Gillespie Pass Circuit

Gillespie Pass Circuit is a remote 56 km (34.8 mi) mountain loop through the Young, Siberia and Wilkin valleys. It takes most parties three to four days, with about 19 to 23 hours of walking spread across long stages. This entry follows the full route from the Young/Makarora confluence, over Gillespie Pass and back to the Makarora access by the public road connection. It leaves out the Blue Pools approach, the optional Young River Link and the Crucible Lake side trip. Published figures vary: the current circuit figure is 56 km, while some itineraries round it to 57–58 km and the current stage totals add to about 54 km, so treat the total as approximate.

This is an advanced tramp for experienced parties with river-crossing skills, not a route to force through bad conditions. The Makarora crossings at the Young and Wilkin ends can become impassable after rain; there have been multiple river fatalities here. Wait for safe levels or use prearranged transport. The true-right bank between the two confluences has no public access, so don't try to close the loop by following the riverbank. The signposted Young Valley access is 2.5 km north of Makarora; follow the orange poles to the confluence. No dogs are allowed.

From the confluence, the track follows the true-left bank of the Young to a swing bridge at the North and South Branch junction, usually a three-to-four-hour walk. Young Forks campsite sits 200 m upstream, with a cooking shelter and toilet. The route then crosses a grassy flat, climbs steeply for about 100 m and sidles past unstable slips to Stag Creek before the steady climb to Young Hut at 750 m. The first long stage is about 20 km and takes six to seven hours from Makarora.

From Young Hut, allow six to eight hours for 12 km to Siberia Hut. Climb about an hour to the bushline, cross the bridge over the upper Young and continue along the valley floor. This is usually the last water before the pass, so fill up there. The route steepens beside a rock bluff, climbs through snowgrass and reaches the ridge at about 1,600 m. Mount Awful dominates the view. The descent through open snowgrass basins is steep and very slippery when wet, then the route drops into forest, passes Gillespie Stream and zigzags to Siberia Stream. At the pass, keep a strip of the ridge in the foreground of a photo; it gives the mountain view some scale.

Siberia Hut sits at 630 m in a broad valley. Crucible Lake is a separate 7 km, three-to-four-hour return trip from the hut, with stream crossings and a steep spur into the upper basin below Mount Alba. Its alpine herbfields are fragile, camping is prohibited there, and tiny rockwrens sometimes feed among the boulders at the outlet. The main circuit continues down the Wilkin side above Siberia Gorge, then through rough forest and open flats toward Makarora. The final stage is about 22 km and takes seven to eight hours. Kerin Forks Hut is an optional side trip across the Wilkin; that crossing may be impossible after rain and isn't needed to walk out toward Makarora.

Young and Siberia huts each have 20 bunks; Young Forks is a first-come campsite. Book huts in summer, carry a tent in case weather, rivers or transport delay you, and carry rubbish out. Hut and stream water is untreated and should be boiled. There is no food service along this remote route.

The Makarora valley is remembered as Kaika Paekai, “place of abundant food.” Māori from coastal Otago and Southland traveled inland to fish and hunt; Haast Pass/Tīoripātea was also a route to the West Coast for pounamu. Ice-age glaciers carved the valleys, while the Southern Alps' rocks began as seabed sand and mud more than 220 million years ago. Silver beech/tawhai dominates the lower forest, where you may hear fantails and riflemen; alpine tussock above supports small invertebrates and flowering herbs.