Karangarua River Valley Route to Christmas Flat

Karangarua River Valley Route to Christmas Flat is about 15 miles (24 km) one way, from the Karangarua River bridge on State Highway 6 to Christmas Flat Hut. The hut has no road access. The three stages are timed at 6, 7 and 3 hours, or 16 hours of walking, and the trip is listed as two days or more. This page covers the route to the hut; plan a return by the same line or verify an onward route before you set off. It suits well-equipped trampers with high-level backcountry navigation and survival skills. Summer and autumn are preferred, but rivers can flood at any time.

Cassel Flat, Lame Duck and Christmas Flat are small standard huts with six, four and four bunks. Hut tickets are required before an overnight stay; Christmas Flat is first-come, with no booking. Dogs aren't allowed.

The first stage takes about six hours. From the small parking area beside the bridge, cross the highway and follow the true-left side of the Karangarua River, mostly along the riverbed. After about an hour, orange markers lead into bush from a large grassy flat near the Karangarua–Copland junction. The route then alternates between flood channels, bush, boulders and grass flats before reaching Cassel Flat Hut. Much of the approach is riverbed rather than a built track, so the markers and river channels matter.

Allow seven hours for this stage. Follow the river to Tui Creek, then climb steeply from a scrubby face to a prominent ridge above the bluffs. The route sidles higher through more bluffs. It's less defined here, though markers continue to show the way. Watch your footing at exposed, slippery stream crossings and at a washout about two-thirds along the sidle, where the exposure is around 70 metres. The route then crosses poorly drained terraces above the river before rejoining it below Lame Duck Flat and the four-bunk hut.

The final stage takes about three hours. Markers lead through beech beside the river for about 20 minutes, then climb roughly 100 metres to an old open slip. The route stays near that height to a prominent rātā about 50 metres above the river, then descends to the water. Cross the Karangarua River, recross to get around a bluff, and cross the Troyte River. The approach continues along a terrace, climbs about 50 metres to a grassy slip, then drops toward the river and enters bush for the last stretch to Christmas Flat Hut. The mapped line ends about 150 metres from the hut's official point; follow the markers through the final approach.

The beech stand on the south bank below the Troyte confluence is a special one: it marks the northernmost patches at the southern end of the Westland beech gap. Lower forest is mostly rimu, kāmahi and tree ferns, with southern rātā and Hall's tōtara in the higher montane forest. The prominent rātā above the river is also a useful landmark on the last stage. Deer occur year-round, and tahr are found on the higher steep faces, though sightings aren't guaranteed.