Lodging · Mount Aspiring National Park
A 20-bunk overnight stop deep in Dart Valley.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Aspiring Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Aspiring National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Mount Aspiring audio tour“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Daleys Flat Hut is a serviced 20-bunk backcountry hut in the Dart Valley, a stop on the Rees-Dart route. This is a multi-hour tramp, not a roadside shelter. A usual approach from Chinamans carpark is 16 km and 5½–7½ hours; from Dart Hut it is 18 km and 5–7 hours. Check current track conditions before planning your route.
The hut has bunks, mattresses, heating, toilets and tap water, but no meal service or shop. The tap water is untreated, so boil it before drinking, and bring your own food. Bookings are required from 15 November through 30 April; the Backcountry Hut Pass is accepted from May through September. Sandflies can be a nuisance here.
The Mount Aspiring National Park Board built the hut in 1976. A separate tourist hut called Dredge Hut once stood nearby and has since been removed; Daleys Flat Hut is the current overnight stop.
Wildlife
60 sightingsKeaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
112 sightingsRockwrenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
26 sightingsYellowheadMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
13 sightingsTūīMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
27 sightingsBellbirdMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
35 sightingsRiflemanMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Aspiring. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Parkwolf’s Mount Aspiring ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
