Distance: 5.8 km (2.0 DOC hours) - Road - Easy terrain
Altitude: 574m to 596m. Gain: 56m. Loss: 39m . Gradient: 1 deg (Flat)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)

Road (1/9)
Formed road, 4WD track, etc

Primary, mapped (1/5)
Formal route, on maps, principal access to hut or along range / catchment

Flat (difficulty: 1/5)
Flat

Easy (difficulty: 1/5)
Grass / prepared surface

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

Occasional rivers (difficulty: 3/6)
Occasional rivers - impassible after heavy rain

None (difficulty: 1/7)
No alpine skills required

From Upper Oteri Hut, follow the 4WD track north up the valley, fording the Ashton and continuing on flats to reach a locked gate and carpark 200m short of the Mt Nicholas Road.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

An old farm track, now a cycleway, leads down the Ortia valley from the My Nicholas Rd. The main creek is bridged but smaller streams are forded, the largest being the Ashton - ankle deep in normal flows.

Upper Oreti Hut stands on a terrace west of the track. An old station hut, it's spacious but battered.