Hidden hut in Tararuas

We made it to Snowy on the weekend, coming down from Elder via .666. What a wonderful place! The river it was nice, too, although I doubt I'd fancy the short but of gorge in anything but low to normal flow and sunny weather. Even then it required a pack float.

There are 2 old logging tracks from snowy hut to the end of Odlins Rd via each side of the valley. Plus a higher track on the TL that requires no river crossings but ends with a steep (taped) scrabble down to the road. So the gorge is not necessary if you don't want it. The tracks are in routeguides (but the hut isn't)

Ok. Correction the 2 tracks on the true left are in routeguides but the one on the TR isn't. The TR track climbs the spur between the snowy & tregear starting 20m up the snowy from the tregear forks and sidling up the Snowy face. After about 1km theres a junction with one loghing track climbing north onto the spur and heading about half way up to Kime Hut and the other sidling back down into the Snowy and ending with a switchback down to the river at the forks below the hut.

@Izogi - you didnt bump into a WTMC trip this weekend did you? There was one heading in there hoping to bag it this weekend - they were to come down from Elder too. Yes I wasnt prepared for the depths of the Snowy river either when I did it - I was really glad for the old forestry roads when I found these on the adjacent land. Thats good detail on them Madpom - I ended up just finding them by accident. There do seem to be a lot of those roads in there though

Hi @si-dog. Yes I was on it. :P The pack-float was heaps of fun, but in part only thanks to the sunny weather for a speedy drying out. We kept a loose eye open for the old logging track on the true-right 1km north of Snowy, to which I think @madpom refers, but didn't spot it. (Were you the source of that info?) We might have hunted more thoroughly if we'd needed it more but didn't in the end.

Was it the snowy you had to swim in or the main Waiatarau down to Otaki Forks? Ive done the Waiatarau before and its a good trip for a hot day. The gorge is only a couple of hours and I dont remember more than a couple of short swims although a lot was walking belly button deep

Maybe it wasn't at its lowest flow, then, although it hasn't rained a lot lately and hadn't for a handful of days. The part I'm referring to is just north of the confluence between the Eastern Waiotauru and Western Waiotauru (1.5 squiggly km NNW of Snowy.) We were able to stand in the upstream end on the true-right, about knee-deep, and sidle around the edge for a few metres, but then had to swim/packfloat to get across and downstream. https://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/40547551053/in/album-72157707920700494/ We just followed the track from the bridge back to the forks.

@Izogi - good to hear - yea I never encountered that part that you ae pictured in - I advised Aimee that I found some logging trails at the base of the spur adjacent to ridge 666 - yes, this is the one to north about 1 k from the hut, and on teh true right. I came the other way and this road desposited me neatly at the tip of the 666 spur. I couldnt be too specific though as I did this trip in October after that amount of time the data had dropped off the route breadcrumb trail in my GPS. I think I was quite lucky as I encountered some deep bits - but nothing like what you guys found! Judging by your photos, thats a capable crew that was on that trip though, well done for getting there. When I was there the river was also pretty uncomfortably deep in many places - I just wasnt really prepared for it as all the material I had found downplayed this fact. Also see your pic of a giant spider - I saw heaps of these buggers coming down the YTYY from Island Forks the other weekend - I couldnt believe the size of them. Ick

Where is this pig flat hut? I have heard it exists but have no idea where

mountain house shelter used to be a hut, it is at the end of the flat ridge that used to known as pig flat because it was so muddy until they upgraded the track