Goulter Track: Road End to Mid Goulter Hut
Marlborough · 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. (DOC, Chalice-Goulter Track page, Mount Richmond Forest Park.) The permit is arranged through DOC's Whakatu/Nelson visitor centre, which provides the information for this area. Sort it well before you go, not at the road end”. 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 Goulter Track: Road End to Mid Goulter Hut
Goulter Track: Road End to Mid Goulter Hut is a point-to-point of 9.1 km, in Marlborough.
The lower two thirds of DOC's Chalice-Goulter Track, walked the way most people come at it: up the Goulter River from the western road end, past Lower Goulter Hut at about 1.9 km, and on through the valley to Mid Goulter Hut at 9.2 km. Dre and Hazel sent this one in with their own times, three and a half hours in to Lower Goulter and another three on to Mid Goulter, and they were right about the rule before we checked it. Both huts are eight bunks with heating, mattresses, non-flush toilets and water from the stream. The line on this page is DOC's own published route geometry, not a trace, and it stops at Mid Goulter Hut deliberately. DOC's track carries on another 8 km up the valley towards Lake Chalice, but the published line stops about 1.8 km short of Lake Chalice Hut, and we will not draw ground we cannot source. Dre puts Mid Goulter to Lake Chalice at four hours if you are going through. Getting to the western road end is the catch. Goulter Road is open to walkers and bikers only, and DOC records the road as shut from Patriarch Station since July 2023 after multiple washouts, so check its status before you count on driving in. You can park before Patriarch Station at the start of the public easement, or about 2 km further along just before Patriarch Stream, where there is a locked gate. It is 6 km on foot from Patriarch Station, or 4 km from Patriarch Stream, to the forest park boundary, and that walking is on top of the times above. The valley itself widens below Mid Goulter Hut into some of the few extensive river flats in the forest park. If the river is up, take the all weather track on the true left bank, which crosses a number of side streams and climbs over a bluffy outcrop before dropping to the hut. If it is low, travel in the riverbed is possible. The side streams are unbridged and can become impassable in flood, so be prepared to wait one out. Wasps are common from December to April, forestry work can close the access roads, and water in the park may need boiling or treating.
It sits at the expert end and gains roughly 87 m, and takes about 1 hr 58 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.