Instead of a family Christmas this year, Nicola and I decided to head into the hills for our short summer break. I was recovering from a recent leg injury, so was looking for something that wouldn’t be too difficult or too long. The Caples-Greenstone loop in Otago fitted the bill nicely.
We chose to walk it anti-clockwise: up the Caples Valley, over McKellar Saddle, then down the Greenstone. The two valleys are separated by the Ailsa Mountains, rising to around 2,000m, though the Caples curls west and almost splits the range, keeping our high point, the saddle, to only 1,000m.
Starting up the Caples Valley.
Day one took us up the Caples in overcast, moderate weather, at a fairly slow pace thanks to my leg and my keenness to spot trout in the river (both the Caples and Greenstone are well-known trout waters, with a controlled fishing season from February to March each year). Mid Caples Hut, 8.8km in, was our goal for the night and easily reached in a couple of hours. A bridge crossing at the hut put us on the south side of the river for day two.
Mid Caples Hut.
We woke to clearing weather, which boded well for the climb to McKellar Saddle, and for my leg too, which was finally starting to come right after yesterday’s slow going. We made short work of the river travel north, stopping for a look at the locked New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Upper Caples Hut, a beaut spot, by the look of it, for hunting and fishing.
The beautiful Caples Valley.
Beyond the hut the track climbs into native beech, sidling toward McKellar Pass and breaking out into sub-alpine tussock around 980m. The last kilometre to the saddle was stunning in every direction: west across Lake McKellar to the Livingstone Mountains, north up the Greenstone toward the Hollyford.
A boardwalk protects the fragile McKellar Saddle environment.
Leaving the saddle we were quickly back into bush, denser than the Caples side thanks to its west-facing aspect, and dropped fast into the Greenstone, just as the gridlines on the map had warned. We were happy to reach the open valley floor, pull off our boots and enjoy a long lunch in the sun.
Lunch at the head of Lake McKellar following the steep decent from McKellar Saddle.
After lunch it was an easy stroll along the western bank of Lake McKellar to McKellar Hut, our stop for the night. We spent the afternoon exploring the deep, slow-moving pools of the Greenstone and poking around the private McKellar Lodge, which looked like it had seen better days and could use some love.
McKellar Hut.
Day three was Christmas Day, which usually means a lie-in and a day of family feasting. Instead we had another goal: Greenstone Hut, 18km off and four and a half to six and a half hours by the guide’s reckoning, a distance I was glad to be tackling with the leg properly under me again. We were keen to get there early to enjoy the pinot noir and cheese we’d been carrying all trip, and for the international company we expected as the hut sits on the Te Araroa Trail.
Another wet morning in the Greenstone.
Crossing the Greenstone at McKellar Hut.
Private hunters hut in the Greenstone (maybe Rats Nest Hut).
Fallow deer country.
An early start, first out the door as usual, had us at the hut by lunchtime, still empty. On the way down we saw good numbers of fallow deer on the valley floor, which is privately owned by Ngāi Tahu and hunted under permit, so all we could do was look on with envy.
Wild Fallow deer aplenty in the Greenstone.
Nicola.
Happy to be at the hut.
It was good to dry off and change into clean clothes early, before the bedlam of a busy hut set in. By afternoon the hut had filled to near capacity, twenty of us, and we had a great time with people from a dozen countries. We were the only Kiwis, and the oldest by some margin; the Te Araroa crowd skews to the 20s and 30s, with fewer of us in our middle years. All in all, a wonderful Christmas, and proof that the usual feasting isn’t a requirement.
Greenstone Hut on Christmas day.
The Hut Wardens Christmas day welcome.
An international Christmas afternoon.
A moody Greenstone morning.
Day four, our last, was 12km and about three hours along the Greenstone to the Caples junction and on to the road-end. An easy stroll, punctuated by plenty of “hellos” as we passed a large guided walking group near the end. Our trip concluded with a hot cuppa and Christmas cake shared with a couple of Te Araroa walkers at the road-end.
DoC brochure map.
North of the Saddle 
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