Top Crooked Hut
(Top Crooked Hut: Photo Andrew Buglass 2007)
Maintenance Status
Top Crooked Hut is designated as minimal maintenance.
Although DOC recut the track in March 2009, continued maintenance in the upper
Crooked is unlikely to be a high priority.
Location
Crooked catchment: Grid Ref: E1492802/ N5271190.
Map BU21. 575m altitude. Top Crooked Hut is located on a river terrace
on the TL in the Crooked River headwaters.
The Army shifted the Hut up to its current site
from flat closer to the River a few years back, probably due to an encroaching shingle fan from
the upper TL branch.
Top Crooked is set in montane forest and surrounded by the peaks of the Kaimata Range
and Morgan River
tops. The head of the Crooked is scenic and rugged with great remote ambience. Visits to the
Hut are minimal, mostly groups doing the Lake Morgan tops circuit.
Access
The track to Top Crooked from Jacko Flat Hut is
pretty straightforward, having just been cut. It follows the TL of the valley
through open beech forest.
There are a couple of short riverbed sections mid-valley, and the track emerges on a river flat
in the headwaters just below the Hut.
Allow 2-2.5 hours from Jacko Flat Hut to Top Crooked Hut, or 8-10 hours from the Crooked roadend.
Areas of open riverbed in the vicinity of the Hut allow helicopter access.
Type
Top Crooked is a basic, unmodified NZFS four-bunk design with open fire, built in the 1960's.
It is lined with
the original tar paper. There is a toilet, and the water supply is from the River.
Condition
The Hut is in good condition. DOC painted and resealed it, and did
some basic maintenance in 2004.
Routes
Top Crooked is most often visited by folk doing a circuit
of the Crooked, the Lake Morgan Tops, and Haupiri River.
The track to the Morgan Tops and Lake Morgan Hut
starts around 200m downstream from
Top Crooked Hut on the TR of the River. DOC recut this in March
2009. The entrance is at around E1492748/ N5271293 on the edge of a
grassy area and just over a small stream that runs in against the bush edge.
The track climbs steeply up the face
all the way to the tops, emerging in a band
of jumbled rocks at the tussock line. Cairns continue along
the bench
in a NE direction gradually petering out. From here head due North up the tussock faces onto
the main range. Travel is easy and reasonably flat all the way along to spot height
1489m above Lake Morgan. Drop from here in a NW direction
to a saddle below spot height 1422m and then down an obvious rocky gut
to Lake Morgan. The Lake is a beautiful,
serene spot with good campsites. Head around the Lake and drop down the TR of the
outlet creek past a small set of waterfalls. Cross under the falls to a flat bench
with
tarns on the TL. Lake Morgan Hut is visible from here in fine conditions.
Continue down in a NE direction recrossing to the TR of the outlet creek.
Sidle around the 1120m contour line from here to the Hut. The Hut is down the
face a bit, on a
bench above where the creek drops vertically into the Morgan. It would be
difficult to locate without GPS if visibility were poor. Allow 5-6 hours for the journey
from Top Crooked hut.
Access the Morgan tops is also possible from the head basin in the upper TR branch
of the Crooked River. Climbing from here up the tussock slopes onto the main range.
There are other tops routes in and out of the upper Crooked from the
Haupiri and Taramakau catchments. These all require reasonably high
levels of skill and fitness. There is mention in the Top Crooked hutbook of an ancient and
unfollowable track up Tom's Creek in
the Taramakau. On the older maps there is a track marked up the spur behind Top Crooked Hut
onto the
Kaimata Range. There is no up-to-date information on its condition.
Repairs Needed
None reported.
Provisions on site
Five billies, an axe, a broom, an aluminium bucket, an axe handle, a broom handle, an aluminium
wash basin, and a couple of old NZFS food bins.