Mikonui Valley to Mikonui Spur Bivouac
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 Mikonui Spur Bivouac
Mikonui Valley to Mikonui Spur Bivouac covers 9.2 km, near Ross in West Coast, walked as a point-to-point.
The tops alternative in the Mikonui: a route from the Mikonui road end to Mikonui Spur Bivvy, the basic two bunk biv sitting in the tussock high on Mikonui Spur. Dre, who sent this one in with Hazel, flagged it as unmaintained, but DOC's current page says otherwise: the biv is part of a maintained tops circuit over into Noisy basin and the Whitcombe valley, so we have gone with DOC's word and will change the page if DOC does. The first hour and a half shares the Mikonui valley corridor with the Mikonui Flat Hut walk: road end, flats and riverbed travel, with the same private property note on the flats. The spur route proper starts at the mouth of the Dickson River, on the true right of the Mikonui, and climbs steadily out of the bush to the tussock tops; our line follows DOC's own track alignment up the spur. Above the Mikonui/Tuke confluence the river often splits into two or three channels, and DOC says that is generally the best place to cross. The dog rule is DOC's permit rule for the whole catchment: dogs with a DOC permit only, the hunting-dog kind, arranged with the Hokitika or Franz Josef office before you go. Riverbed travel, unbridged crossings and an exposed tops finish make this one for experienced parties in good weather.
It sits at the expert end and gains roughly 1,050 m, and takes about 3 hr 35 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.