Kime Hut Overnighter

Location: Tararua Ranges, via Otaki Forks

Difficulty: Easy-Fit/Medium. 7 hours up, one big but steady climb of about 1200m elevation gain. Cold and windy ridges, but non-technical.

Max People: Kime Hut sleeps 20, so as many cars as we can get. No bookings.

Costs: Kime Hut $10 + around $5-10 for a group dinner, and probs the same for fuel.

Gear: The typical stuff for an overnight tramp, expecting any mix of cold, windy, rainy, and boggy tops. Kime has no heating, so lots of warm layers.

Itinerary

Saturday - Depart early in the morning at 7am. It's a 2 hour drive to the newly restored Otaki Forks car park. From there, it's about 3 hours up to Field Hut, where we'll stop for a brief lunch. Field to Kime is around another 3.5 hours. If the conditions on the tops are rough, we'll stay overnight at Field Hut instead.

Sunday - We'll start reasonably early. It's about 4-5 hours back to the Otaki Forks car park from Kime Hut. From the hut, there's an optional 1 hour return-trip detour to Mt Hector, the 2nd highest point in the Tararuas which also has a WW2 memorial. The Otaki River is also great for a quick dip at the end. Goal is to be back in Welly by around 4-5pm.