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 Mid Taipo Hut and Newton Creek in the Arahura valley are to be fully maintained.
Location
Taipo catchment: Grid Ref: E1471565/
N5256348. BV20. Altitude 705m.
Dunns Hut is located in Dunns
Creek basin in the Taipo
valley. The Hut is tucked against the forest edge with 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 through traffic is
heading to or coming from Newton
Creek
Hut in the Arahura
via Newton Saddle.
Below
the Hut Dunns Creek drops in a series of waterfalls through an
impassable gorge, then flattens and flows into the Taipo River.
Dunns Hut can be accessed in a day from the Taipo roadend by an averagely fit party.
It has a wood stove and is a warm and comfortable overnighter. A small tribe of weka
inhabit the surrounds and provide entertainment.
Access
The Officially maintained track to Dunns starts
downstream of Mid Taipo Hut on the TL of the Taipo.
Head down the river flat below the Hut and ford Hura Creek. The track entrance
is on the bush edge and the track
climbs up a gut and over a bush saddle into Dunns basin. Travel time to Dunns
from Mid Taipo is around two hours, or six from the Taipo roadend.
An old
NZFS track on the TL of Dunns Creek marked as unmaintained on the topo map, was
recut by volunteers in 2007 and is much quicker than the official route.
You need to cross the TL of the Taipo at some point for this route. If you use the cage upstream of
Scottys Creek there is 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.
Permolat markers on the TL riverbank around E1472550/ N5256433 mark the start of track, just
upstream of a large slip, and around where the Creek starts getting
rough and gorgy. This is way downstream from where the track start is marked on the topo map. A rough trail
leads to 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
the NE edge of the clearing.
Allow 2.5 - 3 hours from Dillons Hut 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 E1471065/ N5256463).
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.