Limestone Hut | Ka Whata Tu o Rakihouia Conservation Park
A grunt to access, either across the tops from various directions, messing with the wild rose and matagouri, or straight up the stream. This has deceptively easy progress, at least to the halfway mark where there are some poplars, with the second section up a chunky rock gorge, where it pays not to look up to view the huge overhanging rocks ready to rumble.
The hut is in fairly original condition and in as sunny a spot as you find.
Not many visit. Recreational hunters after big pigs and the sparse deer. DOC contract hunters after the more numerous goats. 200 is an average kill for two blokes with dogs over three days. Half of the visitors fly in and out.
The hut book that starts in March 2004 has 14 tramping groups in 18 years, plus a Christchurch guy who has ventured up the stream on a day trip three times.
category . . . basic huts/bivvies
hut fee . . . free
elevation . . . 760 m
bunks . . . 4 mattresses on bunks
built . . . 1970s
heating . . . open fire, and complaints about chimney operation. Not much firewood around.
water . . . 20 m walk each way to stream
toilet . . . timber longdrop
facilities . . . washing line
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