Caples and Greenstone 20th-23rd March 2022

We drove to Glenorchy where I had arranged some free parking at the hotel. Our shuttle picked us up at 9am and transported us out to the start of the track. The last 24 kms was on a narrow gravel road.

Day one was our easiest at 9.5 kms. We took our time and arrived at Mid Caples Hut 4 hours later. The scenery in this valley was stunning. We thought we had the hut to ourselves but late afternoon a group of 4 arrived from the opposite direction. The hut was quite new and had amazingly flushing toilets. What a treat!

Day two was a long gruelling day at 22km. We left at daybreak (around 7.30am) and the first couple of hours was through amazing meadows and beautiful bush. Then we hit the hill. Up, up, up it went. I felt like we were never going to reach the McKellar saddle at 945 metres. Just when I was losing the will to live, we reached it and had a late lunch enjoying the views and the tarn we were beside. Another 30 minutes of walking across the top and it was all the way back down again on a zigzag path. This path had a few slippery gravel spots but overall, it was slightly steeper than coming down Mt Climie. We came out beside Lake Howden and saw the track up to the Routeburn. We continued walking through the bush which had next to no DOC markers, which was a bit disconcerting, but carried on as this was the only defined track. 2 hours later we arrived at McKellar hut totally exhausted and just so pleased to be there. Once again it was a new hut with a toilet block that flushing toilets. The ranger was also here, so we were able to hand our hut tickets over. We also had another 3 people for company, 2 very nice men from Milton and a girl tramping solo. She was going to meet up with friends later on.

Day three we left a little later and was not quite the flat walking I had hoped for. Today was another 18kms and due to tiredness from yesterday’s marathon effort, progress was pretty slow on my part. We encountered a number of rock slips, most had paths already walked through them. Some were extremely wide and needed careful navigation. On the whole the track was pretty good. We only lost the markers once and that was very briefly. It was a mix of open valleys and forest as we went around bluffs or had to climb above the river. Once again, the views were spectacular! As the day wore on, it got extremely hot and walking through the open fields became quite the mission. It took around 8 hours to get to Greenstone Hut which as punishment was across a bridge and a climb up a large hill. But once again nice new hut and flushing toilets. Jeannine declared only a man would place a hut at the top of a hill.

Day 4, I was panicking as we had to meet our transport by 12.30 and we had a 12km walk ahead of us. We left before it got light and were across the bridge by the time daylight arrived. Apart from a couple more slips, a detour to a bridge we could have ignored, my nemesis of having to walk across a cliff, which turned out to be easy and having to climb over a fallen tree (this nearly unhinged me as I was so tired), the track was really good. Everyone was amazed by the speed I was managing. It was fear of missing the transport! I still managed to marvel at the scenery and take a few photos. The lovely men from Milton managed to slip past while we were up at the bridge, had dropped their packs and came back to carry a couple of packs for us, to help speed us up. Such kind people – one owns a motel in Milton. I need to go and stay there a night. Dan had gone on ahead and came back to help carry any packs for the last half hour. We were out by 11.45am and eating lunch in Glenorchy by 1.30pm.

In summary this walk has long demanding days and you do need to be fit to manage it comfortably. 95% of the track was great. It was the other 5% that caused delays. Our weather was fantastic. We all said it was not a track that would be good in bad weather, so we were very lucky. Personally, I was at a disadvantage as I was recovering from an Achilles tendonitis and had not been able to do much training before leaving for the South Island. I have come home with meniscus damage to my opposite knee. I am so glad I did this tramp but if it were not for the encouragement and help of my fellow trampers, this would have been a lot harder. The body will heal, and I will do other walks, maybe just not as big as this one.

However it is a fabulous walk with amazing scenery and one that most of our regular trampers would thoroughly enjoy.

Judith O’Leary