Cedar Flat Hut to Yeats Ridge 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. More information below or contact the relevant DOC office. All conservation land areas are prohibited to dogs except where authorisation has been granted by DOC. People wishing to take a dog into this area should seek authorisation from the DOC office. (DOC, Kokatahi-Toaroha hunting area page, read 31 August 2026, whose Toaroha Valley huts list names Yeats Ridge Hut; permits come from the Hokitika DOC office. The route has no DOC track page of its own, so the block page is the rule that covers it.)”. 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 Yeats Ridge Hut
Cedar Flat Hut to Yeats Ridge Hut is a point-to-point of 3.2 km, near Hokitika in West Coast.
Yeats Ridge Hut sits on the ridge above the Toaroha Valley behind Hokitika, and this is the leg up to it from Cedar Flat Hut. Our line makes it 3.2 km one way. From Cedar Flat you cross the Toaroha on the footbridge, turn up valley on the Toaroha Valley Track for about a kilometre, then take the marked Yeats Ridge Track where it leaves the valley floor and climbs. It is 550 m of climb from the river flats to the hut at just under a thousand metres. The climb is the walk: it is steep, continuous and on rough ground, and it is graded mountain hiking rather than a track walk. Dre, who sent this one in with Hazel, makes it 2 to 2.5 hours from Cedar Flat, and that is a fair call for a fit party in good weather. Dogs need a DOC permit here, and that is not a formality. Yeats Ridge Hut is one of the huts DOC names on its Kokatahi-Toaroha page, which says plainly that all conservation land is prohibited to dogs except where authorisation has been granted, and that anyone wanting to bring a dog in should seek authorisation from the DOC office. Sort it with Hokitika before you drive out, because there is nobody at the road end to ask. Be honest about the ground before you commit a dog to it. DOC no longer maintains this track and it is looked after by the Permolat volunteers, so expect markers rather than benching, windfall, and a surface that gets greasy in the wet. The Toaroha rises fast in West Coast rain and the footbridge is the crossing, so if the river is up, the ridge is not the day's problem, getting back is. Water on the ridge is scarce once you leave the valley floor. Cedar Flat is the usual base for all of this. Mullins Hut and Crystal Biv sit further up the same catchment, and Dre has sent both of those in as well. Our line follows the mapped Cedar Flat, Toaroha Valley and Yeats Ridge tracks and stops at the hut.
It sits at the hard end and gains roughly 558 m, and takes about 1 hr 34 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.