Graded as difficult the Cascade Saddle Route starts at Raspberry Creek car park, 54 km from Wanaka in Mt Aspiring National Park, New Zealand’s third largest park.

With scenery rivalling the Milford Track, Mt Aspiring National Park is home to one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, the Routeburn Track as well as many lesser known tracks. One of these is the Cascade Saddle, a track well marked by bright orange standards and rock cairns, and an unforgettable hiking experience with scenery to die for.

Covering a massive 355,518 hectares and spanning the Haast River in the north to the Humbolt Mountains in the south, the Mt. Aspiring National Park has more than 100 glaciers as well as mountain ranges rising over 2700 metres.

The track starts at Raspberry Creek, 54 km from Wanaka and it's an easy two and a half hour walk along the west branch of the Matukituk River to Aspiring Hut. The alpine style stone and wood hut has superb views of Mt Aspiring (3037 metres) from the floor to ceiling windows. This comfortable hut has plenty of magazines and books to read after watching the light fade over Mt Aspiring.

The track begins immediately behind Aspiring hut and climbs steeply through beech forest. After two hours the dense, beech forest gives way to views of Mt Aspiring. Above the bush line the two-hour climb up a steep snow grass and tussock ridge is the most difficult.

Following the orange standards the highest point, the Pylon (1835m) is reached about four hours after leaving Aspiring hut.

The next two hours to Cascade Saddle are easy going compared to the previous four hours of steep climbing.

This is fantastic country. Looking down is `Heads Leap', 1000m sheer rock face leading to a valley. Dart Glacier is also in view and above, Mt Aspiring dominates like a lord. A scene like this makes every step worth while. At this altitude the Kea, world's only alpine parrott, will be commonly sighted. They are mischevious thieves who will take anything they can lay their beaks on, but for all that, they are real charmers.

From Cascade Saddle the route follows Dart Glacier giving magnificent close up views before it runs out into black ice.

The glacier is retreating and today is a shadow of its former self 18000 years ago in the last ice age when it extended a further 135km to the southern end of Lake Wakatipu.

The barren alpine landscape is replaced with grassy banks and the roar of the Dart River. A mixture of rock cairns and orange standards mark the riverside route to the superbly situated Dart hut.

Many hikers come up the Dart River and use Dart hut as a base for a day trip to Cascade Saddle, return to Dart hut and continue down the Rees River. Not a bad idea as it avoids a 9 – 11 hour day carrying a heavy pack.

From Dart hut the route to Rees Saddle crosses steep alpine terrain dominated by tussock grasslands and alpine herb fields of mountain buttercups and daisies.

Leaving Rees Saddle (1447m) the trail leads steeply down to the river. After an easy stroll, following the river, Shelter Rock hut comes into view four to six hours after leaving Dart Hut.

The final day is walking the wide Rees valley carved out by ancient glaciers. The crystal clear Rees River flows over smooth river stones fringed by grassy flats parched golden yellow by the sun. Framed by beech forest the whole scene is dramatically back-dropped by mountains.

The walk through forest and along riverbank comes out at Muddy Creek car park, 15km from Glenorchy, after about six to eight hours.

Fact File

Map E39 and E40

Grade Difficult from Aspiring Hut to Dart Hut. Dart Hut via Rees River to Muddy Creek graded as moderate.

Time 4-5 days in good weather. Raspberry Creek - Aspiring Hut 2-2.5hr. Aspiring Hut - Dart Hut 9 – 11 hr. Dart Hut – Shelter Rock Hut 4-6hr. Shelter Rock Hut – Muddy Creek 6-8hr.

Safety Register your hike with the Department of Conservation and complete the hut book with your intentions.

From : Adventuretravel.suite101.com