27-29th December 2023

Tarn Col Traverse, Arthur's Pass National Park

    Seven of us left the Hawdon Shelter on a lovely sunny morning. It was an easy flat walk for the most part and we enjoyed the wonderful fresh air and exercise after the excesses of the Christmas period! The route to the Hawdon hut was along the river flats and bush beside and above the rushing water. 

We stopped for morning tea in a shady spot before carrying on up the valley, arriving at the hut after three and a half hours, at lunchtime. Shortly before reaching our destination we passed an open grassy area where the old hut had been before fire destroyed it. Mike and Anne chose to camp here rather than staying in the hut and Dennis also chose to sleep in his tent. But the hut was never filled up: a party of three young men arrived in the early evening and another large party chose to camp across the river.

We enjoyed a relaxed lunch before some of us set about re-stocking the much depleted woodshed. Tere and Mark did sterling work with the axe and saw while Sally happily dragged large branches from the surrounding bush which the boys rendered into smaller logs. We also collected plenty of dry kindling twigs and branches. After a couple of hours the woodshed looked very healthy and Tere laid a fire in the stove ready to be lit by future exhausted cold and soaked trampers. The evening passed very pleasantly with our various meals, conversation, reading and puzzles.

We awoke early next morning to low cloud but this cleared after a few hours and the weather was perfect for a long tramp. Only three of us planned to walk on : the others were returning down the Hawdon valley with an arrangement made that Dennis would drive Tere's car round to Greyney's Shelter to await us three at the end of our tramp. He would then return in Mike's car to Christchurch with the other three. And so the story continues now with just Tere, Mark and Sally.

We sauntered along a flat path before a very steep climb led us up above the river. In retrospect this was easy if very demanding on legs and breath! Our view of the Hawdon valley below was obscured by cloud but ahead of us Walker Pass was emerging from the mists and looked very lovely. We appreciated the view while we recovered our breath. The route to the pass was rather hidden by bushes and involved frequent crossings of a stream with slippery rocks to be negotiated but overall it wasn't too tricky. An attractive tarn on the top of the pass could have been inviting on a very warm day!

 We veered off to the right as indicated by the red route markers with the way now becoming harder, less obvious and more rocks, roots and large bushes making progress slow. We met a couple who had camped the night before up on Tarn Col, our next destination, and we shared advice about the track. The steep valley leading up to Tarn Col proved to be an extremely demanding section of the day's tramp. Almost no visible track and route markers few and difficult to locate with just occasional cairns; rocks, slippery stones, roots, and all manner of sub-alpine vegetation often preventing passage (though they did provide good hand holds!) Sally was delighted to find plenty of Mt Cook lilies higher up the valley: they looked so beautiful clinging to the mountain slopes.

 Tarn Col was finally reached with a sigh of relief, a flat easy stroll across low grass with no treacherous terrain slowing progress and the tarn looked delightful in its glorious surrounds. We were looking forward to the long shingle run down the far side which Tere and Sally remembered from thirty years back. But when we reached the marker pole on the far side of the pass we were greeted instead with a vague path descending very steeply to another red pole in the flat land below. Clearly it was the intended way down but it looked most uninviting and quite risky. So no quick slide down deep soft shingle but instead a really slow and extremely difficult clamber down a precipitous route.

Well, we made it without any disasters and looked ahead to an amazing area below Falling Mountain. A huge amphitheatre of rocky walls and scree, and below boulders stretching without a break to the far distance where our onward route lay. Before setting forth across this forlorn but fascinating landscape we stopped for lunch and a welcome break. We could just make out the first red pole which would start our walk across this difficult section. There was no real route : a series of cairns and occasional marker poles guided us across the rocks towards the head of the Edwards valley. It was hard going, boulder hopping and scrambling across rocks and stones of varying sizes. Occasional snatches of a vague path were soon lost again.

However, we eventually left the barren rocky Falling Mountain behind and settled into a lovely and generally easy walk down the Edwards valley. The first appearance of the river, as a small stream, was very welcome and we all enjoyed a cool drink of refreshing clear water and refilled our bottles. Soon the stream widened into more of a river which we had to repeatedly cross. Shallow hops at first, gradually deepening but never too much. Ahead we could see the Williams Saddle which lies above the Edwards hut and as it got closer we felt assured our day's efforts were nearing an end. The hut was indeed a welcome sight and soon we were relaxing with cups of tea and a well earned lie down. We had the hut to ourselves.

 As forecast we awoke to rain which became quite heavy as we prepared for the last part of our tramp. Fully waterproofed we set off early as we were rather concerned about rivers coming up with the rain and making river crossings difficult or impossible. In fact the East Edwards, Mingha and Bealey were all perfectly crossable though we did link up for safety's sake. The initial bush track eventually emerged onto the open river flats and by now the rain had settled and we even enjoyed some patches of blue sky and occasional sunshine. Behind us the valley was shrouded in clouds.

We arrived back at the car (safely left at Greyney's for us) after a three and a half hour walk , much sooner than we expected as the wet track had been tricky to navigate over slippery rocks and roots with some steep and difficult sections.. We were all very wet now after the last wade across the Bealey and were glad to change into our awaiting dry clothes.

And so home after a very enjoyable if tramp, even if very tough in the mid section.

Thank so much Tere for organising this trip.

Sally B