Packrafting Lake McKerrow early morning

Hollyford Pyke

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Date: 23-28 December 2019.
Trip type: Tramp/ packraft.
Location: Fiordland National Park.
Author: Tony Gazley.
Trampers: Megan Sety, Stuart Meiklejohn, Illona Keenan, Tony Gazley.

Hollyford Pyke – a packraft circuit in Fiordland National Park

Packrafting the Hollyford River and Lake McKerrow to the West Coast and back via the Pyke River.

The Hollyford Pyke circuit seems to defy gravity. You start at the Hollyford Road end and paddle down the Hollyford River, across Lake McKerrow, and down the estuary to the wild west coast at Martins Bay. You walk north around the coast to Big Bay and then inland for 3 hours on a very gently rising track to the Pyke River. You then paddle down the Pyke crossing Lakes Wilmot and Alabaster on the way to finally rejoin the Hollyford only a few hours walk from where you started 4 days previously. Magic.

Four of us were lucky with fine and mostly calm weather for the wonderful mixture of tramping and river paddling to Grade 2, together with the wild west coast and three beautiful Fiordland lakes. The photos tell the story of our trip.

Packing rafts at the roadend launching point Hollyford River
Get-in point at the Hollyford River roadend
Pleasantly easy Grade 1 paddling on the Hollyford River
Pleasant Grade 1 paddling Hollyford river
Taking a short rest on the paddle down the Hollyford River
A short leg-stretch break Hollyford River
Paddling a short part of the portage past the rapids on the Hollyford River
Paddling some of the short portage around the Hollyford River rapids
Paddling down the Hollyford River with spectacular scenery of the Darran Mountains
Hollyford River with the Darran Mountains behind
Grade 1 paddling on the Hollyford River
More pleasantly easy paddling with very few log-jambs to avoid
McKerrow Island Hut Fiordland National Park
McKerrow Island Hut
Paddling Lake McKerrow early morning before the mid-day sea breeze develops
Paddling Lake McKerrow early morning before the mid-day sea-breeze develops
Taking a break from paddling LakeMcKerrow
Taking a break on the shore of Lake McKerrow. A fierce head wind developed soon after
At Martins Bay Hut Fiordland National Park
Martins Bay Hut
View across to the sandbar at Martins Bay Fiordland National Park
The sandbar at Martins Bay
On the sandbar at Martins Bay Fiordland National Park - Martins Bay Hut behind
On the sandbar at Martins Bay – the hut behind
Spinifex on the Martins Bay sandbar
Spinifex on the sandbar dunes
On the way carrying packrafts to Big Bay Fiordland National Pack
On the way to Big Bay
On the shore of Lake Wilmot Fiordland National Park
Taking a spell on the shore of Lake Wilmot
Paddling down Lake Alabaster Fiordland National Park
Paddling Lake Alabaster with the help of an increasing tail wind
Nearing the end of Lake Alabaster with evening view of the Darran Mountains
Nearing the end of Lake Alabaster with evening views of the Darran Mountains – and the end of a wonderful Fiordland adventure.

For more photos go to tararuaphotos.com ⇛ Other tramping photos

1 thought on “Hollyford Pyke”

  1. This is definitely the way to do this track – I have vivid memories of the stories told of trying to walk the track from Lake Wilmot to Alabaster Hut from uni friends who walked the loop, where they ended up just walking in the lake anyway as the track was in such rough condition.

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