The Alpine Fault that has created the Southern Alps is a
result of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate grinding
northwards along the edge of the Pacific plate
(and vice versa) and it runs pretty much through the
middle of the park. The rocks in the northwest part were
joined to Fiordland (480 km to the south) about 10 million
years ago and they're still moving, albeit extremely slowly,
pushing up mountains and ranges as they travel.
During the last ice age (around 12,000 years ago) glaciers
carved the ranges into the classic scenery of broad,
steep-sided valleys with long lakes, sharp ridgelines and
rounded alpine basins and tarns.
The valleys are now covered mainly in beech forest, ranging
from predominantly red beech on the valley floors to mountain
beech on the higher slopes, with tussock, herbfields and alpine
plants on the tops.
The National Park covers about 102,000 hectares of mountain
ranges, valleys and the two main lakes; Rotoiti and Rotoroa.
In Maori tradition the lakes were created by a great chief
and magician, Rakaihaitu, who travelled down the South
Island digging lakes as he went.
At the northern end of Lake Rotoiti is the village of St Arnaud,
which has the DOC visitors' centre, a shop, campgrounds and
accomodation, as well as a shuttle service to the track
entrances (or skifields in winter) and a water taxi service.
The park's long valleys are connected by alpine passes and
ridge routes that are generally gentler than those in Arthur's
Pass National Park further to the south and which are within the
capabilities of fit, reasonably experienced trampers, although
it can snow on the tops at any time of the year. Most of the
major rivers and streams are bridged and there are over a dozen
huts scattered around the park. Tramping options range through
daywalks to 7 days or more.
Because the park is relatively sheltered from the extremes of
weather coming from the south-east or south-west, the climate
is more moderate than the main alpine areas in the South Island.
The eastern-most area (Travers Valley) receives an average of
(only) 2000mm of rain a year. That might not sound too good
until you compare it with the 6000mm a year that parts of
Arthur's Pass receive. However, it's not far to the Tasman
sea and the weather is highly changeable.
On Christmas Eve 2001, with a reasonable weather forecast, we
tramped up Robert Ridge to Lake Angelus (elevation 1600 m).
At first we were sweating from the steep climb and the hot
sun, but near the bushline clouds blew in and on the ridge
we were blasted by horizontal rain. Within an hour we'd gone
from sweating in shorts to wearing full layers of polypro,
polarfleece and wet weather gear and wishing we'd brought
our gloves!
When the clouds lifted we had stunning views over the surrounding
ranges and peaks. Other highlights were watching cloud shadows
blow across rippling tussock and the many excellent vegetable
sheep on the route.
The Lake Angelus hut was full that night (around 40 people)
and deservedly so as it's a good hut in an utterly beautiful
location.
The next day we went down Hukere Stream on the Cascade track,
through fields of mountain daisies and buttercups to a sudden,
near-vertical descent to the idyllic valley floor, where we
meandered down through increasingly large beech trees to the
Travers valley and on to the Lakehead hut. The day's descent
inspired us to get walking poles and I would strongly recommend
them for this route to save your knees from getting trashed.
There were kea (mountain parrot, pictured) and karearea (NZ native
falcon) by the hut, and inside - guides preparing a surprise
Christmas dinner for a tour group. The only drawback to the lower
altitude was the clouds of sandflies which avidly followed our every
move. Even bug repellent didn't stop them from idiotically flying
into eyeballs or nostrils! They were misnamed by Captain Cook's men
and are actually a kind of blackfly. The Maori call them Namu and
tradition holds that that they were a cruel gift from the Goddess of
Death to remind people of their mortality.
The walk back along the lake to St Arnaud is easy and beautiful.
The track is flat and very well formed with many superb views across
the lake and back up to the ranges. Near St Arnaud the track passes
through an intensively predator-controlled area where stoats, rats and
possums are trapped and wasp nests eradicated. In this area the vegetation
is more luxuriant and there is a much higher density of birdlife because
of the availability of food sources and the lower rate of predation.
The increase in birdsong (compared to forest outside the area) is noticeable
and there was even some mistletoe flowering profusely on the track.
A great tramp with stunning scenery, good huts and some challenging sections.
We drove from Auckland to Wellington on a Friday, caught the early ferry next
morning to Picton, and by half past one on Saturday December 14th, we'd left
the car behind the Yellow House in St Arnaud, walked down to the lake and
started tramping. Our first afternoon was a few hour's stroll beside Lake
Rotoiti, from Kerr Bay at St Arnaud to the Lakehead Hut, about 9 km. A lot of
people take the water taxi. I like the tall beech forest beside the lake, and
it's a gentle way to ease back into tramping. There were a couple of Danish
trout fishermen at the hut, ecstatic about how cheap and beautiful it all was
and how big the trout were. It was cold that night and we woke up to a dusting
of snow well below the treeline.
We headed up the Travers Valley, across the floodplain flats and the excellent
wire bridge over the river. We had glimpses of Mt Travers at the head of the
valley and great views of ranges. It was a beautiful day, and we could see the
snowfall melting back to above the bushline as we went up the valley. It's
around 13 km from Lakehead to John Tait Hut (35 bunks, clean & modern). There
were 4 people there, including someone I hadn't seen for ages (small country!).
There were still a few sandflies around, but not nearly as many as at Lakehead.
The next day we meandered the 6 or 7 km up the valley to Upper Travers Hut.
This day involves more climbing, so there are more alpine plants and flowers,
including the magnificent mountain daisies and buttercups. The forest gets
lower and more mossy and the mountains close in on either side. There's a very
scenic waterfall just a few minutes off the trail, and you pass through the
territories of cute, inquisitive robins. If you go slowly, they come down and
check you out. One of them hopped around at our feet, catching the bugs we'd
stirred up.
The Upper Travers Hut (16 bunks, elevation 1320 m) is in a wide, flat expanse
of tussock, surrounded by the mountains, scree slopes and the last stands of
mossy, gnarled old mountain beech. The hut is old, with lots of character and
decades of accumulated grottiness in the cracks and corners. It's quite small
(cosy) inside the sleeping area - if it were full, people would have to get up
in shifts. When the sun went down, the temperature plummeted, so we stoked up
the coal fire and left it smouldering through the night. A couple of Australian
women camped nearby, but we had the hut to ourselves.
Day 4 dawned clear and blue. Mt Travers looked stunning from the hut. We
climbed up to the last part of the valley behind the hut, and then sweated up a
near-vertical rockfall to just below the saddle, where suddenly the clouds blew
in, the view disappeared and it rained. At 1787 m, the saddle is about 450 m
above the hut, and right beside Mt Travers (2338 m). I'm sure there'd be great
views in fine weather. We didn't hang around for long. The track drops quickly
through a kilometre or two of tussock and rockfalls to a huge scree slope in an
eroding gully.
We must have descended at least 400 metres on the unstable scree slope - it's
nasty, even with walking poles. It would be much easier to climb it. The West
Sabine Hut is 8 or 9 kilometres from the saddle and a kilometre below it, so
it's downhill all the way. It sounds good, but it's quite a bit of work with
the scree slope to navigate and some steep bits nearer the hut where there are
a lot of tree roots to concentrate on. The East Branch Sabine River has cut a
deep, narrow gorge that you pass over. It's quite eerie to hear the river ten
or fifteen metres below, but only catch glimpses of it. West Sabine Hut
(32 bunks) has a great fire and excellent drying racks. We were alone in the
hut.
After a sleep-in the next morning, we headed up the beautiful West Branch of
the Sabine River to Blue Lake and back. As you go up the valley, the mountains
get closer, and parts of the track pass through avalanche zones cleared of
trees. In one place we had to carefully climb over a huge deposit of hard snow
and debris that had wiped out the track in late winter. It was about 20 metres
wide, 50 or 60 metres long, and had obviously swept across the river and up the
other side a ways. The river had cut through the underside so it formed an ice
bridge. Blue Lake is about 6 or 7 kilometres from West Sabine, with a fair bit
of uphill. The lake and surroundings are also utterly wild, isolated and
beautiful. I'd love to stay at the hut there for a day or two and explore. We
just visited for lunch and then had to turn around and head back to West
Sabine. That night there were another seven people in the hut, including two
people on a guided walk up to Blue Lake and their guides. Their food was
fresher than ours, and they didn't have to carry it!
On our sixth day we covered the 16 kilometres from West Sabine Hut to Sabine
Hut on the shores of Lake Rotoroa. It's a straightforward walk through mature
beech forest, with occasional river flats and fans of scree. We saw lots of
tiny native orchids, and some colourful moths, but also increasing numbers of
sandflies. Two or three kilometres before the Sabine Hut, the river goes
through a gorge that shows off the spectacular clarity and beauty of the water.
Sabine Hut (32 bunks) is excellent - modern, clean and spacious with great
views and mesh screens to keep out the sandflies. It could do with an
atrium/drying room, but it's nicer than most places I've flatted in. There's a
radio to call a water taxi if you want to head out of the park quickly and/or
easily. It's 18 kilometres on foot (Rotoroa means 'long lake'). We were the
first at the hut and were welcomed by clouds of hungry sandflies. There were
six other people in the hut that night, including two who had come all the way
from Upper Travers (they were knackered).
We planned to climb up Mt Cedric to Lake Angelus, and wanted to catch the
views of scenic grandeur before the clouds built up, so we got up and left at
4:30 am. The sandflies swarmed on us in the darkness as we put our boots on
and we fled into the forest and up the hill with our headlights dimly lighting
the way. It's almost straight up until you clear the bushline - up 900 metres
in less than four kilometres of trail. By the time we reached the tussock, I
was just putting one foot in front of the other - also because you have to
carry your day's water with you. However, we'd beaten the clouds and the
view made it all worthwhile. From the bushline to the top of Mt Cedric is a
couple of kilometres, with expansive views down the length of the Sabine
Valley, Lake Rotoroa and the surrounding ranges. There were lots of interesting
alpine plants and a kea called out and sailed by overhead.
From Mt Cedric, the trail heads east, up and along a ridge towards the spine of
the Travers Range. Then it drops over the other side, and sidles along down
into the Lake Angelus basin. There was quite a bit of snow on the trail, but
no ice. Where the ridge joins the main Travers Range, we met a ranger who told
us they were pumping out the sewage from the toilets at Lake Angelus and
helicoptering it in huge loads back to St Arnaud. Apparently they do this every
year or two, carrying tens of thousands of litres of the stuff out to keep the
environment pristine. It was about 1:30, and the helicopter had been going
since early in the morning - it would take a lot of hut tickets to even come
close to that kind of money, and manning the pump would not be a nice job. We
hung out on the ridgeline for an hour, and got to the hut just as the
helicopter was hauling away the last load of poos (pictured). It sure didn't
smell good!
The Lake Angelus Hut is at about 1600 metres in an extremely beautiful location
and is very popular. It pays to get there early to nab a strip of bunkspace.
It's rated as having 36 bunks, but more usually manage to squeeze in. Even
then there were people sleeping on the kitchen benches. At least the bodyheat
keeps it warm at night. The hut was just about out of water, and what was left
in the tank tasted nastily smoky, so we had to filter water out of the lake.
After 7 days with very few people (sometimes none at all), it was a bit of a
shock.
Just after 4 am, we left the hut and scrambled up a ridge above the lake to see
the dawn. It was bitingly cold, but exquisitely beautiful, especially with a
sea of cloud rafted up against the western side of the ranges (pictured) and
the full moon in a sky tinged pink and yellow. The sun rose over the St Arnaud
Range and lit the mist in the Travers Valley. We had a rest day, and just
meandered around the lake and surroundings. We even had afternoon naps in the
sun. Most people headed out and there was a peaceful spell for a few hours
before more arrived.
We got up very early again on our last day, but we were wrapped in clouds and
there was no dawn to see. Walking out along Robert Ridge, clouds blew up the
valleys and streamed across the trail in front us. The world consisted of
shattered rock and clouds until we reached the waving tussocks on top of Mt
Robert and the sky opened up. It's only about 10 kilometres or so from Lake
Angelus to the carpark halfway down Mt Robert, but there's a lot of rockhopping
and concentration involved, so we were quite delighted when the shuttle came to
take us back to St Arnaud, the motel, showers, fresh food and a cushy double
bed. The driver told us that he'd been working in Wellington as a stunt double
for Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) in 'The Lord of the Rings' and had just moved
back to St Arnaud - nice guy.
We spent nine days doing the walk up the Travers Vallley, over to Sabine Valley
and up to Blue Lake, then down to Lake Rotoroa, up to Lake Angelus (with a rest
day there) and out along Robert Ridge. Keen trampers often do this in 6 or 7
days or cut it to 5 by using the water taxi on Lake Rotoiti. I'd like to have
spent a night or two at Blue Lake, as it was very beautiful, otherwise no
regrets. Some of the climbs and descents were tough going, but it was great.
