Distance: 7.9 km (4.5 DOC hours) - Marked route - Easy-moderate terrain
Altitude: 455m to 1261m. Gain: 1170m. Loss: 401m . Gradient: 11 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Alpine weather (2/7) - Streams (2/6)

Marked route (6/9)
Uncut route, with markers normally within sight

Primary, unmapped (2/5)
Route not on maps, but is principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Easy-moderate (difficulty: 2/5)
Tussock / river-gravel / open bush / cut track

Alpine weather (difficulty: 2/7)
Tramp on open tops, exposed to alpine weather

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

A signpost on the Haast-Paringa Cattle Track near the saddle shows the start of the track. This is a zig-zag, cleared in 2020. It was previously the horse track which was built in 1944 and provided access for the three original mica prospecting sites ("reefs") on the tops west of Mt Clarke, not the "Old Mica Mine" later developed in the bush south of Blowfly Hut. The zig-zag has been cleared up to approximately 960m elevation, then the current tramping track continues as a faint ground trail (in 2021) with orange triangle markers up to the bushline and through the scrub.
In the tussock and rock tops, the route is lightly poled with practically no ground trail (in 2021). The poles take the least rocky route, and do not always follow the crest of the range. There are a few abrupt changes of direction. In thick fog the visibility can be less than a quarter of the distance between poles.
West of point 1280m, the route passes a large radio repeater antenna with locked building, and a smaller antenna nearby.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description