Douglas Valley Route to Horace Walker Hut

This is a one-way route of about 14.2 mapped miles (22.8 km) from the Karangarua River bridge on SH6 to Horace Walker Hut, via Cassel Flat, Regina Creek and Conical Hill Saddle. No official combined distance is published. DOC’s separate walking estimates add up to about 19 hours: six hours to Cassel Flat Hut, then 13 hours to Horace Walker. Plan for at least two days. The upper traverse is partly unmarked and exposed; it is for highly skilled, well-equipped parties.

The trail begins across the road from a small parking area beside the bridge, about 26 km south of Fox Glacier. Follow the true left bank upstream, mostly along the riverbed, through changing channels, bush, boulders and grassy flats. This approach reaches Cassel Flat Hut in about six hours.

From Cassel Flat Hut, cross the flats and take the cableway over the Karangarua River. Markers continue past a slip and steep bank to a three-wire bridge over Regina Creek, with a campsite just beyond. The climb toward Conical Hill Saddle passes through fuchsia clearings and windfall where the route can be hard to pick out, then through scrub and tussock with short exposed bedrock sections. Metal poles mark the saddle.

Beyond the saddle, the route is partly unmarked. A narrow scrubby ledge passes tight bluffs before the line traverses high, around 1,400 m. Descend when the Horace Walker moraine is visible below, then cross the tussock terrace and Horace Walker River to reach the hut. The bluffs, ledge and route-finding make this a serious alpine undertaking, not a casual extension of a valley walk.

Summer and autumn are the recommended seasons. Rivers can flood at any time; avoid bad weather or forecast rain, and do not cross flooded rivers or side streams. Avalanche danger can be high. Dogs are prohibited. Horace Walker Hut is a standard four-bunk hut and requires hut tickets. Red deer occur in the valley and tahr may be found higher around steep bluffs, but sightings are not assured. Horace Walker Hut is the end of this trail record; routes beyond it are separate trips.