October is a funny time of year here in Canterbury, it's getting warmer, the nor' westers are dying out but the weather is still very much up and down. So it was with my planned weekend trip that ended up being Plan D. But it's always a good idea to be flexible, be prepared to change according to the weather and sometimes accept defeat.
On this occasion anything close to the divide was going to be guaranteed unpleasant, so aiming for a far east as possible was going to be the preferred option.
We had a reasonable departure from Ashburton, aiming for 7am but ended up being more like 7.15am. We drove north, taking the turn off towards Darfield and onwards to Oxford. Here we stopped for morning tea before tackling the winding, unsealed road into the Lees Valley.
It is 35km from Oxford to get to the sign indicating the 4WD easement and car park for the start of both of these tracks. Arriving at the car park, we were greeted with another 10 vehicles, so promptly put tents in packs.
The first part of this track follows a well marked farm 4WD track to the junction of the Youngman Stream Track and Tarn Hut Track. Our plan was to take the Youngman Stream Track, bag the hut, then continue on up the ridge to Tarn Hut for the night. This junction provided an ideal spot, next to some old cattle yards for a well earned snack.
From the track junction the Youngman Stream Track leaves the farm 4WD easement and heads into the bush, crossing a number of side streams. Eventually the river narrows and the track heads up a few hundred meters to sidle above the gorge. I have read reports that say in low river flows you can follow the river to Youngman Stream Hut. While I don't dispute this is possible, it would have to be significantly low flow. From up high looking down, the river does narrow quite a bit and you would be cris-crossing a lot.
Along the high sidle track there are a number of ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous. We came to a nice clearing with great views down valley and decided this was the ideal spot for lunch.
Continuing on we eventually came to the junction, left turn head up towards the open tops and Tarn Hut, right turn and across the river is Youngman Stream Hut. We dropped our packs, crossed the river to bag the hut. It's a comfortable looking 8 bunker in a nice open sunny tussock clearing. There were already 4 people in residence, and an army of sandflies desperately trying to get inside. We had made a good decision to carry on to Tarn Hut.
Back across the river, we had a snack before getting into the big climb of the day. The gradient initially starts well and in the bush, as you gain height the gradient increases. Eventually the open tussock tops are reached and poles mark the way to the top. Even though we had chosen a track that was well east of the divide, we still had strong wind out in the open and on top was quite cold so there was no time for long stops.
Continuing on along the open tussock top, the track curves around in a horse shoe shape, and eventually you are looking down on Tarn Hut, and the tarn that it sits beside. This is a great vantage point, you can see across to the divide and Arthurs Pass area, and back to Mt Oxford and the foothills. I could also see one tent already pitched near the hut, and was glad I had carried mine.
Eventually down at the hut, I greeted all hut occupants and tent dwellers and searched out what I though would be a good tent site, sheltered from the wind.
With the tent pitched, wind break wall built it was time to settle in for a well earned dinner. I was very glad to have a dehy meal on this trip, instead of leaving it to soak beside my tent, I decided to use it as a heater and put it up my jumper, best decision ever!!
After dinner, there wasn't much else to do but try to sleep. It was very windy all night long, one of the other tents didn't make it to midnight and those occupants ended up crammed on the floor in hut tiny 4 bunk hut.
I was very pleased when dawn broke and I could get out of my tent and pack it up. After a warm breakfast, we headed on our way, this time taking the Tarn Hut Track heading back to the junction and eventually the car park.
From Tarn Hut, this track follow an old 4WD track along the ridge line and then dropping steeply down to the junction with Youngman Stream Track. It is very open and exposed, on a windy day (such as this) there was very little shelter until reaching the bottom. We then retraced our steps back to the car park.
We then had the return 35km journey back to Oxford, and a stop at the Sheffield Pie Shop Cafe (in Oxford) for lunch.
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