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Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve

Te Araroa: Otago and Southland · Stage 5

Walking time as the Te Araroa Trust states it for this stage; measured on the mapped line: 1 h 48. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights. The Te Araroa Trust

3.9 kmStage distance
< 50 mAscent, measured
3–4 hOfficial time
5Stage number

The steep descent of about 950 m to Gladstone Reserve on Timaru Creek Road: 4 km and 3 to 4 hours (DOC: 2 to 3 hours), with no water. Gladstone Reserve has no beds; the stage end is placed by the notes' leg length. The Grandview Mountain Track, another way down, is closed for lambing until 16 November 2026.

Best season: October to April. Most walkers go between spring and autumn. The shuttle round Lake Wakatipu runs scheduled trips only from November to April; outside that season it offers private charters. DOC says avalanches can cross the Motatapu Track, usually from May into November. Greenstone Hut takes the Backcountry Hut Pass only from 1 May to 30 September. At Taipo, Boundary and Careys huts the water supply is turned off from May to October, and the Mavora Lakes campsite has no tap water in winter. Before you go

Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve

Loading topographic map…
500m1,000m01 km2 km3 km3.9 km1,285m376m
Moderate (10–15%) Steep (15–25%) Very steep (>25%)
Green: Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve. Grey: full trail. Elevation follows this mapped track.

Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve

5 / 22
GPX

Where this stage starts and ends

Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with the hut before you rely on a date or a bed.

Stage start

Pakituhi Hut

Mountain refuge · Department of Conservation (DOC)

The Grandview Mountain Track, another way down from the hut, is closed for lambing from 5 October to 16 November 2026 and open again on 17 November; the Nook Road gate is locked. Te Araroa goes down to Timaru Creek Road instead. doc.govt.nz, read 13 October 2026

Season
2026 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 Open all year, DOC's hut page says, first come, first served. doc.govt.nz, read 13 October 20262027 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 Open all year, DOC's hut page says, first come, first served. doc.govt.nz, read 13 October 2026
Places
8 places in total · Self-catering 8 bunks, DOC says, as the Trust's notes do.
Booking
No booking No booking: first come, first served. Adult NZ$15, youth $7.50 a night, paid with a Backcountry Hut Ticket or the Backcountry Hut Pass. From 1 November 2026 DOC sells the hut tickets for huts like this one on its online booking system.
Contact
Official site

Stage end

Gladstone Reserve

Trailhead

The foot of the Breast Hill Track on Timaru Creek Road, above Lake Hāwea, with no beds: the Gladstone Track goes on along the lake to the village.

What the operators say about this leg

  • Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve: 3–4 h. Measured on the mapped line: 1 h 48. The operator's time is much longer than the time measured on the mapped line: the ground is slower than it looks. Plan on the operator's time. ttama.teararoa.org.nz, read 13 October 2026

Make it your trip

Carry a tent, book Greenstone Hut

Most huts on this section are DOC huts that cannot be booked: first come, first served, NZ$15 an adult night (youth $7.50) by Backcountry Hut Ticket or Pass. Stodys and Slip Flat huts are free. They fill with Te Araroa walkers in summer and some sleep only four, so carry a tent. Greenstone Hut and the Kinloch and Mavora Lakes campsites must be booked with DOC. The Trust's notes list many of these huts and campsites as included in its Trail Pass, which its registration page says is required to walk the South Island; otherwise DOC's fees apply.

Birchwood Road to the Mavora Lakes

The Trust's 22 legs in 15 days, each night at a hut, a campsite or a town, with the road shuttle round Lake Wakatipu.

Plan this journey

Birchwood Road to Lake Hāwea

The Breast Hill Track and the Gladstone Track in four days, hut to hut.

Plan this journey

Wānaka to Arrowtown

The Glendhu Bay Track and the Motatapu Track in five days, by Fern Burn, Highland Creek and Roses huts and Macetown.

Plan this journey

Queenstown to the Mavora Lakes

The shuttle round Lake Wakatipu, then the Greenstone valley and the Mavora Walkway in four days.

Plan this journey

Weather this week

Loading the forecast for low point (362 m) and high point (1,293 m)…

Weather by month

Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (362 m) and the highest point (1,293 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.

Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
WeatherGoodGoodGoodMixedMixedMixedPoorMixedMixedMixedGoodGood
High point, day / night18°/5°18°/5°15°/4°11°/1°7°/-1°4°/-4°3°/-5°5°/-3°8°/-2°11°/0°13°/2°16°/4°
Low point, day / night22°/10°22°/9°20°/8°16°/5°12°/3°9°/0°8°/-1°10°/0°13°/3°15°/4°18°/6°20°/9°
Rain, mm1227194104127154175145150111101123
Snow at high point–––PossiblePossiblePossiblePossiblePossiblePossiblePossibleFrost–
Daylight15 h 1113 h 5512 h 2910 h 549 h 358 h 509 h 0710 h 1411 h 4313 h 1514 h 4315 h 31

Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.

Before you go

Prepare for Te Araroa from Birchwood Road to the Mavora Lakes

Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.

Macetown Road is closed

DOC has closed Macetown Road to walkers, bikes and four-wheel drives since slips in a storm in late August 2026 (first published 2 September, last reviewed 6 October 2026; read 13 October 2026). No end date or detour is published. The Big Hill Track to Arrowtown starts on this road, and our line still crosses it for 183 m on stage 15. Ask DOC before you walk from Macetown to Arrowtown. The road's access manager shows it closed to vehicles too.

DOC: Otago alerts

Other notices

On DOC's Otago alerts, read 13 October 2026: on the Lake Hayes Walkway (stage 16) DOC is repairing storm damage on the western side with a digger from 12 to 14 October 2026, and the Mill Creek footbridge at its north end stays closed. The Lower Tīmaru River Track beside stage 2 is rough and washed out in places: stay on the marked Breast Hill Track and out of the riverbed. The Grandview Mountain Track by Pakituhi Hut is closed for lambing until 16 November 2026.

DOC: Lake Hayes Walkway

Huts, bunks and bookings

DOC's huts here are first come, first served, except Greenstone Hut, which must be booked and keeps no bunks for walkers without a booking. From 1 November 2026 DOC sells the tickets for huts that cannot be booked on its online booking system. DOC and the Trust's notes disagree on three huts: DOC gives Taipo and Boundary huts 4 bunks (the notes 8) and Careys Hut 6 (the notes 7); we show DOC's figures, the operator's. Greenstone Hut page read 13 October 2026.

DOC: Greenstone Hut

Rivers, ridges and avalanches

The Breast Hill Track crosses the Timaru River about a dozen times, the Motatapu Track fords the Arrow River, and the Mavora Walkway crosses the Mararoa by swing bridges: never cross a river in flood. Breast Hill is high and exposed, with no reliable water between Stodys and Pakituhi huts. DOC says the Motatapu Track is for experienced trampers only, and that avalanches can cross it, usually from May into November (Motatapu Track page, read 13 October 2026).

DOC: Motatapu Track

The Trail Pass

The Te Araroa Trust's registration page, read 13 October 2026, says its Trail Pass is required to walk the South Island (Te Wai Pounamu) and is priced apart from North Island and section walks. Its notes list many of the huts and campsites here as included in the Trail Pass.

Te Araroa Trust: register to walk

Getting there

Connect your journey

Travel around Pakituhi Hut to Gladstone Reserve.

Directions to this start Travel from this finish

Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.

To the start at Birchwood Road

No public transport reaches the Birchwood Road carpark in the Ahuriri Valley: take a shuttle or a car from Wānaka. The Trust's notes name Alpine Coachlines, based in Wānaka.

Te Araroa Trust: trail notes

Buses on the way

Long-distance coaches, InterCity among them, serve Wānaka and Queenstown. Shuttles link Lake Hāwea with Wānaka, and Wanaka Bike Tours will carry packs for $25 a person, the Trust's notes say. In the Queenstown basin, Orbus route 2 runs from Arrowtown to the Frankton hub, route 4 from Arrowtown through Queenstown, and route 5 from Lake Hayes Estate to Queenstown.

Orbus Queenstown: timetables

Round Lake Wakatipu

From Queenstown the Trust's notes take walkers by road shuttle past Glenorchy and Kinloch to the Greenstone Station Road carpark (86 km by road, DOC says). Glenorchy Journeys, the shuttle they name, runs scheduled trips from November to April; outside that season it offers only private charters (its page, read 13 October 2026). By the road, DOC's Twelve Mile Delta campsite is first come, first served, its Kinloch campsite must be booked (NZ$18 an adult), and Mrs Woolly's Campground in Glenorchy is open until May 2027.

Glenorchy Journeys

Home from the Mavora Lakes

No scheduled service reaches the lakes: 39 km of gravel road lead to State Highway 94 at Centre Hill or Burwood Station, and drivers must register with DOC to take a vehicle in. Glenorchy Journeys offers private charters. Te Araroa itself goes on south by the Mararoa River Track.

DOC: vehicle access at the Mavora Lakes

Take your trip with you

Offline maps

Prepare every leg while you still have a connection in Wānaka, Arrowtown or Queenstown: the huts are remote.

Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.

  1. Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
  2. Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
  3. Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.

Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.

Route & sources

Route map & sources

This page covers one section of Te Araroa, not the whole trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff: from the Birchwood Road carpark in the Ahuriri Valley, where the Breast Hill Track starts, to the Mavora Lakes, crossing from Otago into Southland at the Pass Burn saddle. The Te Araroa Trust publishes its trail notes by region, as legs between huts, road ends and towns, with no day plan. This guide follows its 22 legs, with an official stage time for each stage but 9, 10 and 16, for which the notes give only a length, and 17, the road shuttle; the time for stage 18 is DOC's. The legs add up to about 227 km of walking, plus the shuttle round Lake Wakatipu (86 km by road, DOC says). The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 10992549, "Te Araroa - 10 Otago", from the planet of 11 October 2026): 228.8 km of walking, cut at the 22 leg ends. Most stages are within 0.6 km of the notes' figures; on our line stage 1 is 0.8 km longer and stage 7 1.3 km longer. For stage 22 the notes' heading gives 10 km and their kilometre markers 13.4 km; our line is 9.5 km. Five stage ends have no place of their own: the Timaru River junction, Gladstone Reserve, the end of the Gladstone Track in Lake Hāwea, the Fern Burn carpark and the Greenstone Station Road carpark. They are placed where the notes' leg lengths put them. Stage 17, the Lake Wakatipu Bypass, is a road shuttle in the Trust's notes, not a walk: the map draws it as a straight dashed line across the lake and counts none of it as walking. On stage 15 the line still crosses the closed Macetown Road for 183 m. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep rises are smoothed out.

Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.

Te Araroa Trust: trail notes

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation

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