Mt Fyffe Track

Mt Fyffe Track is a long walk of 8.4 km, near Kaikōura in Canterbury.

The climb every Kaikōura visitor looks up at: a steady haul from the Mt Fyffe carpark up the mountain’s long south-west ridge to the 1602 m summit, with the Kaikōura plains and peninsula laid out below you and, on a clear day, Banks Peninsula and the North Island in the distance. It is a formed road-width track the whole way, so the navigation is simple and the effort is all in the gradient. DOC grades it an advanced tramping track and allows 8 hours return. One honest note on distance. DOC’s page says 14 km return; the mapped line we hold runs about 8.4 km each way, so roughly 16.7 km return, and it ends exactly on the surveyed summit. Plan for the longer figure and the day is comfortable. If that is more than you want, two shorter turnarounds work well: the lookout by the firepond is about an hour above the carpark, and Mt Fyffe Hut is roughly 5 hours return by DOC’s reckoning. Vehicles cannot go past the car park, and the track is shared with mountain bikers, who are asked to give way to walkers. Dogs need a DOC permit here, and this park attaches a condition worth sorting early. The Nelson Visitor Centre issues the permit, and your dog must carry a current vet’s certificate for Taenia ovis (sheep measles) treatment given more than 2 days and less than 1 month before you enter the reserve. The certificate has to travel with you and be shown on request, so book the vet visit to land inside that window rather than months ahead. Zavra and Tutu asked for the full Kowhai Hut to Hapuku Hut circuit, and that is a genuinely good trip, but we have only drawn the summit track. The Spaniard Spur Route joins this track partway up and gives a steeper alternative from the Kowhai River, and the route on towards Kowhai Hut is real and used. The Hapuku side is the gap: the mapping runs out about 2.4 km short of Hapuku Hut, and we would rather leave that leg undrawn than invent a line across country you would then be trusting. Getting there: Mt Fyffe carpark is about 15 km from Kaikōura via Ludstone, Swamp and Postman’s Roads. Check Kaikōura District Council road updates before you drive out, several roads in the district are still storm damaged.

Graded expert, it climbs about 1,401 m overall, and takes about 4 hr 0 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 Zavra & Tutu suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.