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| Crow Valley, Mt Rolleston from Turkey Flat |
The track in is easy walking, although tiring as you are
walking on gravel fan's for most of the time.
Heading to Anti Crow Hut, 13 kms or 4-5 hours
It is surprising but I have never been
up to the head of the Waimakiriri before, even though it is considered
by many as the spiritual home of Canterbury climbing and tramping. The
old Carrington Hut was one of the first trampers hut built by the CTC
way back in the 1890's.
Back in the 1960's-70-80's the
upper valley would have been full of climbers and trampers who came up
on the Friday night train. They would be making for places like
Carrington Hut, Mt Rolleston, Waimakariri Falls the Three Passes tramp
and the Upper Rakaia river.
It is much quieter these days.
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| Sunrise from Porters Pass on SH 73 |
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| SH73: On the road to Arthurs Pass |
My original idea was to cross the Waimakiriri from the car-park at Klondyke Corner and walk up to the hut using the
standard route to Carrington Hut.
The river was high, there has been a lot of snow this year and the
water levels are still too deep and swift to allow individual crossings
of the river.
Instead I used O'Malleys Track which is the name for the flood track running along the bottom of Bealey Spur.
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| From SH 73 to Anti Crow Hut via Turkey Flat |
Don't park your car at this car park overnight, it is
the worst spot in Arthur's Pass National Park for car thefts & break-ins. It is
fine for a day trip as you are back before dark, which is when most
break ins occur.
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| O'Malleys Track car park, Arthur's Pass NP |
Just a note of caution: If you cannot cross the Waimakariri River at Klondyke Corner then you should not go past Anti Crow Hut. Between Anti Crow Hut and the Upper Waimakariri Valley are a number of compulsory river crossings of the Waimakariri, Anti Crow Stream and Greenlaw Creek. All of these will be difficult if not impossible if they have any volume of water in them.
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| Start of O'Malleys Track to the Waimakariri Valley |
The track starts off by climbing up high to get above
a gorge running down this side of Bealey Spur, total height gained
would be 80 meters then you sidle the side of the spur for about 45
minutes or roughly 2 kilometres.
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| O'Malleys Track: Initial climb to sidle track (about 80 meters) |
There are occasional views out across the river towards Klondyke Corner on the valley flats opposite.
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| Klondyke Corner from the O'Malleys Track |
Initially the track is benched with a nice camber and
surface, this quickly degenerates into your standard DOC back country
track. There is a bit of windfall on the track, no doubt damage caused
by the heavy winter storms earlier this year.
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| O'Malleys Track: Initial sections are benched... |
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| O'Malleys Track, Arthur's Pass...it then turn into a mud scramble! |
You can just make out a couple of camper vans on the
far bank of the river, this is the access point if you want to attempt a
crossing of the Waimakariri River. It saves about an hour but is much
more dangerous than just walking along the flood track. Literally dozens
of people have drowned in the Upper Waimakariri...it is not to be
trifled with.
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| Tourists camping at Klondyke Corner, from O'Malleys Track |
After about 45 minutes you get close to the end of the sidle, and start heading down to Turkey Flats.
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| Approaching Birch Nook on O'Malleys Track |
Below is the only significant side stream you cross
on this track. It doesn't look like much really, then you notice the piles
of drift wood debris around the trees near the river banks. I measured
one...it was up to my knee so about 50 cm deep on the river bank which was another
70-80 cm above the stream bed.
That's waist deep water on me, and I'm not short!
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| Only major stream that must be crossed, note flood debris! |
Once you get to the end of the flood track the upper Waimakariri Valley opens up before you. I love the look of those snow capped mountains in the far distance.
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| O'Malleys Track: Heading down onto Turkey Flat |
Turkey Flat is a large debris fan from Jordan Stream,
it takes about an hour to walk across it mainly due to the gravel you
are walking on for most of that time. It is big lumpy stuff brought down
by the streams in the area. It is awkward to walk on and you keep
wobbling around.
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| Mt Bealey across the Waimakiriri Valley from Turkey Flats |
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| View back to Bealey Spur and O'Malleys Track |
Jordan Stream is a vast expanse of gravel, the main
river bed is about a kilometre across, totally bone dry. I would imagine
that when a good olde Nor' Wester starts bucketing down it soon fills
to the brim, there is no covering vegetation so it must get washed away
regularly by all the water.
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| View up Jordan Stream from stream bed |
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| Looking West to Mt Stewart and Waimakiriri headwaters from Jordan Stream |
The further you walk the better the views of the
surrounding mountains, Crow Valley starts to open up as you get closer
to the hut.
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| Waimakariri Valley: Anti Crow Hut is over the spur to left |
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| View of Mt Stewart, Crow Valley from Waimakariri Valley |
The final part of the route is a short track over a
bush spur, when the river is low you can forgo the pleasures of the
track and just walk up the dry river bed. Be aware there is a bit of a
hairy down climb right at the end of the track, not high just difficult.
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| Anti Crow Hut: climbing over last spur before the hut |
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| Track heading down to Anti Crow Flat from Turkey Flat |
Anti Crow Hut is a classic ex NZFS six bunker, it is
in a nice location sited in a bush finger with expansive views of the
valley. I believe this is the second hut on the site, being built in
1960 to replace an even older hut. DOC have obviously been in to do some
upkeep as the hut was looking in excellent condition.
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| Anti Crow Hut (1960) |
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| Anti Crow Hut: come on in folks..... |
It has a new coat of paint outside and is fairly tidy
inside, 6 bunks but you could probably get another 4-6 people in on the
floor if needed. Most visitors are people on day tramps, mountain
runners and climbers/trampers on their way to/from
Carrington Hut and the Three Passes Route.
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| Interior of Anti Crow Hut, Arthur's Pass National Park |
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| Arthur's Pass National Park: Anti Crow Hut: interior, opposite end of hut |
I was the first person to visit the hut since the 5th September or nearly a month previously.
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| View east to Klondyke Corner from Anti Crow Hut |
There are some impressive views of the south face of
Mt Rolleston (2271 meters) as well as the Crow Valley. I will eventually
get around to visiting the Crow Valley Hut, it is a bit of a tricky
trip as you need to cross the Waimakiriri a couple of times to get
there.
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| Rolleston Glacier from near Anti Crow Hut |
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| Mt Rolleston (2271 meters), Arthur's Pass NP |
The hut looks good in its new coat of paint, I
especially like the sheet of clearlite DOC have retrofitted to improve
the light inside the hut. Makes it so much brighter and more cheerful.
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| Close view of Anti Crow Hut, Waimakariri River Valley |
There is a big flat area in front of the hut, if the hut was full you would have your choice of spots for tenting.
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| River flats in front of Anti Crow Hut, Mt Bealey in the distance |
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| Crow Valley, destination for future trip, Avalanche Peak to right |
I ate my lunch in the hut and then made my way back
the way I had arrived. The wind picked up a little around 12 noon but it
was still nice walking weather.
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| Waimakariri Valley: heading back towards Jordan Stream |
The Anti Crow Hut is just on the other side of the bush spur
coming in from the left, the track meanders for about 700-800 meters
through the bush.
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| Anti Crow Hut is just the other side of this bush spur, Mt Stewart in the background |
There is a really obvious ground trail in those places with vegetation, the route is also marked by snow poles as well.
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| Obvious ground trail across Turkey Flat, Arthur's Pass National Park |
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| Arthur's Pass National Park: Waimakariri Valley: gravel bash supreme! |
I don't normally listen to the MP3 while tramping but
with that big gravel flat to cross again I needed the inspiration, it
worked because it took me half the previous time to get back to the
start of the flood track.
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| Jon bopping out crossing Jordan Stream |
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| More getting down...Waimakariri River Valley |
Jordan Stream....that's a whole lot of gravel to walk over, especially when viewed from a log in the middle of the stream bed.
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| View up the Waimakariri Valley from bed of Jordan Stream |
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| O'Malleys Track: reason for the sidle track: bluffs! |
As you can see the Waimakiriri comes right up against
the side of Bealey Spur, the water was flowing deep and fast in this
channel.Bealey Spur is actually the boundary of the national park although it is the far side on the Spur not the side facing the Waimakiriri River.
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| Nice river pool approaching Bealey Bridge |
This is the last climb before you start descending
down to the car park near the Bealey Bridge. I agree with the guide
books: this track needlessly goes up and down but it is a godsend for
accessing the upper reaches of the Waimakariri river valley.
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| O'Malleys Track..scrappy track high above the Waimakariri River |
I will be coming back some time in the
future to visit the Upper Waimakariri River, I'm keen to visit the
massive 36 bunk Carrington Hut as well as the much more modest
Waimakariri Falls Hut.
Access:
From SH 73 at the Bealey Bridge, park at the O'Malleys Track car park
and follow the flood track to Turkey Flat, follow the marked track
towards the head of the Waimakariri Valley.
Track Times: 2-3 hours to Anti Crow Hut Hut, another 2 hours to Carrington Hut
Hut Details:
Anti Crow Hut: standard, 6 bunks, wood burner, water tank, toilet:
Carrington Hut: serviced (CTC owned, DOC administered), 36 bunks, radio,
wood burner, water tanks, wood shed, toilets
Miscellaneous:
Both the Waimakariri and Anti Crow Rivers are dangerous, numerous
people have drowned in both, care needed when crossing. Jordan Stream
prone to flooding in heavy rain.
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