Distance: ~9 km
Time: 3:30
Start: Car park opposite Roadman's Shelter, West Coast Road
Finish: Same place (it's there and back)
Date: Friday 13th March 2020
Breakdown: Car park to Kowai Hut 1 hour and 15 minutes. Kowai Hut back to car park 1 hour and 30 minutes (not sure why the return journey was longer!!)
This walk crosses private land and requires the permission of Brooksdale Station. Ring Jess & Stu Gunn on 03 318-4748 or Hamish 027 358 3809.
With the full expanse of the sunlit Canterbury Plains stretching out before us, we realised with horror that the only bank of dense cloud in the distance was basically the valley we were intending to walk down. After signing in at Brooksdale station and with fog-lights on, we drove to the car-park opposite the historic Roadman's hut (that little red tin shed that you see on the side of the road just before you go up the steep hill to Porters Pass).
We hiked the electric fence, jumped the stream and headed off into the fog. But after about five minutes a clear patch appeared ahead of us and we could see up to the high ridge of the valley and the blue sky beyond. The blue sky patch got bigger and bigger and before we knew it we were removing puffer jackets and donning sunhats.
The track here is an unmarked farm 'road' which forks here and there within the first five or ten minutes and there are a couple of gates to climb over. I don't think you can go too far astray. Don't take the first obvious left fork up onto the terrace. Then soon after there is a less distinct right fork towards the river, don't take that one (although if you did it would probably be ok). After those two forks it's all pretty straight forward and the going is easy. The tussock and spiky matagouri give a wild west sort of impression. They must have cleared some native bush to farm this place but it's trying its best to return (already beech and cabbage trees up the hill) and will be stunning when it does.
At one point we stopped to admire the view and the wisps of fog drifting up the mountain valleys, when we noticed two guys lying in the scrub at the side of the track about three meters away from us. They were slightly obscured from view so we couldn't see what they were up to exactly. One of them grunted 'hello'. He was eating something out of a tin. We quickly moved on but we were a bit spooked. Where was their car? What was the name of that movie with the beautiful scenery? (Brokeback Mountain). Out of earshot we speculated wildly.
The farm road follows the Kowai river, at times it's travelling right next to it. After about 40 minutes you come to a side stream (the aptly named Foggy stream) and the road disappears altogether. We crossed this side stream (one or two wet feet) and picked up a path of sorts on the other side, this time pretty much next to the Kowai river (on the true right). Another 15 mins or so and we crossed the Kowai river and followed the white poles up to the Kowai hut.
Actually the Kowai hut is also called the John Hayward memorial hut and in the 70's was used to house researchers from the Canterbury Agricultural College who were investigating river flow rates and scree slope flow rates. There are still some iron works in the stream behind the huts.
We got three chairs out of the hut and sat in the sun for a snack. In the distance we could see the two guys coming along the river bed. They were carrying a gun so were probably hunters (we speculated further and felt slightly alarmed).
The return journey was a sinch because we knew the path more or less. It was a quick drive back to Springfield and a flat white at that cafe where the old owner made it into the newspaper because she was so rude to customers. I don't know what its called now. It still has an old NZ quirky feel to it - not exactly in a positive way. You know what I mean. The new owners are friendly though so that's nice.
Time: 3:30
Start: Car park opposite Roadman's Shelter, West Coast Road
Finish: Same place (it's there and back)
Date: Friday 13th March 2020
Breakdown: Car park to Kowai Hut 1 hour and 15 minutes. Kowai Hut back to car park 1 hour and 30 minutes (not sure why the return journey was longer!!)
This walk crosses private land and requires the permission of Brooksdale Station. Ring Jess & Stu Gunn on 03 318-4748 or Hamish 027 358 3809.
With the full expanse of the sunlit Canterbury Plains stretching out before us, we realised with horror that the only bank of dense cloud in the distance was basically the valley we were intending to walk down. After signing in at Brooksdale station and with fog-lights on, we drove to the car-park opposite the historic Roadman's hut (that little red tin shed that you see on the side of the road just before you go up the steep hill to Porters Pass).
We hiked the electric fence, jumped the stream and headed off into the fog. But after about five minutes a clear patch appeared ahead of us and we could see up to the high ridge of the valley and the blue sky beyond. The blue sky patch got bigger and bigger and before we knew it we were removing puffer jackets and donning sunhats.
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At one point we stopped to admire the view and the wisps of fog drifting up the mountain valleys, when we noticed two guys lying in the scrub at the side of the track about three meters away from us. They were slightly obscured from view so we couldn't see what they were up to exactly. One of them grunted 'hello'. He was eating something out of a tin. We quickly moved on but we were a bit spooked. Where was their car? What was the name of that movie with the beautiful scenery? (Brokeback Mountain). Out of earshot we speculated wildly.
The farm road follows the Kowai river, at times it's travelling right next to it. After about 40 minutes you come to a side stream (the aptly named Foggy stream) and the road disappears altogether. We crossed this side stream (one or two wet feet) and picked up a path of sorts on the other side, this time pretty much next to the Kowai river (on the true right). Another 15 mins or so and we crossed the Kowai river and followed the white poles up to the Kowai hut.
Actually the Kowai hut is also called the John Hayward memorial hut and in the 70's was used to house researchers from the Canterbury Agricultural College who were investigating river flow rates and scree slope flow rates. There are still some iron works in the stream behind the huts.
 |
 |
 |
|---|
We got three chairs out of the hut and sat in the sun for a snack. In the distance we could see the two guys coming along the river bed. They were carrying a gun so were probably hunters (we speculated further and felt slightly alarmed).
The return journey was a sinch because we knew the path more or less. It was a quick drive back to Springfield and a flat white at that cafe where the old owner made it into the newspaper because she was so rude to customers. I don't know what its called now. It still has an old NZ quirky feel to it - not exactly in a positive way. You know what I mean. The new owners are friendly though so that's nice.
