Longview Hut and Awatere Hut, Ruahine FP, Saturday 18 July 2026
Banner Photo: Heading up to Longview Hut
On a cold and frosty morning, four trampers headed off from Park Island, Napier. A fifth was collected at Maraekakaho and we headed to Longview Hut car park for an excursion to Longview Hut in the Ruahines.
The drive went quickly with lots of chatter plus great views of Longview Hut glinting in the sun. After about 90 minutes on the road, we arrived and met two more members whose plan was to overnight at Leon Kinvig Hut.
There had been some indication of wind on the way but weather seemed perfect for the climb, and we all left the car park together.
Some rather muddy patches meant we would be washing our boots on the return home.
Looking at the Awatere Hut track from the Longview Hut track
About halfway up the track, we met a family of four who had stayed the night at Longview. They warned of windy conditions up ahead. They’d had to hold on to their children (successfully) to keep them on the track but in doing so lost two beanies, one water bottle and almost their spectacles.
We continued on and met some hunters who also warned us of windy conditions on the ridge.
Our party regrouped about two thirds of the way up, due to the blustery conditions, and decided to abort our plan and return to the car park. Plan B for the overnighters was a trip to Awatere Hut. They had gone ahead of us but left a message about their intentions on our vehicles.
The day trippers had a leisurely morning tea in the sun out of the wind before heading back to the car park and then home. Selina, our photographer, captured some ‘short views’ when heading toward Longview hut.
We were back in Napier by 1pm. A great but shortened day with fine company. Thank you to Jenny for driving.
Shona reports on the ‘overnighter’:
Fiona and I were looking forward to going to Leon Kinvig for an overnighter – I had never been there and Fiona had tramped there previously via the Apiti track but not via Longview, so it was new territory for both of us.
Awatere Hut
However, as Mary has said, the wind up near the tops was absolutely ferocious and it was a joint decision to not venture any further. We retraced our steps to the Longview car park, had a bite to eat, then set off for Awatere Hut. The ridge we followed had less altitude so was not nearly so blustery, although every now and then there was a strong gust which reinforced that ours had been a wise decision.
Soon we descended to the river, crossed over and chatted to a couple of volunteers at the hut with their children to clear the trapline. We made a hot drink, set up our sleeping bags etc then crossed back over the river to enjoy the sunshine – the Awatere Hut is not positioned for the sun and is very cold.
We were undecided what to do, as we hadn’t changed out of our tramping gear or boots, thus keeping our options open. The thought of the peacefulness and star-gazing that night was appealing, but it was still very early in the afternoon, so a lot of time to kill. This was the wrong time of year to follow the river downstream with the ensuing cold and wet boots, and we knew it would be absolutely freezing in the hut the following morning.
So we re-packed and headed back up the track. On our way, we met a hunter with three teenage lads who were heading to the hut, so it was nice that they would have the place to themselves. We had thoroughly enjoyed the outing and were pleased to have finally been to Awatere Hut. Leon Kinvig via Longview will keep for another day.
Day trampers: Sue Martin, Di Reid, Jenny Burns, Selina Chilton (photographer) and reporter Mary Campbell
Weekend trampers: Fiona Bryant and Shona Tupe
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