Route: Highway 73 from Aickens Taramakau River access carpark, Old Christchurch Road, Highway 6, One Mile Line Road, beach (5km) to Hokitika. From Hokitika, Highway 6, Golf Links Road, South Spit Road to beach. Beach walk (15km) until dirt road to Ruatapu. From Ruatapu, Highway 6 to Copeland Track (170km). Copeland Track to just below "zig-zag" leading up to Copeland Pass (about 30 km from Highway 6). "Jump" over Copeland Pass to Hooker Lake (via bus over 400km of road), Hooker Valley Track to Aoraki/Mt. Cook Village.

Towns/Services: Hokitika (everything), Ross (lodging/store/meals), Hari Hari (lodging/store/meals), Whataroa (lodging/store/meals), Franz Josef Glacier (lodging/store/meals), Fox Glacier (lodging/store/meals).

Maps: K33 Otira, J32 Hokitika, J33 Kaniere, H36 Mt. Cook, AA Westland District Map.

Route Notes:

(1) The beach south of Ruatapu contains numerous rivers which locals consider mostly uncrossable, and are in remote areas away from the main highway. It looked like one could at least walk all the way to Ross, but I was warned that even the Totara should not be attempted, and the backtrack from the Totara to Ruatapu is quite far. So I walked only 15km of beach in this section--5 km north of Hokitika and 10 km south of Hokitika.

(2) There are backpackers, lodging and store all along the road to Fox Glacier, so walk walking with a very light pack is possible. The road was grassy/small gravel shoulders most of the way, and I was able to walk more than half of the distance off of the pavement.

(3) The Copeland Track is well marked and easy to follow even past Douglas Rock Hut, all the way to the Zig-zag.

OLD SECTION K ROUTE:

Route (part 1): SR73 past Greyneys and Klondyke Shelters to Cora Lynn Homestead (12km). Track past Bealy Hut, over Lagoon Saddle, to Lagoon Hut and Shelter. Down Harper River Valley, to a river-crossing walkwire at the junction of Harper River and Hamilton Creek. Trail vears north, but follow Harper River south 20 km to the road head at the top of Lake Coleridge. Harper, Homestead, Coleridge Roads down northern side of Rakaia River to Windwhistle (40km). SH77 to Stavely, Flynns Road, Mt. Somers Walkway to Mt. Somers.

Route (part 2): Ashburton Gorge Road to Hakatere, Erewhon Road past Lake Clearwater Camp to point 2 km beyond Mt Potts Station, and just east of Mt Sunday. Chapple: "This place is regarded as a relatively safe summer ford of the river. Mesopotamia Station musters stock across the Rangitata River here. The river’s shingle bed is about 4 km wide here, and the water channels around hip-deep." Dirt road to Masopotamia Station.

Route (part 3): [From Chapple] From Mesopotamia the route is up Forest Creek, to Felt Hut. Forest Creek is tracked on the true left, Mesopotamia's land. An easier farm track runs up the true right, but needs permission from Ben McLeod Station. Up Forest Creek 9km to Samuel Butler Hut on true right bank. Continue 2km to stock track which leads past Felt Hut up to Bullock Bow Saddle and into the Two Thumb Range. The suggested route by-passes Bullock Bow and continues 3km further up Forest Creek to Neutral Creek. The creek is marked by a willow, and an old pack track is visible. This is the entry point to a traverse of the Two Thumb Range which is reputedly not as hard as Bullock Bow, and is more firmly within Conservation land. It is not though a recognised track. Follow the creek about 4 km. It then branches left and about 750 metres further on, branches right, leading up to a basin with a feeder lake. From here the ridge is easy to cross on the southern side of a 1,989m peak. From there, down a steep shingle slope to the head of Coal Creek. Follow the creek or Tekapo Skifield Road down to Lake Tekapo shore. From Coal Creek bridge or the skifield road junction with Lilybank Road, it’s 30 km by lake shore, or Lilybank Road, to Lake Tekapo township at the foot of the lake.

[Ex-Forest Service man claims Part 3 is a one-day route moving swiftly. Overnight at Felt Hut at the beginning of the Bullock Bow Saddle route, then make an early start, avoid the descent to Forest Creek by sidling around on tussock to Neutral Creek, and make it through to Lake Tekapo in a day. Or camp second night at head of Coal Creek, out to Tekapo on third day.]

Towns: Arthur’s Pass, Windwhistle, Stavely, Mt. Somers.

Notes: Descriptions in Chapter 3 of Brabyn and Bryant for part 1 of route. DOC marker and 4WD track up true right of Harper River to Pinnacles, but have to ford Avoca River. Trampers are welcome at Mesopotamia, and two cottages are available that sleep 15 for a small fee. The station does not provide anything beyond accommodation. Chapple: "If the Rangitata River is high, or if you don’t want to get your hips wet, phone Laurie Prouting, Mesopotamia station owner, who hires a Sweitzer 300 helicopter at $600 per hour. Assuming a straight pick up and put down on either side of the Rangitata, the charge would be the minimum for firing up the chopper - $300-odd. Pickup is at Mt Potts station, just before the Mt Sunday crosspoint." Permissions: Mesopotamia Station, (03) 696.3738, Ben McLeod Station (03) 696 3747. Chapple says four permissions needed; what are the other two?

Maps: K33 Otira, K34 Wilberforce, K35 Coleridge, K36 Methuen, J36 Mount Harper, I36 Godley, I37 Lake Tekapo. Arthur’s Pass (273-01).

Page updated March 9, 2004