Three Passes, Two Saddles, and One "Hotpool"

Arthur's Pass NP ● 29 April – 7 May 2022

Finding myself with a couple of weeks of freedom, I took the opportunity to explore Arthur's Pass National Park. My intended route changed many times both before and during the trip, but ended up taking the form of the classic Three Passes route, with a few additional flourishes.

Route

• GPX file can be found here (disclaimer: route has been drawn from memory)

• I ● Avalanche Peak (6 hrs 25 mins)
• 2 hrs 45 mins up the Avalanche Peak Track

  It took me just over an hour from the DoC information center to the bush line. Then I slowed down because appreciating the view works as a good excuse to take rests.

• 1 hr 30 mins to Crow Hut

  Cut down to the south of Avalanch Peak, then immediately loop around to head north along the ridge for half an hour. The scree to head down to the Crow is just before pt 1658, and well marked with a cairn and pole. There are some earlier screes which look a bit tempting, but apparently bluff out. At the top of each of these were large arrows constructed from rocks indicating they should be avoided. The scree was very average, but contained some small excellent sections. From the bottom, follow the river bed until you find a track to Crow Hut.

• 1 hr 55 mins to Anti Crow Hut

  Follow the track down river. It opens up about halfway down. I stayed on the TR until I was forced to cross about two thirds of the way down. I just touched the Crow Valley Track, then made a B line across the Waimakariri to the Anti Crow Hut.

• II ● Waimakariri Falls & Barker Huts (10hrs 40 mins)
• 2 hrs 5 mins to Carrington Hut

  I started early from Anti Crow Hut, following the track upstream. When the marked track first touches the Waimakariri I immediately crossed and made my way up river bed to the sharp corner of bush. There is a path up and over some small bluffs, which then drops back down to the river bed. I then headed straight upriver for where the marked track starts again. The last few kilometers to Carrington Hut are easy but tedious.

• 2 hrs 15 mins to Waimakariri Falls Hut

  I downsized to a day pack and headed up the Waimakariri from Carrington Hut. There is a poled route right up the bend. It then becomes well cairned, until a well cut track returns for the uphill. There is a bridge across the river just before the hut, but it wasn't necessary to use.

• 1 hr 45 mins back to Carrington Hut
• 3 hrs 30 mins to Barker Hut

  Assuming the DoC time to be an characteristically pessimistic, I packed an overnight pack and took the risk of aimed to reach Barker Hut before dark. Heading upstream I crossed the White just before the cableway and followed cairns up the TL. About 3/5 of the way up, a yellow tipped pole marks a route up the hillside to avoid a chasm. It eventually returns to the valley floor just in time for the valley to get steeper. Here I made a cruical mistake: in claggy conditions I misintepreted a small stream as the river marked on the topo map and turned up the wrong spur. Despite a lack of cairns, I continued on, and began to suspect my mistake when the mist cleared a little as sunset came and went. I confirmed my situation when I eventually got a GPS signal. I was around the altitude of the hut, so traversed horizontally towards it. At one point I had to climb a bit of altitude to navigate across a very chasm-y river, but otherwise I made it to the hut with no issues...

• III ● Whitehorn Pass (8 hrs 20 mins)
• 2 hrs 20 mins back to Carrington Hut

  I headed back down the White in rain, essentially retracing my steps, sans my adventure up the wrong spur. I also skipped the high route and followed a perfectly good track through the tussock lower down.

• 1 hr 35 mins to Harman Pass

  Heading back up past the Clough cableway, I followed a cairned route up a dry river bed until it reached the Taipoiti. The cairns continued up here, but weren't really necessary. Apart from the rain, the route up to Harman Pass was really quite fun.

• 1 hr 35 mins to Whitehorn Pass

  I had planned to head to Julia Hut, but having smashed DoC time to Harman Pass I got tempted by Whitehorn Pass. The route begins by crossing a large boulder field, then follows the river upstream until it reaches some permenant snow. Here I experienced an abrupt transition to type two fun. I initially sidled along the side of the valley but the moraine was so loose and kept slipping, so I eventually dropped onto the snow and used my ice axe for a bit. I was just relieved to reach the pass.

• 2 hrs 15 mins to Park Morpeth Hut

  The track down to Cronin Stream starts off steep, but very easy to follow. I then lost it and headed down the river bed until it got tricky. I climbed up to a ledge and discovered the track had been there the whole time. It was pretty easy travel down valley until it flattened out and I realised I was tired. I switched to the TR about 750m before the track is marked on the topo map. Reached Park Morpeth Hut absolutely soaked.

• IV ● Wilberforce Adventure (2 hrs 15 mins)
• 2 hrs 15 mins up the Wilberforce and back

  I began the day by putting on wet underwear, wet shorts, a wet polypro, and a wet raincoat. What more can you ask for? I headed up the Wilberforce, mostly staying to the river bed, although it was a bit swollen due to rain, so I had to push through scrub a few times to avoid high water. The river forks just before the climb to Browning pass begins, but even upstream it was too flooded to cross. I continued up the Wilberforce, hoping to either cross further up, or to go over Popes pass. About halfway towards the pass the valley became a gorge and the river was still to high to cross, so I turned around and retraced my steps back to Park Morpeth Hut for a rest day. Sometimes it is nice for the terrain to make the difficult desicions for you.

• V ● Browning Pass (9 hrs 15 mins)
• 1 hr 35 mins to Browning Pass

  Resigned to the fact that I was probably going to have to return over Whitehorn pass, I nevertheless checked on the Wilberforce. The first good sign was that the creek outside the hut was dry (well, nothing was dry, but there was no water flowing). The second good sign was that I couldn't see the Wilberforce, and when I got closer it was a good half a meter lower than yesterday. Crossable! I headed upstream, following my footsteps, crossed to the Clough memorial, then made my way up the zig zags to Browning Pass, opportunistically cutting straight up scree when I could.

• 1 hr 40 mins to Harman Hut

  The walk past Lake Browning was pleasant and involved a lot of freshly filled tarns. The track then drops steeply down to the Arahura river and follows the river bed for a few kilometers. I was very glad I wasn't doing it the day before. A kilometer before the hut, cairns give way to a marked track which follows a dry side stream then cuts up a small stream to a wide, cut track.

• 2 hrs 10 mins to Mudflats Hut

  The track here is well cut, and I can only presume used to be a pack track. I couldn't go too fast though because the rocks underfoot are very mossy and slippery.

• 2 hrs 40 mins to Newton Creek Hut

  After a gradual slog uphill, the pack track continues, cutting across some fairly steep terrain. The track down Third Gorge Creek is unusable, and was replaced with a new track slightly downstream in 2009. Or so I learned from the hutbook that evening, after I wasted half an hour pushing my way down the stream despite there clearly being no track. My only vindication was finding a walking pole, indicating I'm not the only poor soul obtuse enough to commit to that route. I have since notified LINZ of this issue, so with any luck it will be shown correctly on future topo maps. Eventually I reached the swingbridge, boulder hopped a couple hundred meters up the TR of the Arahura, and began the steep climb up to Newton Creek Hut. This wasn't actually too bad, except that the first half of the climb felt like I was walking through a hook grass farm rather than following a track.

• VI ● Newton Saddle (7 hrs 5 mins)
• 2 hrs up to Newton Saddle

  The track to Newton Saddle essentially follows the river bed the whole way, although orange markers often indicate short, cut routes around difficult sections.

• 1 hr 45 mins to Dunns Creek Hut

  The route down Dunns creek begins with a very steep drop down some slippery tussocks. It then heads down the river bed, much like the route up Newton Creek. As the creek becomes larger the cut sections became longer, and the last 500m of track to Dunns Creek Hut is as shown on the topo map.

• 1 hr 15 mins to Mid Taipo Hut

  The track aroud Dunns Creek Hut was very muddy, so provided me with an opportunity to reminisce about the Dusky. That is left behind as the track heads up and over a gradual saddle, then follows a dry stream bed straight downhill to the Taipo. At a couple of points I wondered if I had missed a turn off, but very occasional orange tape indicated it was the way.

• 1 hr 55 mins to Julia Hut

  The track up the Taipo to the swing bridge was in good condition. It gets a bit rougher after that, requiring a bit of rock hopping where historical washouts have removed the track. Once the Track returns to the river above the Dexter confluence it is in mostly good condition, albeit with a sufurous smell permeating the bush. Once I got to Julia Hut I headed for the hot pools (there are good instructions in the hut book). They were indeed hot, but hardly "pools". I crouched in the water, trying to find a balance between scorching water coming out if the rocks, and cold water coming from the stream. I was mostly unsuccessful, but I cleaned myself a bit.

• VII ● Harman Pass (8 hrs 35 mins)
• 4 hrs 20 mins to Harman Pass via Taipos Breast and pt 1805

  Opting for a day trip I decided to head to Harman Pass via Taipos Breast and the tops. From the swingbridge I headed 200m up the TR of Mary creek, but it would have been easier to cross the bridge, head up the TL; there is an easy spot to cross back further up. I climbed 500m up a dry creek bed, which is marked on the topo map. There were a grand total of two cairns on the way. Near the top I haded over some scree and boulder fields, up to Taipos Breast, then followed along the ridge towards Mt Campbell. The section from pt 1731 to pt 1756 is the sketchiest. At pt 1805 I didn't like hte look of the ridge to Mt Campbell, so dropped down to the lake and around to Harman Pass.

• 2 hrs back to Julia Hut

  The poled route drops down steeply towards Mary Creek, then crosses to the TL and keeps high before dropping down towards the first confluence. Then travel down the river bed, vaguely following poles. It is a fairly gentle valley. A track starts about where it is shown on the map.

• 1 hr 45 mins to Mid Taipo Hut
• VIII ● Kelly Saddle (7 hrs 10 mins)
• 3 hrs 15 mins to Dillon Hut

  The track down the Taipo from Mid Taipo Hut starts off good, but essentially becomes no existent across the plains. But it is easy progress down valley. I missed the turn off to the track which leads over the bluffs just before the bridge (marked as a cableway on the topo map). Instead of turning back to find it I wasted 20 minutes bush bashing up hill, only to reach the track just as it was turning to head down hill.

• 3 hrs 35 mins over the Kelly Range to Carrol Hut

  From Dillon Hut I wandered down the track to Seven Mile Hut. On the way I checked out Dillons Homestead Hut, which was very cool. Head up Seven Mile Creek for 500m, until the banks become steep. The track uphill is marked by a large orange marker, and hard to miss. It was a bit of a slog up to the Kelly Range after a week of tramping. And I got to the bushline just in time for it to clag in... The poled route across the tops was mostly easy to follow, althogh required a bit of route finding in the mist. As I dropped down to Carroll Hut it cleared a bit, providing me with good views up to Arthur's Pass.

• IX ● Out (1 hr 5 mins)
• 1 hr 5 mins down to the carpark by SH73.

Photos

Looking down on Arthur's Pass

Avalanche Peak

Crossing the Waimakariri - looking towards Mt Harper

The Milky Way from Anti Crow Hut

Waimakariri Falls Hut

Barker Hut, perched up on its ledge

Harman Pass

Permenant snow near Whitehorn Pass

As far up the Wilberforce as I could get

Looking down the Wilberforce from Browning Pass

One of the side streams flowing into O'Connor's Creek

Heading up Newton Creek

Trying my best to enjoy the hotpool

Looking down on Mary Creek from the tops

A gang of kea at Harman Pass

More of the gang

One of two whio at the three wire bridge before Dillon Hut

The Bald Range, as viewed on while climbing up to the Kelly Range

Looking towards Arthur's Pass

Slides

I gave a talk about this trip to the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club in September 2020. If you like photos interspaced with topo maps, you can find the slides can be found here

Tags