Rapid Creek Hut to Frew 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 Rapid Creek Hut to Frew Hut
Rapid Creek Hut to Frew Hut covers 6.1 km, near Hokitika in West Coast, walked as a point-to-point.
The second leg of DOC's Whitcombe Pass Track, and it starts where our Whitcombe Valley to Rapid Creek Hut page ends: at the four bunk hut on the far side of the Hokitika cableway. Dre asked us for the hut-to-hut legs after we built the first one, so here it is. DOC gives it 3 to 4 hours, and the first move of the day is the crux: the Rapid Creek swing bridge has been removed after erosion undermined its foundations, so you ford the creek itself, which DOC says is only crossable in low to normal flows and becomes impassable quickly after heavy rainfall. If the creek is up, the day ends at the hut you slept in. Once across, the Hokitika riverbed is followed for about 300 m before the track enters the bush and crosses a low terrace to join the Whitcombe River just above its junction with the Hokitika. From there to the Collier Gorge swing bridge the travel alternates between the riverbed and sections of track cut through the bush, and DOC is blunt about the boulders through this stretch: they are huge. Across the bridge on the true right, the riverbed carries you to Dick Creek, where a short section of track is picked up before dropping back onto the riverbed about a kilometre below Tom Creek, and the route stays on the stones until just downstream of the Frew Creek confluence. A short track climbs onto the low terrace above the true right bank of Frew Creek to Frew Hut, which has ten mattresses on two platforms, a table and a wood stove. The dog rule is the same permit rule that covers the whole valley: dogs with a DOC permit only, the hunting-dog kind, arranged with the Hokitika DOC office before you go, because everything here is stewardship conservation land and DOC treats a pet on it without written permission as an offence. Be honest about what the day asks of a dog: hours of riverbed boulders, a ford that shuts after rain, and no easy retreat. Our line follows the mapped track corridor, but the real route spends much of the day on the riverbed beside it, so read the line as the corridor rather than a survey. This is advanced tramping for fit, well equipped and experienced parties; carry a locator beacon, and remember the legs beyond Frew to Price Flat and Neave are harder again.
Expect hard going, with around 156 m of climb, and takes about 1 hr 28 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.