek and ascends the bush faces onto a narrow steep rib which takes you up onto the Range. The top section of this is steepish, but well poled and sidles east across a tussock face under a jumble of huge obelisk-like boulders to a bench with a tarn and camp spot at the 1400m mark. The poles continue up to Point 1795m from where it's a deceptively long rock scramble in late summer and autumn along to the summit. In winter, spring and early summer you'll need to carry ice axes and crampons and be outfitted for alpine travel. Allow 2 hours from Hut to Crest of Range and 5-6 hours return in good conditions from the tarn to the summit and back. The track is reasonably open and well-marked with a bit of low scrub regrowth at the top end that will need a trim at some point.
There are some big tarns and there is good open tops travel down the SW spur of the Range. Head up and over crest from the tarn at 1400m. Sidle on the south side of the rocks to just before where the ridge begins to drop steeply, then cross over to the north side and drop to a low saddle to the NE. Drop down the tussock gully into the fault scarp with the tarns. There is a good campsite at the eastern end of the first tarn.
It is also possible to traverse Mt Alexander and continue along the Kaimata Range, although the descent route from the summit down to Point 1427m needs to be chosen with care due to the steep and bluffy nature of the terrain.
Mt Alexander and Pt 1795m from camp above the Brown River
Travel is also possible NE along the Range to Point 1530m by sidling under Point 1795m at roughly the 1500m contour. There are several large tarns and good campsites NE of Point 1287m. An old NZFS track up Jack's Creek from Jacko Flat Hut onto the Alexander Range probably no longer exists in any useful form, although it is rumoured that the occasional bit of permolat can still be found. There are a couple of waterfalls that need skirting in the lower and mid sections. The upper Creek is reportedly an unpleasant scrub-bash. An entry in the Jacko Flat hutbook describes a trip down from the Alexander Range tarns taking seven hours with plenty of stops. The track last appeared on the NZMS1 1979 map and appears to go directly from the Hut up the TR of the creek.
Travel is also possible NE along the Range to Point 1530m by sidling under Point 1795m at roughly the 1500m contour. There are several large tarns and good campsites NE of Point 1287m. An old NZFS track up Jack's Creek from Jacko Flat Hut onto the Alexander Range probably no longer exists in any useful form, although it is rumoured that the occasional bit of permolat can still be found. There are a couple of waterfalls that need skirting in the lower and mid sections. The upper Creek is reportedly an unpleasant scrub-bash. An entry in the Jacko Flat hutbook describes a trip down from the Alexander Range tarns taking seven hours with plenty of stops. The track last appeared on the NZMS1 1979 map and appears to go directly from the Hut up the TR of the creek.
It's a bit of a grovel dropping from Point 1530m onto the NW spur above the TR of the Brown River. There is a steep scrub bash between the 1250 and 1350m contours but after this it's good going and there are some good campsites. Getting off the end of this spur is difficult. It's very scrubby and vertical in places and the lower portion is dense supplejack. Dropping into the Brown River higher up and following it down may be an option but I've no data on whether this is doable.
Repairs needed
No major work is needed currently. The toilet door doesn't shut and needs fixing. The Hut site needs clearing and the wood supply restocking. The track up Camp Creek could do with a bit of a trim in places and a small amount of windthrow cleared. The top end of the Alexander Range track could do with a trim in places. A large dead standing kamahi at the edge of the Hut clearing could be dropped for firewood.
Materials on site
Cutlery, crockery, a kettle, a wok, a billy, a stainless-steel bucket, a plastic basin, two small meat safes, two brooms, two axes, a bowsaw, a hearth brush & shovel, pokers, clothes drying rack in ceiling, a table, two office chairs, and two wooden forms. Under the hut there is a supply of timber odds and sods, a wooden roof ladder, an aluminium ladder, and some treated poles enough for 3-4 piles), some black alkathene, and a roll of wire netting.
Travel is also possible NE along the Range to Point 1530m by sidling under Point 1795m at roughly the 1500m contour. There are several large tarns and good campsites NE of Point 1287m. An old NZFS track up Jack's Creek from Jacko Flat Hut onto the Alexander Range probably no longer exists in any useful form, although it is rumoured that the occasional bit of permolat can still be found. There are a couple of waterfalls that need skirting in the lower and mid sections. The upper Creek is reportedly an unpleasant scrub-bash. An entry in the Jacko Flat hutbook describes a trip down from the Alexander Range tarns taking seven hours with plenty of stops. The track last appeared on the NZMS1 1979 map and appears to go directly from the Hut up the TR of the creek.
It's a bit of a grovel dropping from Point 1530m onto the NW spur above the TR of the Brown River. There is a steep scrub bash between the 1250 and 1350m contours but after this it's good going and there are some good campsites. Getting off the end of this spur is difficult. It's very scrubby and vertical in places and the lower portion is dense supplejack. Dropping into the Brown River higher up and following it down may be an option but I've no data on whether this is doable.
Repairs needed
No major work is needed currently. The toilet door doesn't shut and needs fixing. The Hut site needs clearing and the wood supply restocking. The track up Camp Creek could do with a bit of a trim in places and a small amount of windthrow cleared. The top end of the Alexander Range track could do with a trim in places. A large dead standing kamahi at the edge of the Hut clearing could be dropped for firewood.
Materials on site
Cutlery, crockery, a kettle, a wok, a billy, a stainless-steel bucket, a plastic basin, two small meat safes, two brooms, two axes, a bowsaw, a hearth brush & shovel, pokers, clothes drying rack in ceiling, a table, two office chairs, and two wooden forms. Under the hut there is a supply of timber odds and sods, a wooden roof ladder, an aluminium ladder, and some treated poles enough for 3-4 piles), some black alkathene, and a roll of wire netting.