40m max pitch – (2x50m ropes minimum)
1.5hr/3hr/10min approach / descend/ return
4h40m round trip
Public Land
Open in the top half, with a big 40m pitch. Similar feeling to some of the Canterbury canyons. Lower down much more enclosed with lots of small drops. Surprisingly different to Dorothy Falls.
Why Tūhua when the stream is called Camp Creek? = There’s about 12 Camp Creeks in NZ and its getting confusing!- This canyon is named after the highpoint directly above the canyon headwaters.
First descent: Amy Burney, Christian Miller, Ben Fletcher, Josh Fletcher, Conor Handley. January 2026.
Thanks to the first D crew for photos and topo.
This is a delightful little canyon with some lovely shaped features, gorgeous green walls and a surprisingly continuous narrow section.
In my opinion, it is the ideal canyon on the west coast to introduce beginners to the sport or a good half-day warm up and gentle intro to west-coast navigation and bushbashing. (Ie, if you find this approach tricky, you’ll find other west coast approaches really tricky!)
Like Amy says, a little more mahi would make this canyon even more awesome for newer canyoners, and more flood resistant.
The final anchor is from a tree that isn’t super healthy. In keeping with the character of the canyon, I think a future solution will be a handline anchor to get down the 45 degree slabs to the edge of the waterfall. Then, a rappel anchor from a flood-sheltered face of bedrock just left of the centre of the fall.
We weren’t in a rush – even stopped for a snoozed in the sun at the bottom of the 40m pitch 🙂 Still cruised through in less than 2hrs, with a competent team of three who each had a rope.
All in all, a really pleasant few hours in a lovely canyon, well equipped, great views, pretty features and very chill vibes. Highly recommended
Installed 10 new bolts into the canyon following the first descent 2 weeks ago. The topo has been updated to reflect these changes.
As this is hopefully a canyon that will be regularly descended, as an easier west coast canyon, there is a bit of mahi that would be worth doing to improve it as follows:
– A more clear and direct track could be marked and potentially cut through occassional sections of supplejack.
– A protruding bolt on the first DC/R drop could be cut (angle grinder or similar required)
– Aproach bolts could be installed on R3 and R11 to accomodate beginner canyoners and as a good practice area for handline techniques.
– R4 could also be moved further back and up from the edge to be more resilient to potential flood damage.
My group is unlikely to return to make these fixes in the near future so we would be appreciative of anyone who is willing to help make these happen.