Hollyford Track and Pyke - Big Bay route huts
The Hollyford Track is well endowed with huts.
Hidden Falls Hut is well-used, being reasonably close to the road. Martins Bay Hut is a great destination, although scooting around the rocky shoreline to Big Bay Hut is worth the moderate effort.
Lake Alabaster Hut has an excellent outlook of the lake. McKerrow Island Hut is an interesting detour; you just need to wade through waist-deep water to access it.
Olivine Hut is an oasis in the more remote Pyke River valley.
The other huts are all serviceable, but not overly memorable.
Overall Big Bay Hut is a great place to shack up for a day or two if you doing the full Hollyford – Pyke circuit.
Demon Trail Hut is a compact, older style hut, ie, if raining and full it may well have a claustrophobic feel for your average introvert.
Hidden Falls Hut is a newish hut with great views to the impressive Darran mountains, yeah, it’s worth a night, even if you don’t fully walk the Hollyford.
So, it’s in the new style of DOC huts, two big sleeping platforms, sink, expansive table, picture windows.
The modern style Lake Alabaster Hut is comfy, and spacious and a great spot to spend a night while contemplating the Pyke or Demon Trail.
Think of Lake Wilmot Bivvy as an emergency-only accommodation, with the major attraction that while not entirely horizontal it’s probably the least likely place in this vicinity where you could whack up a tent and be flooded.
A small open sided Lower Hollyford Road shelter with a picnic table and not much else. I guess there is the roof but it might not offer complete shelter if Fiordland does the rain vigorously thing.
Martins Bay is a modern hut with good amenities and the kind of destination that is worth spending a couple of nights at, wildlife is close by. And you might get the feeling you are at the edge of the universe, ie, quite remote.
The old style McKerrow Island Hut is more character laden than some of the recent recent constructions. Yeah, have a little adventure, stay here.
The Olivine is the kind of hut that if you had to you probably wouldn’t mind having to stay an extra few days, ie, it has a great atmosphere, probably all that light bouncing around inside.
Pyke River crossing campsite is certainly one of the best spots to pitch a tent, in a valley where tussock free campsites that aren’t either already swamp or likely to flood are at a premium.
