Huts

 

Dunns Hut

Dunns Hut

(Dunns Hut looking up to Tara Tama: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007)

Maintenance Status

Dunns Hut has been designated as minimal maintenance. Access routes to it from the Taipo valley and Newton Creek in the Arahura are fully maintained as part of Newton Saddle/ Arahura circuit.

Location

Taipo catchment: Grid Ref: 2381540E/ 5817990N. Map K33. Altitude 600m. Dunns Hut is located in Dunns Creek basin in the Taipo valley. The Hut is nestled against the montane forest edge and has an open marshy area between it and the Creek. Dunns Creek is gorgy and rough and in its headwaters is ringed by the peaks of the Campbell and Tara Tama Ranges. A good portion of the visitors here are heading to or coming from Newton Creek Hut in the Arahura via Newton Saddle.

Downstream of the Hut, Dunns Creek drops in a series of waterfalls through an impassable gorge before flattening and flowing into the Taipo River. Dunns Hut can be accessed in a day from the Taipo road by an averagely fit party. It has a wood stove and is a warm and comfortable overnight destination. A small tribe of weka are happy to share their territory and provide entertainment and music.

Access

The officially maintained track to Dunns starts on the TL of the Taipo at the downstream end of of the river flat below Mid Taipo Hut. Hura Creek needs to be forded to get to the track entrance which is on the bush edge. The trail climbs up a gut and over a bush saddle into Dunns basin, taking around two hours Mid Taipo, or six plus from the Taipo road end.

There is a shorter, unofficial route to Dunn's Hut up an old NZFS track on the TL of Dunns Creek. Although decribed in some tramping guides as no longer existing, the track is in fact in quite reasonable shape after being opened up by volunteers in 2007, and a couple of hours shorter than the Mid Taipo route.

Head up the Taipo from Dillons Hut to the cage upstream of Scottys Creek. If you cross to the TL here you'll be faced with an immediate and steep climb around a bluff. At normal river levels it is easier and quicker to continue the TR of the Taipo, ford Hunts Creek, then ford the Taipo onto the grassy river flats above the bluffs. Follow the grass flats up to Dunns Creek confluence and head up the Creek, mostly on the TL, for around 45 minutes. The Creek starts getting rougher and gorgy around 2382590E/5818260N. Permolat markers on the TL riverbank just upstream of a large slip lead to a rough trail that takes you onto a second slip with a number of old dead-standing trees. Around 200m up this there is a large rock with a cairn on top. The track entrance is just above this on the bush edge on the TR of the slip. The track climbs steeply up a hardwood face onto a steep ridge on the TL of the gorge before flattening and sidling into Dunns basin. The top entrance to the track is at the scrub edge just down from the Hut at 2381650E/5817950N. Allow three hours from Dillons to Dunns Hut.

Type

Dunns is a standard 4-bunk Forestry design, built in the 1960's. It has had a few minor modifications over the years, is lined, and has a wood burner. There is a roof-fed water tank and toilet.

Condition

DOC repainted and resealed the Hut, did some repiling, and replaced a reasonable amount of the framing in the summer of 2004. The skylights and flue were also replaced. There is a joist missing at the far end of the Hut and the floor is a bit spongy here. Some of the framing and part of the seat bench in the toilet have started to rot out.

Routes

Access to Newton Saddle and Newton Creek Hut is up the TR branch of Dunns Creek. Dunns Saddle at the head of the TL branch has a very steep drop-off into Newton Creek at a considerable distance upstream (through untracked scrub and montane forest) from Newton Hut.

Overgrown sections of track through the scrub and around boulders between Dunns Hut and Newton Saddle were recently cut by DOC. The tussock faces on both sides of the Saddle are snow-poled. There are big differences in in recorded travel times for the Saddle crossing in the Dunns hutbook (between 5 and 13 hours), due probably to coinciding differences in the experience and fitness of those doing it. Average times should drop now with the improved track conditions, with times at the lower end of the scale comparable to other travel times on this site. A sidle around the tussock flanks of Mt. Eidelweiss down to the junction of the the two branches of Dunns Creek has been mooted an alternative to travelling up the Creek. This is probably only more useful currently as a descent route.

A traverse of Mt. Eidelweiss from Dunns Saddle to Newton Saddle is worthwhile if fine. Access up the TL branch of Dunns Creek to Dunns Saddle is quite easy, although there is some avalanche danger on this route from Tara Tama at certain times of the year.

A traverse of the Tara Tama Range to Scottys Biv is possible for those seeking more challenging options. Tara Tama is accessable via an open creek gut on the TL of Dunns Creek 20 minutes upstream from the Hut (around 2381030E/ 5818100N). The gut is an active avalanche chute after heavy snowfall, but in summer it is an easy scramble up to Tara Tama and along to the Tara Tama Range. It is tussock travel from here down to Scottys Biv via Scottys Saddle.

To get to Scottys from Dunns Saddle head up and over a small knob, then sidle off the main ridge onto a large scree that leads to the NW shoulder of the low peak of Tara Tama. Drop from here down to the main ridge of the Tara Tama Range to Scottys Saddle. Ice axes and crampons are recommended for winter and spring on this route.

The above routes would also get you to Griffin Creek Hut in a reasonable day from Dunns Hut.

Repairs

The missing floor joist and the rotten studs and seat planks in the toilet need replacing. DOC have programmed repairs for Dunns over the 2010/ 11 season and know about the joist.

Provisions on Site

Two shovels, an axe, an aluminium basin, a broom and the ubiquitous DOC hearth brush and shovel.