This piece describes the Greenstone Track as offered by guided walking company Ultimate Hikes but is not paid content. The track can easily be completed by freedom trampers using the route described here and Department of Conservation (DoC) huts.
When one thinks of our great walks in the Deep South, the reputations of the Milford, Routeburn and Kepler outshine that of the Greenstone. And it’s true—the Greenstone Track doesn’t offer the same dramatic scenery. But it is charming and rewarding in its own way, and suitably different to its neighbours—including being easier with no real hills. The Greenstone Track also makes a great combination with the Routeburn or Caples Tracks.
The track (35km to Howden Junction, 38km to SH 94 at The Divide) has some wonderful sections. Some of my favourites were the Caples swingbridge, the gorgeous beech forest of the Upper Greenstone, and the open vistas over the tussocks towards the wilderness of Fiordland.
The first day is a decent walk—18km—from Greenstone Shelter to Steele Creek Lodge. The first 30 minutes is spent ambling through beautiful beech forest above the Greenstone River to a T-junction with the Caples Track. At this point the Greenstone Track crosses the swirling turquoise torrent of the Caples River. After walking through a bright green meadow the track quickly plunges back into beech forest and re-joins the Greenstone River on the true left bank. One occasionally gets a glimpse of snow-topped Tooth Peak (2051m) on the opposite side of the valley, while a number of waterfalls splash down beside the path, handy for those who need to top up their drink bottles.
Slip Stream is about halfway to Steele Creek Lodge. It’s unbridged, so take care—it can be swift and the rocks may be covered in slimy didymo. Another hour brings you to a side track that leads to Greenstone Hut (DoC) and, eventually, Mavora Lakes. Take a five-minute detour to check out the Greenstone Gorge, where the river rushes through a dramatic chasm.
The Greenstone Track now swings northwest. The broad and grassy Greenstone Valley suddenly opens before you, and from here the track often hugs the riverbank. It’s an enjoyable and easy 90 minutes to Steele Creek Lodge.
Steele Creek Lodge, sitting quietly under the craggy Ailsa Mountains, is exclusive to guiding company Ultimate Hikes. It’s a charming, welcoming place, with large, shared dormitories adjoining a cosy common room with a crackling fire. It has a hut ‘feel’, albeit with showers, cooked dinners and brekkies, and a cash bar. What more could you want!
The second day is short and sweet. Leave the lodge over the sizable Steele Creek swingbridge and step into glorious liverwort forest. You soon emerge back beside the Greenstone River. Continue along the true left bank almost as far as McKellar Lodge, your next destination, 12km up the valley.
Through this section the scenery morphs from spartan river flats to an increasingly montane environment. At the top end of the river flats, the track passes a large pond before heading into the dense, primeval beech forest of Fiordland National Park. The pond is a beautiful spot for lunch and place to look back down the valley from where you came. Once in the bush, McKellar Lodge is only 1km away.
McKellar Lodge affords small and friendly bunk rooms, rather than dormitories, and we spent a comfy two nights here. It overlooks the river, which here wanders lazily beneath beech trees. The water looks oh so inviting, yet even on a warm spring day, a dip is invigorating… I couldn’t bring myself to attempt full immersion!
Freedom walkers can enjoy nearby McKellar Hut (Doc). I remember a night there, almost 20 years ago, having done the Caples Track at the same time of year. Our bunks were immediately above a rather noisy snorer! At least our culprit had a good night’s sleep.
On our ‘rest day’, we hiked to a nearby lookout point above the bush line on the open flanks of the Livingstone Mountains. (The trail, which follows the spur beside Duck Creek, doesn’t appear on standard NZ Topo 50 maps.) There’s about 500m of vertical to gain the lookout and the reward is a spectacular view of the Greenstone Valley, from Lake Howden to the Thomson Mountains that obscure Lake Wakatipu. It’s here that the sheer scale of the landscape comes to the fore. One feels a sense of achievement at reaching the high point but, at the same time, completely dwarfed by the Ailsa Mountains across the valley. That afternoon, we wandered to Lake McKellar, just north of the lodge, which is about 2.5km in length, and a few hundred metres wide, filling the entire valley. It is a serene spot for some quiet reflection.
The final day’s walk heads past Lake McKellar to the sunlit flats at the source of the Greenstone. From here, a walk over the almost imperceptible Greenstone Saddle leads to pretty Lake Howden. At most, it’s only a couple of hours from McKellar Lodge to the junction with the Routeburn Track at the north end of the lake—the former site of popular Lake Howden Hut. The hut was wiped out by a landslide in 2020 and will not be replaced.
It’s about 2.5km out to The Divide from Lake Howden, so no more than an hour. About 15 minutes along the route is the side trip up Key Summit. I urge that you do this if the weather is clear. Key Summit is named because it divides the Hollyford, Eglinton and Greenstone watersheds—all of which discharge into different seas. It is one of my favourite places and the 360-degree views are astounding. The snowclad Serpentine Range snakes down above the Lower Hollyford Valley and morphs into the Ailsa Mountains, while the devastatingly sheer Mount Christina and Mount Crosscut in the Darran Mountains tower in front. You will often hear and see avalanches coming down these slopes. Pyramid Peak rises to the west like a pinnacle above the Upper Hollyford. Savour the views before ambling back down and out to the road.
Need to know
From Queenstown, Greenstone Carpark is 82km (1.5 hours drive) and The Divide is 253km (3.5 hours). Organise private or public track transport, or combine with the Caples Track to return to the Greenstone Carpark.
Easy—mostly along river flats on a well-formed path. No significant hills, although optional side trips include ascents. Greenstone Carpark (330m) and the highest point is Greenstone Saddle (700m). Total ascent is 370m. Optional ascents include Greenstone lookout (500m ascent) and Key Summit (240m ascentfrom Lake Howden).
NZ Topo 50: CB 09 Hollyford, CB 10 Glenorchy, CC 09 North Mavora Lake