Crawford Junction Hut to Top Crawford 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/Zit Saddle/Kokatahi/Lathrop Saddle/Styx River Route page, read 28 August 2026.) That is the page for Dre's round itself, so the rule comes from the route's own DOC page. DOC's asset record says it again on this exact line: WEB_DOGS_ALLOWED reads “Dogs with DOC permit -hunting” on the Crawfordjunc Hut To Lathrop Saddle Route, which is the line this walk is drawn from. The whole line is DOC conservation land, the Wanganui / Otira Catchments stewardship area, checked against DOC's Public Conservation Land layer on 28 August 2026, so the permit from the Hokitika office is what makes a dog lawful on 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 Crawford Junction Hut to Top Crawford Hut
Crawford Junction Hut to Top Crawford Hut covers 5.4 km, near Hokitika in West Coast, walked as a point-to-point.
Leg five of Dre's round, Crawford Junction Hut up the Crawford to Top Crawford Hut. DOC puts it at 3 hr 30 min to 4 hr and Dre puts it at 3.5 to 4 hours, which is the second leg running where his time and DOC's are the same number. It is 5.4 km, and the day is the creek crossings and the climb, not the distance. From Crawford Junction the track drops off the terrace into the bed of Crawford Creek. You head upstream, boulder hopping past the swing bridge, and pick up the track to Farquharson Creek. Cross Farquharson, rejoin the track on the far bank, then follow it towards and up alongside Crawford Creek before climbing out of the creek and sidling around the hillside. The sidle carries on until the track drops back into Crawford Creek about 750 to 800 m below the hut, and from there you stay on the true left of the creek the whole way to Top Crawford, which sits on a low tussock terrace a few hundred metres up the true left branch. DOC has one specific warning on this leg and it is Farquharson Creek: it can be difficult to cross if it is running higher than normal, and the good crossing place is upstream at the mouth of the gorge. With a dog that is the spot to think about before you are standing in it. This one goes up and essentially only up. The line climbs from about 421 m at Crawford Junction to 833 m at Top Crawford, 414 m of gain across 5.4 km with almost nothing given back. Top Crawford Hut is the smaller of the two, four bunks with heating, mattresses, a toilet and water from the stream, where Crawford Junction behind you has six bunks and a tap. DOC files both as basic or bivvy standard, and grades the route as a whole advanced tramping track and expert route, for fit and experienced backcountry trampers in summer or autumn. Dogs need a DOC permit and there is no way around it. Every metre of this is DOC conservation land, the Wanganui and Otira Catchments stewardship area, and DOC's rule for this route is dogs with a permit only, from the closest office, which is Hokitika. Sort it before you leave. From Top Crawford the round climbs to Lathrop Saddle and drops to Browning Bivouac, another 3.5 to 4 hours by Dre's reckoning, and that leg is drawn now too.
Graded expert, it climbs about 414 m overall, and takes about 1 hr 46 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.