Oldies tackle Young mountains

Oldies tackle Young mountains

Hugh Middleton ndon

In my ever-so-humble opinion, NZ's best tramping country occupies a 330-km uescent read: led it ) and that straddles the Divide from Lake Monowai to Mt Hopkins. That many others agree is evidenced by congestion in the Caples, Dart, Hollyford, Iris Burn, Matukituki, urnal of his

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\ Zt, all is not lost. The Young Range, which extends

I to. some 35km generally southwards from Mt t Brewster (near the Haast Pass) to Mt Shrimpton (near Makarora), boasts several excellent tracks and huts which, with a little bush-bashing and permission from Hunter Valley Station, can be linked to create a 6-8 day round hip to rival most. Reasonable weather and good bushcraft skills are essential though as there are no bridges of any kind and two major stretches are untracked and unmarked.

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At first we followed an excellent track which snakes through the bluffs of the Camerons Creek gorge from the Haast highway to the recently refurbished Cameron Hut. Then it was into the river for several hours as we splashed through the upper gorge and wandered across first one and then another set of flats before trudging up 150m of easy slopes to the High Burn saddle. At just 1166m this saddle is some B00m below adjacent peaks and affords the easiest crossing of the Young Range.

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The High Burn has carried cattle in the past but we saw none as we made our way down pleasant grassy flats to the Mid High Burn Hut. Below this point the valley is gorgy so we followed the old cattle hack, taking care not to lose it where it haverses kanuka groves about halfiruay down to the Hunter Valley 4WD track. Along this track en route to Scrubby Flat Creek (which is neither particularly scrubby nor flat) we passed five Hunter Valley Station huts plus several fishermen and enjoyed great views across Lake Hawea and up the Hunter River.

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Glynne t01/2002

Tramping and Mountaineering 2OO1 /2002

Rees, Route Brlrn, Wilkin, Young and other valleys.

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A very recently re-cut track provided excellent travel up to the Scrubby Flat Creek flats where several kea screamed obscenities at us from the sanctuary of the last of the trees. A straightforward plod across several watercourses and a 500m ascent saw us once again on top ofthe Young Range. This time though, in gorgeous autumn sunshine, wewere greeted by one of those picture-postcard scenes that make all the sweat worthwhile. Just Bkm away, but 1000m above us, loomed glacier mantled Mt Brewster. Directly across the Makarora River flats Mounts Kaye and Armstrong completed the picture.

After a very protracted lunch in this idyllic spot we set off on the B70m descent to the Makarora River. The first 300m down tussock slopes were easy. Below this the angle steepened and we had to take care not to lose our spur as it snaked its way between guts to the river flats below. Altimeter, compass and GPS were all consulted as there were no markers of any kind, although several parties reportedly use this route each year, including a Tongue & Meat group last January.

Makarora Hut, a twin to Cameron Hut, was such a nice place and the weather so perfect that we lingered for two nights before making our way down a generally good track in drizzly rain (the first of the trip) to arrive back on the Haast highway just 4km from our starting point.

Those on the trip were: Keith Thompson, Lindsay & Sue Cuthbertson and Hugh Middleton (leader and scribe).