2x50m
3h15 total trip
Public access
A short canyoning adventure for beginners. Generally low flow – but you’ll need to swim across the Hokitika River, or bushbash up from the Hokitika Gorge track.
If the main river flows are low, and you’ve got the floatation in your packs – a float through the Hokitika Gorge is a great way to end the trip (and get on Instagram..)
Images below from the Canyoning in NZ guidebook.
Definitely a 0 star trip. Would be more fun in summer with a float into hokitika gorge, or as an addendum to solitude creek.
Not sure how the topo suggests it as a 3h15 day – it takes an hour each way to walk from the carpark to the river! Took 5h 15m with minimal faffing. Crossing the river is challenging even on low flow (70 cumecs today), expect to be swimming some pretty fast water, ended up 150m downstream of where we entered swimming across with bags. Consider getting a rope out and sending your bags across instead of swimming with them.
Once over the river the approach track is pretty easy to find, well trodden and marked with permolat. The canyon is reasonably fun, good bolted anchors although expect to be replacing webbing at each anchor. The big rap (R3) is probably more like 50m if you rap all the way to the bottom instead of the ledge on the TL. Pool was way too shallow to consider jumping. There’s also a few rocky outcrops on the TL of the falls that make perfect snagging hazards when pulling the rope through.
The handline for r4 is kinda hidden about 10m upstream of the drop on the TR. It’s easier to spot looking back upstream.