Montgomerie hut can be cold & damp but I don't believe it belongs in the terrible hut category. If planning to stay there allow plenty of time to gather good firewood just in case nothing good has been left for you. (Because of the ease of access a mixed bag of visitors make it to this hut. "Scumbags" often burn fuel left at the hut & don't replace it. This is seldom a problem at the more remote West Coast huts!) Montgomerie hut is very comfortable once the fire has been burning a couple of hours. I carry a "silky saw" to help with firewooding.
Regarding terrible huts I'd say the worst I've stayed in was the Whakarira Gorge hut in the lower Kokatahi valley behind Hokitika. The hut is no longer there. It was 1972 that I last stayed there. It was below the gorge at the back of a flat on the TR of the Kokatahi River & TR of Dismal Creek. By 1972 it was very run down & infested with rats. I was awakened one night by a rat licking my ear. When hurriedly sitting up in a startle other rats were thrown off my sleeping bag. It was a poor nights sleep & I didn't bother staying there again.
I went into Montgomerie last year. Well, actually we walked out via it from Kirwan's Hut. The 4WD track had been taken out by a flood so hopefully those undesirables are no longer going there. Hut-wise, it didn't look too bad.
Banfield Hut in the Rakaia (is it still there?). Sacks and spiders.
Moraine Hut in the Mathias.
Snowy Gorge Hut near Ohau. I hear it's been done up since.
But still, grateful all the same!!
Banfield Hut is in great condition.
Went for a quick walk today past Dobsons and Smiths. Both get worthy mention.
They say any port in a storm but Dobsons is more of a rocky coastline. Fireplace still works though. The rest was removed over 10 years ago.
Smiths Creek shelter was the tidyest and cleanest Ive seen it in years. Only one bag of smelly rubbish and the remnants of one fire in the entrance. When I was in Wellington Tramping Club I helped carry the concrete blocks in for this one. 3 trips in one day easy on the way out with an empty pack but the way back with either 3 blocks or half a bag of cement was not. Pity the guy that took a concrete mixer in in a wheelbarrow. When I was involved with scouts we often used this as a camping spot. Due to one of those scouts I probably hold the record for walking out from there. 7 hours! The Puffer is no fun wearing 2 packs. It used to have a top and bottom bunk then. Dont know why the top bunk was removed
The top bunk was removed because of "Hut Standards". if the bunk was left in the building would have to be totally upgraded to meet the Building Code.By removing the top bunk Smith Creek Hut became Smith Creek Shelter .
In a lot of respects the rules and regs that now govern the state of our huts,tracks and structures are way over the top, but its all about ass -covering.
The old Smith Ck hut ,built by MOW when looking for a road /rail route to the Wairarapa from Wellington,had real character...unfortunately i havnt got a photo of it,but ther must be one or two around.Like Dobson Hut ,too close to the road so vandalism was a problem.
"In a lot of respects the rules and regs that now govern the state of our huts, tracks and structures are way over the top, but its all about ass -covering."
It's pretty much all a long term consequence of Cave Creek, and I don't think it's such a bad thing despite being annoying some of the time. You kind'a want your government to be adhering to the law in general for any number of really important reasons. The hut/bunk/fire-exit issue was just bizarre, though. It's a shame nobody noticed and submitted on the Building Act when it was going through, and thank goodness there was at least enough sense to stop doing it and update the law.
Yes those two words will remain in DOC history forever.
If it wasnt for that accident i woudnt have been employed by DOC as a Hut,Track and Structures inspector for 7 odd years.To carry out any work in the back (or front )country involving local or central governmant agencies,regional councils is a time and money consuming exercise. To build a new hut ie Atiwhakatu Hut . it takes approx 4 months to get the plans, consents, iwi approvals ,geotech report,AEE etc before even a sod is turned.You can tick of about a third of your allocated budget just in this process.
Tracks and structure building /maintenance is the same.....a streamlining of the process would help , along with rationalising some things like not needing 3 hand basins at a cat 2 hut when 2 is adequate , or even 1 would do or do you really need fire exit signs in a 6 bunk one door NZFS standard hut. These standards come at a cost and if we dont ask questions we could find there will be less number of huts around in the future because they will be too costly to maintain to standard.
Speaking of terrible huts, does anyone know what the deal is with Aranga Hut in the northern Ruahines, roughly parallel with Hastings? It's an old Forestry Service hut, but now private, I think as part of a Maori land settlement deal according to a couple of hunters we met.
I passed it on Labour Weekend and the place has sadly become a dump, neglected, vandalised and seemingly falling apart in every direction.
I checked on the WAMS, though, which seems to show the hut as being just inside the Conservation Land boundary. Maybe the WAMS is just slightly incorrect and I'm no expert on interpreting it, but I would have thought if the hut remained on Conservation Land then DoC would have retained responsibility.
@OldGoat, I agree on the streamlining thing as long as the changes are made carefully, though it sounds like you know far more about the situation than I do. Maybe it's something the Conservation Minister could spend some effort on if she's for some reason not allowed to advocate for doubling DoC's operational funding. Streamlining this kind of thing would actually fit right into the stereotype that the current government likes to promote about itself.
