Frew Hut to Price Flat 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, Whitcombe Pass Track page; the whole leg is inside the Wanganui / Otira Catchments stewardship conservation area, DOC's track records code the permit on this segment as the hunting-dog kind, 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 Frew Hut to Price Flat Hut
Frew Hut to Price Flat Hut is a point-to-point of 8.2 km, near Hokitika in West Coast.
The third leg of DOC's Whitcombe Pass Track, carrying on from our Rapid Creek Hut to Frew Hut page, and again it opens with a ford: from Frew Hut you drop down to Frew Creek and cross it, with the track re-entering the bush on the true left bank about 100 m above where the creek meets the Whitcombe River. DOC's warning is the same shape as Rapid Creek's: after heavy rain Frew Creek becomes impassable, and if it is up, the day does not start. DOC gives the leg 5 to 6 hours, and our line makes it a little over 8 km of valley. The track travels through the bush above the river for about an hour to the Cropp Swing Bridge, which you do not cross, then drops to the riverbed for a short distance before climbing back into the bush to reach the Vincent Creek swing bridge, which you do cross, leaving the creek bed 30 or 40 metres down its true left. From there to Price Flat the track occasionally returns to the riverbed but mostly sidles above the river across numerous creeks and slips, and DOC is frank about them: the slips are potentially active, route markers over some of them may have been obliterated, and you need to stand and read each slip to find the track entrance on the far side, which generally sits at about the same level you left. At the lower end of Price Flat the route passes the Price Flat Swing Bridge, also not for crossing, returns to the riverbed, and a marker pole shows the way onto the grassed flats. The historic slab hut on the flat is habitable, but the real bed for the night is the newer Price Flat Hut on the terrace above, six bunks and a wood stove, reached by a short side track between the historic hut and the Cataract Creek swing bridge. The dog rule is the valley's permit rule: dogs with a DOC permit only, the hunting-dog kind, arranged with the Hokitika DOC office before you go, because the whole leg is stewardship conservation land and DOC treats a pet on it without written permission as an offence. Be honest about the day: two do-not-cross bridges to resist, a ford that shuts in rain, and slip crossings where a dog has to move carefully on loose rock beside you. Our line follows the mapped track corridor and reads as the corridor rather than a survey. This is advanced tramping for fit, well equipped and experienced parties, deep in a valley with no quick way out, so carry a locator beacon and give the forecast the final say.
Graded hard, it climbs about 308 m overall, and takes about 2 hr 9 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.