Mt Brown Hut
The old Lower Arahura Hut before its transformation - Photo Andrew Buglass
Important Note: MT BROWN HUT IS NOW A BOOK ONLY HUT. PLEASE GO TO THE DOC WEBSITE TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS
Location
Styx catchment. Map BV19. Grid Ref: E1452950/ N5252150 (BV19 530 522). Altitude 1120m. Mt Brown Hut is located above the bushline on the West ridge of Mt Brown, which is an outlier of the Newton Range. Access up to it is straightforward in most weather and on clear days there are fabulous views of the Southern Alps, Lake Kaniere, and the coastal plain.
Maintenance Status
Mt Brown is a community-maintained hut which owes its existence to Eddie Newman and Julia Bradshaw who were living in Hokitika in 2010. The Hut was originally sited in the lower Arahura valley where it spent its first 50 years. It was a standard NZFS 4-bunk S81 design, built in 1962 and when the Department of Conservation decided to build a new Hut at the site Eddie and Julia got them to fly out the dismantled sections of the old hut to be reassembled and flown up onto Mt Brown. The project ended up becoming a total rebuild due to the numerous building code and safety requirements that didn't exist in the 1960s. Considerable community input, volunteer labour and donations made it possible for the project to reach fruition. The Permolat Group contributed financially and with volunteer input and the Hut was opened for public use in November 2010. It was an instant success, debuting in Wilderness Magazine, outdoor calendars, DOC posters, and the cover of "Shelter From The Storm," a book on high-country huts by Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint and Shaun Barnett. The Hut is now profiled on local tourist brochures and i-sites and in the warmer months the majority of visitors are foreign tourists or travelers.
In 2017 Eddie and Julia delegated oversight of Mt Brown to the Permolat Trust. With only four bunks the Hut was often not able to house the large numbers turning up. In 2025 to deal with this, the Hut was put on the DOC booking system. The Back Country Trust will take over its management and the Permolat community will help BCT look after the track and Hut.
You can also visit the Hut at Facebook and Flickr.
Location
Styx catchment. Map BV19. Grid Ref: E1452950/ N5252150 (BV19 530 522). Altitude 1120m. Mt Brown Hut is located above the bushline on the West ridge of Mt Brown, which is an outlier of the Newton Range. Access up to it is straightforward in most weather and on clear days there are fabulous views of the Southern Alps, Lake Kaniere, and the coastal plain.
Maintenance Status
Mt Brown is a community-maintained hut which owes its existence to Eddie Newman and Julia Bradshaw who were living in Hokitika in 2010. The Hut was originally sited in the lower Arahura valley where it spent its first 50 years. It was a standard NZFS 4-bunk S81 design, built in 1962 and when the Department of Conservation decided to build a new Hut at the site Eddie and Julia got them to fly out the dismantled sections of the old hut to be reassembled and flown up onto Mt Brown. The project ended up becoming a total rebuild due to the numerous building code and safety requirements that didn't exist in the 1960s. Considerable community input, volunteer labour and donations made it possible for the project to reach fruition. The Permolat Group contributed financially and with volunteer input and the Hut was opened for public use in November 2010. It was an instant success, debuting in Wilderness Magazine, outdoor calendars, DOC posters, and the cover of "Shelter From The Storm," a book on high-country huts by Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint and Shaun Barnett. The Hut is now profiled on local tourist brochures and i-sites and in the warmer months the majority of visitors are foreign tourists or travelers.
In 2017 Eddie and Julia delegated oversight of Mt Brown to the Permolat Trust. With only four bunks the Hut was often not able to house the large numbers turning up. In 2025 to deal with this, the Hut was put on the DOC booking system. The Back Country Trust will take over its management and the Permolat community will help BCT look after the track and Hut.
You can also visit the Hut at Facebook and Flickr.
Access
There are two routes up onto Mt Brown giving the option of an overnight loop for those interested. The most direct and frequently used is from Geologist Creek on the Dorothy Falls Road that goes around the back of Lake Kaniere. The track starts on the South side of the Geologist Creek Bridge where it enters the bush and climbs gently initially through hardwood forest to a small creek. This is crossed and followed up parallel for a bit. The trail then veers South and climbs very steeply up the bush faces onto the SW spur of Mt Brown. The gradient eases in the sub-alpine zone and the track continues in a series of steps through the scrub to the open tussock. The route is poled from the scrubline to the Hut. The bottom section of the track has a bit of windthrow and some boggy patches that can be skirted fairly. There is a bit of regeneration and more boggy patches in places from here on. Glenn Johnston has been doing regular bits of work on the track and he and John Hutt did some windthrow clearance in 2023. John Roper-Lindsay did some re-marking work in November 2023. Allow 3-4 hours from the start of the track to the Hut depending on fitness.
The other approach to the Hut is from the Styx valley and starts at the large unnamed side-creek known locally as Mt Brown Creek. Access up the Styx valley is along a rough farm trail that turns off the Dorothy Falls Road at sharp bend 400m North of the Mark Wallace Bridge. The trail leads through some marginal paddocks for 1.5 kilometres to the Styx riverbed which is followed for a couple of hundred metres under some large shingle bluffs. These can currently be waded around at normal flows but could be difficult or impossible if the river was up. Mt Brown Creek is five minutes upriver from the bluffs and the Mt Brown track starts 20m up its TL. The track follows the spur up onto a bush terrace, then climbs up a broad bush face onto the Southern spur of Mt Brown. The spur flattens at 800 metres and the track continues up to around 1000m, crosses a sub-alpine gully, then resumes its climb up through the scrub towards the tussock line. Snow poles lead up the last portion of the spur through scattered scrub onto a flat tussock bench with a small tarn just below the Hut. The track has in the past been kept in reasonably good shape by Glenn Johnston and John Hutt. They have pulled back of late and are happy if others want to get involved and help keep it open. Allow around four hours currently from the Styx bluffs to Mt Brown Hut. Those doing the circuit have a three-kilometre walk along the Dorothy Falls Road between carparks.
Type
Transitioning a standard 4-bunk NZFS design with an open fire to an alpine setting required numerous modifications to meet a host building code and DOC safety standards that didn't exist in 1962. An alcove with a small coal-burning stove replaced the chimney, the original louvre windows were replaced with double-glazed ones, and an extra side window added. The bunks were modified from stand-alone to single upper and lower platforms, an aluminium roof flashing was added to protect kea from lead poisoning (although it hasn't stopped them picking away at it), along with a porch, a deck, a roof-fed water tank, and an outside sink bench. The Hut has been strengthened to withstand 250kmph winds without tie-downs There are 4.5 tons of concrete in the foundations and the hold-down fastenings are in excess of safety requirements. The Hut is lined with 12mm plywood, and the floors are 10mm ply on top of the original rimu tongue and groove. The ceiling lining covers a 300 x 100mm ridge, fastened by 16mm bolts at each end. The framing is fastened with hold-down straps, and the wall studs are at 400mm centres with 25x1x400mm hold-down straps, top and bottom. Hurricane clips were added to the clearlight on the porch six months after the Hut was opened, because it was flexing and tearing around the nails in the high winds. The water tank tap freezes regularly overnight in winter, so fill your water containers before you go to bed. If the tank runs dry the water in the tarns on the bench below the Hut is potable.
Condition
Mt Brown Hut is in excellent condition structurally however high visitor numbers have impacted on the fuel supply for the woodburner and on the condition of the track. After we stopped flying coal for the burner people took to burning live alpine scrub and ripping pages out of the hutbook to light the fire. A diagonal brace from the toilet door has had to be replaced twice, having been used for firewood, and possibly also a broom handle. If you want to operate the woodburner you must carry your own fuel up. A small bag of dry wood doesn't weigh much and will keep the woodburner going and hut warm all night.
A working bee in April 2019 saw the Hut completely repainted inside and out, and the deck stained. The burner is at the end of its shelf life and had started to corrode quite badly. The original toilet hole proved inadequate, and Hugh and some friends dug a new toilet hole and moved the toilet over to it in November 2018. The toilet was in pretty bad shape and the hole full by early 2020, and a new one was flown in and erected by volunteers in September of that year. Water had been pooling in the depression in front of the Hut and a drain was cut through edge of the scarp in September 2020. Following this the toilet door was left unfastened and it and the door stud were blown off by the wind. The door was reattached with extra bracing and an external door stop. A DOC crew kindly replaced the broken glass in the wood burner a short while later. Ted Brennan and Annie Hughes did an internal clean and re-stained the windowsills and deck. The downpipe for the water tank is currently being held in place by duct tape and string which seems to work well. The most recent work was some door handle repairs and addition of a fastening bolt by Al Ritchie.
The hut currently has a rat infestation. They are not getting into the hut interior but have managed to get into the hut lining. Some entry points were identified and plugged in '24 and there are bait stations under the hut, but that doesn't appear to have helped much. There is a very strong rat smell in the hut currently.
There are two routes up onto Mt Brown giving the option of an overnight loop for those interested. The most direct and frequently used is from Geologist Creek on the Dorothy Falls Road that goes around the back of Lake Kaniere. The track starts on the South side of the Geologist Creek Bridge where it enters the bush and climbs gently initially through hardwood forest to a small creek. This is crossed and followed up parallel for a bit. The trail then veers South and climbs very steeply up the bush faces onto the SW spur of Mt Brown. The gradient eases in the sub-alpine zone and the track continues in a series of steps through the scrub to the open tussock. The route is poled from the scrubline to the Hut. The bottom section of the track has a bit of windthrow and some boggy patches that can be skirted fairly. There is a bit of regeneration and more boggy patches in places from here on. Glenn Johnston has been doing regular bits of work on the track and he and John Hutt did some windthrow clearance in 2023. John Roper-Lindsay did some re-marking work in November 2023. Allow 3-4 hours from the start of the track to the Hut depending on fitness.
The other approach to the Hut is from the Styx valley and starts at the large unnamed side-creek known locally as Mt Brown Creek. Access up the Styx valley is along a rough farm trail that turns off the Dorothy Falls Road at sharp bend 400m North of the Mark Wallace Bridge. The trail leads through some marginal paddocks for 1.5 kilometres to the Styx riverbed which is followed for a couple of hundred metres under some large shingle bluffs. These can currently be waded around at normal flows but could be difficult or impossible if the river was up. Mt Brown Creek is five minutes upriver from the bluffs and the Mt Brown track starts 20m up its TL. The track follows the spur up onto a bush terrace, then climbs up a broad bush face onto the Southern spur of Mt Brown. The spur flattens at 800 metres and the track continues up to around 1000m, crosses a sub-alpine gully, then resumes its climb up through the scrub towards the tussock line. Snow poles lead up the last portion of the spur through scattered scrub onto a flat tussock bench with a small tarn just below the Hut. The track has in the past been kept in reasonably good shape by Glenn Johnston and John Hutt. They have pulled back of late and are happy if others want to get involved and help keep it open. Allow around four hours currently from the Styx bluffs to Mt Brown Hut. Those doing the circuit have a three-kilometre walk along the Dorothy Falls Road between carparks.
Type
Transitioning a standard 4-bunk NZFS design with an open fire to an alpine setting required numerous modifications to meet a host building code and DOC safety standards that didn't exist in 1962. An alcove with a small coal-burning stove replaced the chimney, the original louvre windows were replaced with double-glazed ones, and an extra side window added. The bunks were modified from stand-alone to single upper and lower platforms, an aluminium roof flashing was added to protect kea from lead poisoning (although it hasn't stopped them picking away at it), along with a porch, a deck, a roof-fed water tank, and an outside sink bench. The Hut has been strengthened to withstand 250kmph winds without tie-downs There are 4.5 tons of concrete in the foundations and the hold-down fastenings are in excess of safety requirements. The Hut is lined with 12mm plywood, and the floors are 10mm ply on top of the original rimu tongue and groove. The ceiling lining covers a 300 x 100mm ridge, fastened by 16mm bolts at each end. The framing is fastened with hold-down straps, and the wall studs are at 400mm centres with 25x1x400mm hold-down straps, top and bottom. Hurricane clips were added to the clearlight on the porch six months after the Hut was opened, because it was flexing and tearing around the nails in the high winds. The water tank tap freezes regularly overnight in winter, so fill your water containers before you go to bed. If the tank runs dry the water in the tarns on the bench below the Hut is potable.
Condition
Mt Brown Hut is in excellent condition structurally however high visitor numbers have impacted on the fuel supply for the woodburner and on the condition of the track. After we stopped flying coal for the burner people took to burning live alpine scrub and ripping pages out of the hutbook to light the fire. A diagonal brace from the toilet door has had to be replaced twice, having been used for firewood, and possibly also a broom handle. If you want to operate the woodburner you must carry your own fuel up. A small bag of dry wood doesn't weigh much and will keep the woodburner going and hut warm all night.
A working bee in April 2019 saw the Hut completely repainted inside and out, and the deck stained. The burner is at the end of its shelf life and had started to corrode quite badly. The original toilet hole proved inadequate, and Hugh and some friends dug a new toilet hole and moved the toilet over to it in November 2018. The toilet was in pretty bad shape and the hole full by early 2020, and a new one was flown in and erected by volunteers in September of that year. Water had been pooling in the depression in front of the Hut and a drain was cut through edge of the scarp in September 2020. Following this the toilet door was left unfastened and it and the door stud were blown off by the wind. The door was reattached with extra bracing and an external door stop. A DOC crew kindly replaced the broken glass in the wood burner a short while later. Ted Brennan and Annie Hughes did an internal clean and re-stained the windowsills and deck. The downpipe for the water tank is currently being held in place by duct tape and string which seems to work well. The most recent work was some door handle repairs and addition of a fastening bolt by Al Ritchie.
The hut currently has a rat infestation. They are not getting into the hut interior but have managed to get into the hut lining. Some entry points were identified and plugged in '24 and there are bait stations under the hut, but that doesn't appear to have helped much. There is a very strong rat smell in the hut currently.
Newton Range heading East towards Pt. 1240m: Photo Jo Stilwell 2018
Routes
A traverse the Newton Range from Mt Brown to Newton Range Biv is a great and scenic option for fitter, more experienced types. The is rough and undulating and dips well into the alpine scrub zone just East of Mt Brown. There is a rough, unmarked trail through the scrubbier bits and there are quite a few ups and downs before a steep uphill section that leads to point 1240m. One more scrubby knoll needs traversing after this in order to reach open tussock. There are some nice tarns just before point 1336m and some interesting ultramafic rock outcrops on its eastern flank. The Range dips again after point 1336m and this is followed by a short steep climb over point 1240m after which the terrain flattens. Newton Biv is tucked against a tussock bank at the western edge of a flat peaty bench with tarns, GPS Ref: E1458873/ N5251148 (BV19 589 511). Snow stakes lead from the crest of the range over to where the Biv is sited. People are taking on average 7-10 hours to do this traverse according to the Biv's hutbook but it can be done in five by fit types. Michal Klajban and Jan Kupka gave these bits a reasonably good trim in July '24.
Repairs needed.
The rat infestation needs to be sorted. It is likely that the burner will be removed at the end of its life given the impracticalities of flying in fuel and the lack of a local fuel source. A longer-term solution for the toilet needs to be found. The current long drop design fills rapidly with high use and the peaty nature and high water-table of the surrounds are not ideal for this option. A removable container seems the way to go, but the high costs of flying these in and out is a budget blowing scenario. Lastly, that downpipe for the water tank needs to be properly affixed.
The track from Geologist Creek needs a bit of windthrow clearance at a the bottom end and a general trim in many places. Some corduroying and building of boardwalks on a few of the boggy bits would improve things.
Provisions on site
A kettle, a coal bucket and shovels, a poker, and broom. There is an aluminium ladder under the hut.
A traverse the Newton Range from Mt Brown to Newton Range Biv is a great and scenic option for fitter, more experienced types. The is rough and undulating and dips well into the alpine scrub zone just East of Mt Brown. There is a rough, unmarked trail through the scrubbier bits and there are quite a few ups and downs before a steep uphill section that leads to point 1240m. One more scrubby knoll needs traversing after this in order to reach open tussock. There are some nice tarns just before point 1336m and some interesting ultramafic rock outcrops on its eastern flank. The Range dips again after point 1336m and this is followed by a short steep climb over point 1240m after which the terrain flattens. Newton Biv is tucked against a tussock bank at the western edge of a flat peaty bench with tarns, GPS Ref: E1458873/ N5251148 (BV19 589 511). Snow stakes lead from the crest of the range over to where the Biv is sited. People are taking on average 7-10 hours to do this traverse according to the Biv's hutbook but it can be done in five by fit types. Michal Klajban and Jan Kupka gave these bits a reasonably good trim in July '24.
Repairs needed.
The rat infestation needs to be sorted. It is likely that the burner will be removed at the end of its life given the impracticalities of flying in fuel and the lack of a local fuel source. A longer-term solution for the toilet needs to be found. The current long drop design fills rapidly with high use and the peaty nature and high water-table of the surrounds are not ideal for this option. A removable container seems the way to go, but the high costs of flying these in and out is a budget blowing scenario. Lastly, that downpipe for the water tank needs to be properly affixed.
The track from Geologist Creek needs a bit of windthrow clearance at a the bottom end and a general trim in many places. Some corduroying and building of boardwalks on a few of the boggy bits would improve things.
Provisions on site
A kettle, a coal bucket and shovels, a poker, and broom. There is an aluminium ladder under the hut.
