Even the oldest club member almost made it to Middle Hill Hut

Middle Hill Hut, Kaweka FP, 19 June 2019. Map: BJ37

Twelve of us took one van to Makahu Rd, to walk to Middle Hill Hut. The weather was great and there was no wind.

The walk is one of the easiest for the hardy Napier Wednesday trampers. Even Vic, in his near 90s, made it up the ridge to walk along the tops. The route has one short sharp climb, followed by a bit of undulation and another wee climb and then it is flat all the way to the hut. The path is well marked and easy to follow.

The hut is painted orange, in a lovely setting open to the sun. It smells very smoky (and people who have had fires there say it can smoke out the hut). There’s heaps of wood about and a few of us gathered it for the next users.

Coming out, we met two young German women. They were staying at the Gums campsite and had done a two-day circuit.

We carried out a bit of hut rubbish – one plastic bottle, one glass bottle and two empty gas canisters. Not sure why people leave these behind. There are a few pots and pans in the hut if you are thinking of overnighting.

We were all back at the van by 2pm and home by 3.30.

Trampers: Bruce Hodgson, Sue Marshall, Denise Payne, Tony Pluymers, Lynette Morgan, Keith James, Vic Bullock, Dorothy Sole, Rosemary Jeffery, Murray Goss, Juliet Gillick and reporter Hilary Heath-Caldwell.