Maitland Stream Track, 1–2 August 2026
1–2 August 2026
We had been warned by the Lake Ohau Station farmer that the Maitland Stream Track needed maintenance. After a weekend of battling through windfall and sprouting beech saplings, our group of four trampers entirely agreed!
The Maitland Valley is beautiful in August, especially after a fresh coating of snow on the Barrier Range and over the bush. We had a perfect weather window of two sunny days after snow and the valley was gleaming in the bright sunlight. We left Oamaru at 7am, stopped off for sausage rolls and coffee at Omarama, signed in at Lake Ohau Station, parked 200 metres up the road by the locked gate and set off through the farm by 9.45 am. We climbed up the farm road for 4.7km to 1100 metres, stopping for a break at 11 am, taking in the brilliant view of the Barrier Range, before descending steeply over scree slopes and tussock to the bush.
Climbing over or around the windfall was hard work. Sometimes we straddled over the fallen trunks and branches, at other times we followed hunters’ footsteps down the slope and back up again to find the track. At other spots we had to push our way through thickly growing beech saplings right beside the track, hiding it from view. We were always on the lookout for orange markers to check we had found the track again.
After 1.5 kms dropping down through the bush, we reached the Maitland Stream at 765m. Here there are some welcome camping spots on grassy flats where trampers often stay. From here the track partly follows the river, and partly leads into the bush again, but there are places where the track has been washed out and has disappeared.
The further up the Valley the track goes, the more important it is to stay high. Robbie found the high track, but Julian, Lorenna and Jenny inadvertently found their way back to the stream too early and had two extra stream crossings in cold, fast running water, up to Julian’s thighs. Lorenna was expert in straddling one particularly large log to cross the stream, but Jenny got stuck on it… at least until Julian came to the rescue and retrieved her pack!
The last twenty minutes on the track, climbing from the stream to Maitland hut, was clear and quite magical with the fresh snow covering moss and beech trees. It had taken Robbie 5.5 hours from the car to the hut, and the group of three took an extra 20 minutes with the stream detour. The hut, a 1968 Forest Service Hut, sits comfortably amongst snow tussock at 955m, and boasts a large fireplace, four bunks and a kitchen bench. Perfect for the night! Although we had all carried tents, Lorenna and Jenny quickly booked a bunk, while Robbie and Julian (dubious about those short bunks) opted for pitching tents in the snow. It didn’t take long to warm the hut up with the fire going (hunters had left dry wood in the hut) and to get the billy boiling.
Returning on Sunday took another 5.5 hours. It is a long walk up the steep 335m climb through the bush and up the steep scree slopes back to the farm track. Leaving at 8am, we were back to the car by 1.30pm. On the way back we did find Robbie’s drink bottle, but not his left croc. It is still somewhere amidst the windfall!
Thanks to Robbie, Julian and Lorenna for their track finding skills, log straddling, ‘Karma’ card playing, and for keeping that fire going, even first thing in the morning! This is a track for experienced trampers who have a good sense for route finding and river crossing skills, not for first time overnight trampers.
–Jenny Kitchin
