Distance: 1.9 km (1.0 DOC hours) - Benched track - Easy terrain
Altitude: 236m to 360m. Gain: 216m. Loss: 103m . Gradient: 10 deg (Flat)
Skills:

Benched track (3/9)
Benched, maintained, marked tramping track or pack-track

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

None (difficulty: 1/6)
No unbridged river crossings

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

An old roadbed sidles, gently climbing the valleyside southwest from the Snowy confluence towards Waiotauru Hut. Easy going on foot, and ok on mountainbikes. A couple of slips stop anything bigger than a quad getting down here. On the spur after the 3rd creek crossing an obvious junction is reached with another old road dropping steeply down from the tops above.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

From the junction of logging tracks, the old roadbed continues downriver, dropping gently as it sidles the valleyside. Soon after 2 old slips have partially blocked the road, stopping anything larger than a quad from getting through. Beyond the track becomes narrower and more pleasant without the wheel ruts.

At the corner above the Snowy / Waiotauru confluence is a clearing where the roadbed swing sharply right and starts to head up the Snowy. The main track leaves the roadbed here, and DOC triangles here on the left-hand side mark the start of the tramping track which continues down the Waiotauru valley.