Serpentine Hut

(Serpentine Hut: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007)

Maintenance Status

Serpentine was designated for removal in DOC's 2003/ 4 high-country review. A kayaking group regularly using the Hokitika River have requested a reconsideration of this decision, and the removal is now on hold. Serpentine is one of the least visited huts on this site, but is in good conditon. It was repainted, re-sealed and recieved some basic maintenance in 2004.

Location

Hokitika catchment: Grid Ref: E1443495/ N5235934. Map BV18. Altitude 300m. Serpentine is located the TR of the Hokitika River, midway up the valley, on the TR bank of a large, unnamed side creek. Access tracks cut by the NZFS in the 1950's and 60's were abandoned decades ago and have effectively vanished. A series of impressive gorges up and downstream of the Hut provide a physical deterrent to bush travel, and further isolate it. It is not surprising then, that the hutbook has regular gaps of 2-3 years between entries, with no recorded visits at all bewteen 1987 and 1993. Most of the recent visitors have been by kayakers doing fly-in/ paddle outs of the Hokitika. Very few actually stayed overnight. The short section of track up from the River to the Hut was completely overgrown when I visited in 2007 and had to be recut and marked.

Access

Back in the 1960's to the early 70's when the tracks were well maintained it took 5-6 hours to get from the roadend up to Serpentine. The track skirted three sizeable gorges in the process. The journey now would most likely require a couple of days of serious bush-bashing.

Travel downvalley from Frisco Hut is less difficult and shorter, but a wilderness experience nevertheless (See route notes). Serpentine Hut is not visible from the river if approaching from upstream. The entrance to the track up to it from the River was re-marked in 2007.

Type

Serpentine is an older style 4-bunk NZFS design built in the late 1950's. The original hut had an open fire which was replaced by a wood burner in the early 80's. Water is from the river. There is no toilet.

Condition

Serpentine had its exterior repainted and resealed, and some of the less solid framing replaced in the summer of 2003/4 by DOC. The hut is in remarkably sound condition for its age, given the low-levels of maintenance over the years. One of the piles on the west side and one on the uphill side are getting a bit flakey and one floorboard is a bit spongy.

Routes

The best access to Frisco Hut currently is up the riverbead to Nogo Creek. Don't try and follow the original trackline on the TR, which is gone in most places. At normal river flows you can get up to the Nogo in around an hour. At least two fords of the Hokitika are required, including a crossing to the TL to avoid the waterfall in Bonar Creek. There is a small gorge below the Bonar and a slow flowing, waist-deep ford at its entrance. You'll need recross to the TR to pick up the old ridge track on the TL of the Nogo Creek where it enters the Hokitika. The entrance was re-cut in 2007 to make the permolat markers more visible. Follow the old trackline from here up the ridge. A marked NZFS survey line was superimposed on the original trackline in the mid 1980's. There is a reasonable amount of permolat to follow, but it is still pretty gnarly in places with dense pole stands of quintinia and other hardwoods. In the montane zone the track opens up briefly and becomes easier to follow. At around spot height 910m the spur flattens and the track vanishes in a rolling area of dense sub-alpine scrub with small open grassy patches and wallow holes. The track can be relocated with a bit of detective work in a gut where the spur steepens. At the top of the gut there is a turnoff to an old tops track and the main valley track continues sidling across the bush faces to Frisco Hut. This last section is relativey well permolatted and can still be followed with a bit of care. If you can manage stay mostly on the old trackline, the journey from Serpentine to Frisco should take 5-6 hours. Allow some extra time, just in case.

There used to be a tops track up the ridge directly behind Serpentine which was overlaid in places by an NZFS survey line in the mid 1980's. I attempted to come down this track when crossing the Diedrich Range from Mullins Basin in 2007 (see Mullins route notes) but was unable to follow it. I did find some permolat at the very top and on a bush knoll half way down. The rest was fairly unpleasant bush-bashing.

It is possible to drop down Serpentine Creek from the Diedrich Range and get to Serpentine Hut that way. You could get from Gerhardt Spur Biv to Serpentine in a reasonable day in good conditions using this route. Travel down the Creek is mostly OK with some good campsites in its upper basin. There are a few waterfalls to sidle around through steep bush, and more bush bashing lower down, so it is definitely a dry weather route. It takes around an hour to get from Serpentine Creek up to the Hut, mostly boulderhopping. There is one small sidle up into the bush of 50m or so to avoid a gorge, but if the river is low you can drop straight back down and wade upstream back onto the riverbed.

A route we sometimes used in the mid-80's to access Serpentine was over Mt. Inframenta via an overgrown tops track starting at the Whitcombe junction. The descent into the Hokitika was down untracked ridge following an NZFS survey line to a swingbridge 500m downstream of the Hut. The bridge is no longer there and the Inframenta tops track is likely to have gone in many places, so this route is probably of value to masochists only now. The track starts on the TL of the Hokitika at the old cableway above the Whitcombe junction. DOC intends removing this in 2010/ 11. On the lower faces the track will probably be difficult to follow. As the ridge becomes more defined it will be easier to stay on, but will deteriorating and possibly vanish again in the alpine scrub zone.

The original descent route to Serpentine is via a ridge dropping in a NE direction just before the summit of Inframenta. A short, steep scrub bash gets you into more open alpine forest and hopefully onto the survey line. It might be easier to drop into the head of the creek between Inframenta and spot height 1342m and follow this down to the River. The creek is scoured out, open almost to the tussock, and enters the Hokitika 20 minutes upstream from Serpentine Hut. Allow a full day for this route.

Another route to Serpentine that is possibly still viable is via an old tops track onto the Inframenta Range branching off the Frew Saddle track at around E1440915/ N5232014. I last used this track in the early 90's and it was overgrown but OK. By now it is likely to be very overgrown and there is no recent information to hand on its status. The turnoff is not easy to locate. The track emerges at the tussock at the eastern end of the Range and from here it is easy, relatively open travel along to Inframenta. A small tribe of dwarf chamois used to inhabit this small area of open tops. If using this route it probably makes sense to access the Hokitika by the side creek that drops down between Inframenta and spot height 1342m . Allow 5-6 hours from Frews Hut, with a bit of extra time thrown in for track relocation activities.

Repairs needed

Replacement of those two piles at some point and possibly some additional underfloor bracing.

Provisions on Site

One axe, two buckets (one plastic, one aluminium), two basins (one plastic, one aluminium), and one broom. There are a couple of rolls of No. 8 wire under the Hut.