Mikonui Valley to Healey Creek Hut
Ross · 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, Mikonui Catchment - Dickie Ridge/Upper Tuke River Route page, which governs the valley corridor this route shares; the permits come from the Hokitika or Franz Josef DOC offices, and DOC's track records list the permit here as the hunting-dog kind.) Some of the route passes through private property on the flats, where DOC says permission should be obtained from the landowner”. 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 Mikonui Valley to Healey Creek Hut
Near Ross in West Coast, Mikonui Valley to Healey Creek Hut runs 7.8 km as a point-to-point.
The big brother of the Mikonui Flat Hut walk, and a proper day in remote South Westland hill country: from the Totara Valley Road end, about 20 minutes east of Ross, all the way up the Mikonui and over Healey Spur to a four bunk hut on an alpine bench at about 1,170 m. Lea, who sent both walks in, calls it five to seven hours from the road end; the Permolat crowd who look after the hut reckon a moderately fit party does it in four and a half to five and a half. Either way it is an advanced tramp, not a track walk, and the first leg is exactly the Mikonui Flat Hut walk on this site: the benched sidle onto the river flats, the private farmland with stock where DOC says to get the landowner's permission first, and the unbridged crossing of the Mikonui above the Tuke confluence. Everything on that page applies here too, including the river being the honest turnaround whenever it is high or discoloured. About twenty minutes upriver of the crossing a routered sign at the bush edge marks where this route leaves the valley and climbs Healey Spur. The climb is steep, sustained bush travel to the scrubline, then snow poles lead through tussock above 1,200 m before the route drops slightly to the hut on its bench beside Healey Creek. DOC's own hut page is plain about what you are getting into: Healey Creek Hut is located on a route that is no longer maintained by DOC, and it receives some maintenance on a sporadic basis by Permolat, the West Coast volunteers who recut and remarked it. Recent reports say it is in good condition for what it is, but carry a map and expect route finding, snow on the tops outside summer, and no help nearby. Kea and fernbird are regulars at the hut, which is one more reason the dog stays close. The dog rule is the same permit rule as the rest of the Mikonui: dogs with a DOC permit only, arranged with the Hokitika or Franz Josef DOC office before you drive out, and DOC treats a pet on conservation land without permission as an offence. A corner of the lower valley near the road end sits in the Upper Totara Ecological Area, so name the whole route when you ask for the permit and let the office set the conditions. The hut is a basic four bunker, first come first served, no kennels, so an overnight dog sleeps outside and needs a way to be secured. Our map line follows Lea's drawn route and is indicative in the way remote routes are: the poles, cairns and the routered sign on the ground beat the line on the screen. No 1080 or pesticide operations are listed for this catchment on DOC's alerts or pesticide maps as of August 2026.
It sits at the expert end and gains roughly 1,120 m, and takes about 3 hr 25 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 Lea & Tui suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
