Pinchgut Track (Ōkūkū River - Pinchgut Hut)

This track sidles along the true right bank of the Okuku River to Pinchgut Hut, one of the closest backcountry huts to Christchurch. 

Follow signs to Loburn, then Loburn North, then Whiterock. Watch for the Taaffes Glen Road turn off just after a single lane bridge. This shingle road leads through the Whiterock Downs Farm and over a ford. Eventually the hills close in and the river flats run into forest. There are some small parking spots here near a big clearing on the right (4WD access only).  

The track starts with a marked ford across the Ōkūkū River, so you might want to save putting your boots on until you are across. If the river is up, this ford will quickly become impassible. 

The track leads past a few beehives and bends right to meet an old 4WD track (watch for the marker poles) before ambling alongside the river. The trackside is rich with kōwhai and the leafless Clematis afoliata. There are 3 recent slips to climb above. Although these slips are benched, there's a bit of exposure and they're gritty when dry.

1 hour from the start, the track drops onto the riverbed at Whare Stream. There is some clambering around boulders and perhaps a little wading here. The track takes up again just along from Whare Stream, and climbs the hillside. The track continues easily to the hut, passing through a section of kānuka and gorse just before meeting the wide, old 4WD track and dropping a few metres to the hut.

The hut itself is located in the frosty valley of Pinchgut Stream. Some camping is available on flats across the stream.

A variant coming out can be found by going up the old 4WD track to Whare Spur and shortly after this, going down an unmarked but well-cut continuation of the 4WD track to Whare Stream, then out to the Okuku. In wasp season (late summer to autumn) there are often wasp nests on the main track and in this section.