Cedar Flat Hut to Top Toaroha Hut
Hokitika · West Coast · Point to Point
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. DOC’s own wording: “Dogs with a DOC permit only. Contact closest DOC office to get a permit. Other pets on conservation land rules. (DOC, Toaroha, Hokitika, Lower Whitcombe Track page; the Kokatahi-Toaroha hunting area page carries the same rule and the permits come from the Hokitika DOC office.)”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
A DOC dog permit is required before any dog walks here. DOC codes this land for the hunting-dog permit, so it is not a casual dog walk. Ask the DOC office before planning to bring a dog.
About Cedar Flat Hut to Top Toaroha Hut
Near Hokitika in West Coast, Cedar Flat Hut to Top Toaroha Hut runs 7.3 km as a point-to-point.
The second leg of the Lower Whitcombe round Dre mapped for us with Hazel, and DOC gives it 5 to 6 hours, exactly Dre's figure. From Cedar Flat Hut a short section of track leads to the upstream swing bridge and crosses to the true right of the Toaroha, then the track works up the valley through several large side creeks. DOC's own caution: be wary of these after rain, Median and Esma Creeks in particular can quickly become uncrossable. From opposite Mullins Creek the going steepens, climbing and dropping through side creeks before the route drops to the Toaroha riverbed and crosses to the true left, a crossing DOC says can quickly become impassable in rain, with no bridge. A few hundred metres of boulder-hopping beside the river, then cairns, poles and short sections of track cross a scrubby tussock terrace to Top Toaroha Hut, six bunks and a woodstove on a tussock flat above a small lake. The dog rule is DOC's for the whole Kokatahi-Toaroha country: dogs with a DOC permit only, the hunting-dog kind, arranged through the Hokitika DOC office before you go. From Top Toaroha the round carries on over Toaroha Saddle to Poet Hut and the lower Whitcombe, and we are building those legs one by one. This one is advanced tramping: flood-prone side creeks, an unbridged river crossing and route finding above the bush line, so pick your weather and be ready to wait it out at a hut.
Graded hard, it climbs about 536 m overall, and takes about 2 hr 21 min to walk.
A DOC dog permit is required before any dog walks here. Arrange it with the managing DOC office ahead of your trip. This walk is on the map because Dre & Hazel suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.