Looking for suggestions for an easy early winter tramp - 1 night or 2 nights max - preferably an easy 4 - 6 hours walk/day, with a great (warm) hut and lots of solitude. Within 1 - 2 hours of Christchurch. Any suggested gems? (St James Walkway has been ticked off).
Thanks in advance
Shaz
Try the Casey-Binser circuit in APNP.
Start at Andrews shelter and walk into Casey Hut for the night.Easy stroll in.Not sure how much snow is around.
You can then either return on the same track or back via Binser Saddle (bit longer and harder).
Mt Somers walkway is another option,but likely to be more people around.
What about the track into Nina Hut, stay overnight and return. Again you would need to check the snow conditions with DOC. Should be easy to reach the hut as most streams have bridges.
Matthew has some feature here where you key parameters in and it gives you a list of suitable tracks.
The Edwards Hut is another option. Nearly all of the time you can cross the East Edwards and keep your boots dry. I just use other footwear for those first river crossings before you start walking on the track proper. Plenty of firewood there at the moment (thanks, DoC).
The warmest hut is the new Dillon Hut in the Taipo close to the old Dillon homestead. One winter I got up at 1 am (for the usual reason) and the temperature up on the bunks was 37 degrees. There are a few river crossings on that one but I wore my crocs for the first crossing and kept them on all the way into the hut. It's 2 1/2 hours' drive from Chch though.
Basin Hut in the Avoca would be a 6 hour tramp via Jordan Saddle. That's a warm hut but heaps of river crossings...
Pinnacle Hut on the Mt Somers w.w is a couple of hours walk in. It is popular though. Carroll Hut has no heating and neither do the new bivs (Pfeiffer etc.). Hawdon Hut is very popular.
Tarn Hut - in from Lees Valley.
Black Hill Hut - in from View Hill.
Ive been into Black Hill Hut before, that is a nice hut and a good track. Your car is quite safe at the View Hill carpark, but there is a river crossing at the start of the road that can be a problem if you haven't a 4 Wheel Drive. We had snow on the track when we walked it during Winter 2012. I think it was late July more than June though.
This post has been edited by the author on 16 June 2015 at 17:03.
The ford on the way into View Hill is now much improved. I was on a trip that hydrauliced the 2WD at that ford a few years ago. We had to ring Frank and get him to tow us out.
There are 2 fords on the road in to View Hill.
The first is now actually a concrete surface and would really only be a problem if flood debris lay across it.
The second, smaller one has been straight forward every time I've crossed it, flat and shallow.
Plenty of options around Canterbury, many good ones already mentioned.
Crow Hut (APNP) is a valley trip with good views up to Mt Rolleston. Does usually involve fording the Waimak so choose your trip timing carefully.
Cass-Lagoon Saddle - great weekend trip. Crosses avalanche paths around Cass Saddle but the trip offers nice variety and scenery.
I could go on ... endless choices.
This post has been edited by the author on 21 June 2015 at 00:11.
Hawdon Hut up near Arthurs Pass is a good hut but you do need to cross the river a couple of times.
The first ford on the way to View Hill has a concrete surface with most of the water flowing underneath via large bore pipes.
Hawdon Hut has at least 3 crossings. We cheat and travel on a flood track we resurrected about 15 years ago on the true left. DoC now use it as a trapping line. This avoids a bit of river crossing and it's safer to cross on the braids further upstream.
It's fascinating to see how the Hawdon keeps changing after floods. There used to be a hut east of the Pyramid (on the true right). We came across some remains of it one time when we descended the Pyramid via the scree on the east. It was still there in the early 70's. In those days there were well-maintained benched tracks all the way on the true left to Hawdon Hut. They disappeared pretty much when the National Park staff no longer were in charge.
The old hut further up at the forks of the Hawdon and E. Hawdon was removed on skids in the early 70's and now is on Mt White Station. It was a 4 bunker similar to the W. Harper Hut.
