[Mike McGavin]

Hello.

Over the weekend I walked between the Holdsworth road-end and Mitre Flats, and I noticed that I *didn’t* notice a second track up to Jumbo Hut, which is shown on several maps that I have to go up the spur after Rain-gauge. (ie. Between the track up Rain-gauge Spur and the bridge over the Atiwhakatu River towards the track up to Baldy.)

Does anyone know if this is still officially there and being maintained as a track, or has it become overgrown and more of a route? I wasn’t looking that hard and it’s fully possible that I just missed it (knowing me), but I didn’t notice it on the way back either.

Quite a lot of the new Atiwhakatu hut went up between midday Saturday and midday Sunday. It’s looking bigger!

Mike.

[Amelia]

Hi Mike, (and anyone else interested)
It is definitely still there, and in quite good condition(or at least it was Labour Weekend 2007!). Its easier on the knees to come down than the Rain Gauge, and prettier too since its less used.
This is a photo I took when we came off it onto the Atiwhakatu Valley track that weekend, showing the marker for the bottom of the track:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anakiwa_forever/1717538831/in/set-72157602650808238/
And there are others in that set (the 9 or 10 immediately before it) which are from that section of the track specifically.
Amelia

[Mike McGavin]

Wow. Either that big fat bright sign has gone, or I completely missed it twice! (Actually don’t underestimate my ability to look straight through signs.)

I might be heading back into that area this weekend, in which case I’ll be really interested to try and identify the start of the track … which might not be too hard if I remember to look out for a slip on the other side of the Atiwhakatu River. Then I can look to see if there’s a giant green and yellow sign next to me.

In related news, here are some photos of the new Atiwhakatu Hut going up last weekend:

From Saturday midday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/3499749809/in/set-72157617619458187/
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/3500573310/in/set-72157617619458187/

From Sunday midday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/3502023952/in/set-72157617619458187/

It’s possibly looking about the same sort of size as Mitre Flats down the road, but I was just guessing.

[Mike McGavin]

Mystery solved.

Yes, the track does still officially exist. We ran into a helpful volunteer warden at Mitre Flats last night who confirmed that the track is definitely still there, and so is the sign for that matter.

Apparently in both directions, I’d put too much emphasis on following the river instead of track markers, and not followed the marked track to where it sidles a little up the hill-side to where the sign is (before coming straight back down again).

Steve took a photo of me with the sign, so I can now prove to people that I’ve found it (even if I needed a little help).

[Mike McGavin]

And here’s the new Atiwhakatu Hut as it was a week later, last Sunday just been.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/3521789242/

Supposedly it’s to be the same design as Roaring Stag Lodge according to the warden we met at Mitre Flats. They do look kind of similar (Roaring Stag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83154423@N00/2482063365/in/set-72157604994280762/ )

The builders were toasting themselves in the old hut at the time we walked past, either because it was lunch time or because it was raining.

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