Built in 1962 as a possum trappers hut with the verandah added by the NZFS in 1984. Easter, 2024, saw exNZFS volunteers replace the skylight, add new iron over the veranda, paint the interior, & start painting the exterior until the weather intervened. Edit Hut
This is a great little hut. We walked in via the crossing track from Western Lake road end. Sign says 3 hours it took us 5 1/2 hours. Track is slipped away in alot of places so end up walking along a track half the width. From the first river bed up to the saddle is a total mud slide, alot of crawling and slipping!
Nice hut but it seems to have a lot of rats around (saw one during daytime and a lot of poo inside). The track to the Western Lake Road is badly overgrown from the point 185 to the hut and markers are not frequent. Same for the track leading to the Orongorongo valley through the Papatahi sumit. Marker and track tough to follow till the point 776.