rees dart track in oct?

not a lot of people go up the north branch of the routeburn you're likely to be totally alone up there

I mentioned Brewster Glacier as it is on a main tourist route around the South Island (West Coast glaciers to Wanaka/Queenstown), is easily acsessable, quickly reached and surprisingly people free. You'll have to decide what kind of trips you want to do. Brewster is something you can pop up and down to in 2 days (5 hours up, 4-5 hours down) which can be incorperated into a trip between the West Coast and Wanaka/Queesntown. The Rees/Dart is a different kettle of fish as its a proper tramping trip of 4-6 days if you chuck in Cascade Saddle, and its out of the way at the head of Lake Wakatipu. Generally if you go up there its either to get away from it all or to go tramping. Brewster Glacier can be combined with a trip up Mt Armstrong. You'ld want to make this a 3 day trip if you do this. Brewster hut to the glacier and Mt Armstrong summit can be done in about 6 hours. If you are after public transport then Atomic Shuttles will happily drop you off at the track end although you'll have to wave them down or one of the other passing buses to get a ride out.

rees dart track is busy in summer , huts overflowing with people...

You'd want to find out if the bridge at Snowy Ck is still removed over winter and when it is returned.

Yeah, hopefully it'll be there in November. So if the weather is good in early November it's a given that the huts will be overflowing?

on the rees dart they will be

you can contact doc closer to the time and they will tell you how full the huts have been, you might be ok early nov, its hit and miss but as summer goes on the huts will definitely be overflowing, dart hut is the worst because of people doing teh day trip to cascade saddle... problem is people all read the same guide books and do the same trips...

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help I got from you guys. Unfortunately Rees-Dart wasn't very reasonable to do with one of the bridges not ready to be installed, and the Wanaka DOC told me no one had been up to Cascade Saddle yet in the season when I asked at the end of my trip (second week of November). Also didn't have any luck with Kepler, as it was closed for avalanche danger when I was in Te Anau. However, I really enjoyed the dayhike I did from Routeburn Shelter to Harris Saddle and back (perfect weather, lots of snow around for the scenery, and very very little snow on the track), and ended up seeing lots of amazing stuff I would have missed had the backpacking plans worked out... for instance, seeing Stewart Island and hiking Fox Glacier were two huge highlights of my trip, and I'm glad I got to see Milford Road both on a clear day with lots of snow around and later in the trip in a heavy downpour with so many waterfalls everywhere. Even though it was short, I really enjoyed the Temple Basin Track in Arthur's Pass too, especially scrambling on the rock to avoid somewhat steep snowfields a little past the huts. Will have to return some summer to get Cascade Saddle and Mueller Hut in.