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2024-06-14T20:36:28.000Z • Queenstown-Lakes District, Otago, New Zealand / Aotearoa
Greenstone-Caples Track
In June 2024 I solo hiked the Greenstone-Caples track in two days, staying at McKellar hut overnight. About 30.5km per day, 31 hours total and 16 hours on feet with a mildly heavy pack thanks to the extra layers needed in the wet beginnings of winter.
Hike
Track Info
- This track is open and doable year-round due to the majority of the track being on valley floors and the highest point being 927m (sub-alpine).
- Bookings are required for huts during the late-spring/summer/early-autumn tramping season. Huts during the season have running water and gas stoves.
- Hut tickets are required outside of the booking season. No running water or gas stoves, so bring your cooking gear in the off-season.
- You can pitch a tent throughout the track - double-check the rules on this
- Takahe have been released into the Greenstone Valley - if you're lucky you might see one!
- There are streams and lakes to fill water, but as there are cattle on the valley floor, I'd recommend waiting until a bit higher elevation to use streams for drinking - of course, the huts have their water tanks too
- On average people take four days to complete it, but if you are in good fitness it is completely doable in 2 days, especially considering it is a flatter track.
1
Hike
Carpark to McKellar Hut
The weather forecast for this hike was completely unpredictable, as MetService was changing rain/snow forecasts seemingly twice a day -- not unexpected for the beginnings of NZ winter. I decided to risk it and start my walk at about 10 am as the rain that was consistently falling the past 48 hours began to slow to a stop. The Greenstone-Caples Track really doesn't reach any major avalanche/hazardous areas, and even the saddle wouldn't have too much snow at this point, so I knew that the worst risk I'd be dealing with is bog and cattle (and the potential slip, but I try not to think about that).
I wasn't quite sure of how many days I'd be out on track, but decided upon reaching Greenstone Hut (12km in) to keep walking to McKellar which meant a 30km day 1. From Greenstone Hut, you can continue down to the Mavora Lakes tracks, which if I had more time/clear skies, I would have been keen to add that bit on.
The first day walking through the Greenstone Valley was almost exactly as I expected. Boggy, wet, and not too scenic as the low-hanging clouds from the rain before were happy to stay put where they were. The bog was deep and fresh (even for a Dunedin resident who thought she was bog-trained), so the walk was a wee bit slow going. Since I had a bit of a late start and this was the week before winter solstice, I spent about an hour in the dark - great head torch training. Only came across two other people on track heading the other direction, so it was just me, my Lord of the Rings audiobook, and the cows in the valley. A good 90% of my runs and walks are extremely positive in nature, but this first day tested my mental strength. The wetness, slowness, and darkness out me in a bit of a low morale.
I arrived at McKellar Hut at about 6 pm and was the only one there, which meant no hut conversations with strangers who become friends, but it also meant pure solitude. During the normal tramping season, this 24 bunk hut needs to be booked in advance and sells out - it seemed like a steal getting such a place all to myself. I made dinner, hung up my wet clothes, and immediately crashed. After a long and wet day out on track, sleeping in a nice big hut with a mattress felt luxurious (I was car camping the previous four days and it was starting to feel a bit small).
2
Hike
McKellar Hut to carpark
Day two started with me waking up in the dark (winter tramping at its finest) and unsure what the cloud cover would look like for the rest of the day. It rained overnight and allegedly snowed down to 800m, meaning I'd likely experience a snowy saddle. I made breakfast, and began my walk as soon as I could see without a head torch(about 8:30am). Upon leaving the hut, I noticed the loooow hanging clouds were gone, and some freshly coated snowy peaks were showing outside McKellar Hut.
Just a few minutes into the walk, I crossed into Fiordland National Park and reached Lake McKellar, which on this still day looked like a mirror reflecting the beech trees and mountain peaks. Around here, there's an option to veer over to Lake Howden which could connect to the Routeburn Track or The Divide (the other possible starting point for the Greenstone-Caples Track). As I recently ran the Routeburn, I skipped out on this sidetrack as I've seen Howden not too long before. The walk through the lush beech forest was already so beautiful and made day 2 look much more promising. There was a small-ish ascent up to McKellar Saddle - only about 300 or so consistent metres of vert, and as expected, about 800m above sea level, I experienced bits of snow. The covering was minimal but breathtaking. As approaching the saddle, the wind picked up, therefore pushing the remaining low-ish clouds away. As I was walking through the saddle, bits of sun began peeking out and the mountain peaks and waterfalls were uncovered, making yesterday's bog fest completely worth it.
The rest of the walk was essentially a gentle downhill to flat valley walking through the Caples Valley. The valley floor was, as expected, boggy, but as the walk through the Caples Valley floor was shorter in comparison to the Greenstone Valley floor, it wasn't really soul-crushing. I reached Mid-Caples Hut at around 2 pm, and as there's just 9km to the carpark from the hut, I decided to just make this a two-dayer and get some good time-on-feet training in. At this point, the sun was shining, the valley was clear, and I was on pace to hit the carpark just in time for a beautiful sunset. I passed a few trampers heading in to Mid-Caples Hut, but other than that was completely alone. for the rest of the day. Day 2 logged about 31km in 8 hours, and I was rewarded, as expected, with a stunning winter sunset over the snowcapped mountains that were covered just one day before.