On Friday the 21st March Catherine and Wayne headed up to the Green Point Hut in the Jollie River near Mt Cook Station. We parked the car opposite the locked gate and noted there was a new A20 cycle trail beside the road. We had been in the Jollie a year earlier and we wanted to explore further up valley from Green Point Hut this time – hence the three day trip. The weather was excellent, clear sky, warm and sunny. The intentions were to walk into Green Point Hut on day one, go up valley for a day walk to view the derelict Littles Hut on day two, and walk out on day three. Some rain was expected on day three.
The walk in on day one was straight forward. Initially along a 4WD track with a small hill climb through pine forest. We didn’t stop at the Jollie Hut – sited in the pines about an hour in from the road. After the pines the road turned into a walking track through tussock flats. We met two hunters on the way in and we were all surprised by the number of fish, probably sockeye salmon, that were in a small side creek that flowed through the first large tussock flat. The fish, all about 300-400cm long, were presumed to be spawning. We crossed the flat and continued on up to Green Point Hut mostly via the riverbed. The river was low, about knee deep, but a bit swift in places. We arrived at the hut after about four hours of travel. The two hunters arrived soon afterwards with dry feet and told us that it was possible to travel up on the small grass terraces on the true left without need for riverbed travel – we decided to try this on the way back. We had a restful afternoon at the hut and spent time glassing the nearby bluffs and tussock faces for deer or thar – without seeing any.
On day two we walked up valley. Again the weather was perfect, warm and sunny. We left Green Point about 9am. There is a narrow section of river near the hut and just above there the river does a sharp left bend and beyond this the river opens out again into a wide shingle valley with grassy flats on both sides. The high peaks and valley walls were still shaded when we started walking. There was no wind and there was a soothing silence in the majestic vastness of the open space we were in. We walked up to the remains of Littles Hut via mostly low terraces along the true right bank. There were some impressive waterfall creeks on the way up. We arrived at the old hut site at 11am after two hours of travel. The hut had collapsed with one wall barely standing and was unusable as a hut. There were several modern folding deck chairs there so we unfolded them and sat down and had lunch and enjoyed the scenery in comfort. After lunch we walked back down valley along grassy terraces on the true left this time – these were lower then the terraces on the true right and we made good time going down valley. We walked a short distance up the Arthurs Creek and searched for the Arthurs Creek Hut (marked on paper topo maps, but not on the electronic version). We found it without difficulty, but it was nothing more that a pile of rusty corrugated iron on the ground with a few old rusty tools nearby. We were back at Green Point Hut mid afternoon. We were joined by a family of five that night. Again we looked for thar and deer through binoculars and eventually spotted a small mob of 7-8 thar grazing way up in the transition zone between the high bluffs and the lower tussock faces.
Next morning we were the first up to avoid the pack-up rush. The day was partly cloudy with little breeze, warm and muggy, and rain was expected that morning – but all we got was a few spots. We made good time going down valley. We had a short snack break about half way down. This time we stuck to the true left bank flats and avoided travelling in the river bed. We had to cross a small side stream near the end of the last flats – this meant we made it almost to the Jollie Hut with dry feet. We arrived back at the car in about three and a half hours.
Thanks to Catherine for a magical trip.