Tramping the St James Walkway...
Day three of my trip around the St James Walkway took me up the Anne River Valley to Anne Saddle then down the Boyle River Valley to Boyle Flat Hut. From here I would be on familiar territory as I had walked up to Boyle Flat Hut for a night in late 2014.
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| I was heading for the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre (BOEC) |
The last day was the four hour walk down the rest of the Boyle River to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre where I could collect my car.
Day Three: St James Walkway, Anne Hut to Boyle Flat Hut (17.5 km's)
As usual I was up at the crack of dawn and on my way down the track, the distance to cover to Boyle Flat was 17.5 km's. For most of the day I was walking by myself but around 11.30 several of the Te Araroa walkers caught up to me and we tramped the final 5-6 km's of the track together.
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| Dawn at Anne Hut, St James Walkway on day three |
I was the first out of the hut as is my norm as I really like to walk in the early morning...it is a lot cooler than walking in the blazing heat of the afternoon. I also find the light of the early morning very appealing and it photographs really nicely.
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| St James Walkway: setting out towards Anne River bridge |
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| View back towards Anne Hut from the St James Walkway: |
About 3 km's down the track you cross to the true left of the Anne River. I made the short side trip to visit Anne Cullers Hut near this bridge but stupidly forgot to take a photo. To get to the hut you turn right and walk down the Anne River for about 300 meters.
NB (2021): Anne Cullers Hut was removed in 2018 after being damaged by a fire so there is no longer a hut in this location....
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| St James Walkway: Anne River from first bridge...turn right to Anne Cullers |
Anne Cullers is a historic 4 bunk hut build by the NZFS for deer culler's back in the 1950's. Others close by include Rokeby, Ada Culler's and Jervois Hut.
The smaller 2, 4 and 6 bunk huts in this area existed before the St James Walkway was built and would have been quite difficult to access. The tracks would not have existed only unmarked routes up the rivers, probably rough travel if you didn't know where you were going.
From the hut the St James continues up the true left of the river for awhile.
Nice easy track up the Anne River Valley for the first couple of hours, the track is mostly on river terraces with the occasional climb over intervening ridge lines. It is about 2-3 hours from Anne Hut to Anne Saddle....
The smaller 2, 4 and 6 bunk huts in this area existed before the St James Walkway was built and would have been quite difficult to access. The tracks would not have existed only unmarked routes up the rivers, probably rough travel if you didn't know where you were going.
From the hut the St James continues up the true left of the river for awhile.
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| Anne Cullers Hut in 2013 |
Nice easy track up the Anne River Valley for the first couple of hours, the track is mostly on river terraces with the occasional climb over intervening ridge lines. It is about 2-3 hours from Anne Hut to Anne Saddle....
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| St James Walkway: track up Anne River Valley |
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| View towards head of Anne River on the St James Walkway |
The ridge below is the most strenuous part of the track along this section of the walkway, this one climbs above a gorge in the Upper Anne River. You climb up a hundred meters before descending back down to the river on the eastern side of the spur...
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| St James Walkway: one of the spurs that must be climbed over |
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| Last river flat before climbing to Anne Saddle, St James Walkway |
Eventually you reach the swampy head of the Anne River...this is slower going as you pick your way from mud patch to mud patch. As you get closer to the top of the valley the track becomes steeper and rocky but nothing too strenuous. A small helicopter flew over me at low altitude along here...probably transporting hunters to one of the huts up in the mountains.
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| Start of climb to Anne Saddle, St James Walkway |
As you can see in the photo below its not much of a saddle to climb all things considered...
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| Anne Saddle in middle of photo...St James Walkway |
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| St James Walkway: DOC Anne Saddle sign |
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| St James Walkway: Anne Saddle in centre of photo... |
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| St James Walkway: nearing Anne Saddle |
Below is the steepest part of the track, this is over the last 200 meters before the saddle, it is mildly steep and rocky and requires a bit of care. Honestly, this is one of the easiest saddles I have ever walked over bar Ada Pass on day two!
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| Anne Saddle approaching the crest of the saddle... |
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| St James Walkway: Anne Saddle (1136 metres) |
Here I am goofing it up on the saddle, it took me about 2.5 hours to reach this spot from the hut and is roughly 1/3 of the way to Boyle Flat Hut. I stopped just off the track and had a snack and water break before continuing on my way...
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| Jon at Anne Saddle on the St James Walkway |
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| I had a ten minute break on Anne Saddle... |
The descent into the Boyle River Valley is a totally different proposition as it is steep, rocky and slippery. It would be about a kilometre from the saddle to the bottom but took me over an hour to traverse due to the rougher terrain. My trekking pole was a god send on this section of the track as it gave me that all important third point of ground contact.
Take care through here!
NB (2021): DOC have cut a new track through this section as the old one was damaged in a big storm in 2019. It is now a much nicer and more gradual descent down to the Boyle River...
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| Steep descent into Boyle River Valley on the St James Walkway |
Eventually you break out into the Upper Boyle River valley, it is really beautiful up there and would certainly warrant another visit just to camp in the area. It's all river flats and climbing over small ridges from here to Boyle Flat about 9 km's further down the valley.
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| Upper Boyle River valley...nice camping potential! |
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| River flats in Upper Boyle Valley from the St James Walkway |
The track is seared into the grass of the river flats by all the passing feet. It is intersected at regular points by deer/pig/people tracks coming down from the hills. Watch for rocks and branches in that long grass...I tripped over an old rotten log walking along here.
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St James Walkway: approaching Rokeby Hut
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About half way along the track to Boyle Flat you pass the old Rokeby Hut, this is a small 2 bunk hut located inside a small finger of bush on one of the ridges. It is "rustic" in nature; dirt floor, sacking bunks, no lining... but in quite good condition. There is even a classic corrugated iron dog box for the mustering dogs which were once used up the valley.
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| Rokeby Hut in its bush surrounds on the St James Walkway |
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| Ye olde dogge hause...behind Rokeby Hut, St James Walkway |
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| Interior of Rokeby hut, St James Walkway |
About 4 kilometres down valley you arrive at the swing-bridge to Boyle Flat Hut, my final destination for the day. It is four hours from the swing bridge to the road end...your destination on the final day of the Walkway.
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| The turn off to Boyle Flat Hut from the St James Walkway in 2014 |
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| Swing bridge to Boyle Flat Hut from a 2014 visit... |
I've stayed at the hut previously and it is very nice, well maintained and in a prime location. It has sleeping platforms with 20 bunks spread over two rooms. There is plenty of space around the hut and in the nearby forest for tents as the hut can be super busy over the summer now that TA walkers are also using it.
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| Boyle Flat Hut, St James Walkway |
The inside of the hut is very attractive as it is a classic Lockwood design with that deeply glossed wood inside. I especially like the padded bench seat along the window...the pads make sitting here so much more comfortable.
Very, very nice!!!
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| Boyle Flat Hut: dining/living space... |
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| Boyle Flat Hut: the sleeping platforms in the hut,,,five per platform |
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| Boyle Flat Hut: front bunkroom... |
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| Boyle Flat Hut: cooking bench, rear bunkroom... |
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| A lovely stylised map of the St James Walkway in Boyle Flat Hut |
The water source for the hut is normally piped from a nearby stream but with the dry, hot weather this has dried up. If you are visiting the hut the alternate source of water is the very nice creek about 50 meters to the north of the hut. Follow the track which goes past the left hand side of the wood shed it is easy to find.
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| Approach to water source for Boyle Flat Hut |
Nice clean looking water in the creek but I would still purify it as who knows what is lurking just upstream.
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| Unnamed side stream near Boyle Flat Hut |
I spent the night at Boyle Flat hut with 2 Australian and 2 German TaT walkers, the other 10 legged it down the valley as they wanted to get to Hanmer Springs for the night. That would be a total of 31 km's of walking for the 10 of them!
Personally, I was more than happy to walk the 17.5km's and call it a day....
Day Four: St James Walkway, Boyle Flat Hut to Boyle Outdoor Education Centre (BOEC) (14.5 km's)
Another early morning as the five of us staying in the hut over night headed down valley to the road end at Boyle Village. I've walked this part of the track numerous times now so was well acquainted with what lay in store.
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| Boyle Flat Hut on the St James Walkway |
Travel through this section is easy, the track is benched from the hut to the first swing-bridge over the Boyle although there are a number of new slips on the track to be tackled. I really like the Upper Boyle Valley because the forest is dense...similar to a West Coast track.
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| Track between Boyle Flat and first swing-bridge |
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| Lush track side growth, Boyle Flat track, St James Walkway |
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| St James Walkway: Boyle River view south |
Eventually you reach the old stile which separates the upper valley from the cattle flats around St Andrews. The swing bridge is about 100 meters further down the track from this spot.
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| St James Walkway: the stile just before Boyle swing-bridge |
I stopped and had a conversation with one of the BOEC instructors who I met near the stile...he was walking the St James Walkway over the weekend just for kicks. Nice work if you can get it!!!
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| Swing-bridge over Boyle River, St James Walkway |
I was surprised with how dry the normally muddy track is...no rain for a couple of months will do that I suppose. The dry conditions probably shaved at least 40 minutes off the usual time between the two swing bridges over the Boyle River. Normally you have to carefully jump from log to log, you can plough through but you will end with mud up to your knees.
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| Nice dry conditions on the St James Walkway |
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| St James Walkway: near St Andrews Flats |
NB (2021): DOC have cut a new track section through here which avoids most of the worst mud and undulations. The new track is slightly uphill from the old one and clearly marked....
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| St James Walkway: half way to Boyle Village |
I love catching my first view of the lower Boyle swing-bridge as it means you are nearly home. From the bridge there is only the last fairly easy walk out to the road end left.
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| St James Walkway: lower Boyle swing bridge...a beautiful sight! |
If you want to cut about 30 minutes off your walk then look for the side track to the St Andrews 4 W/D road. it is much quicker to walk the final two kilometer's of the track down this road. The side track is marked by the red cross on the map below...
If you are a purist just stay on the main track and it will eventually dump you out by the BOEC....
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| Map: lower Boyle River Valley, St James Walkway |
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| On the 4 W/D road from the Boyle swing bridge to the BOEC |
Two of the Te Araroa walkers and I reached the road end at Boyle Village together. We meet up with the other two walkers as we pulled out onto the Highway. I dropped them all off in Hanmer as I was going there for some lunch and a soak in the hot pools anyway.
Cest Fini!
Best and worst bits of the St James Walkway
Best part of the tramp was the whole section from Lewis Pass to the Christopher River as the Spencer Mountains are spectacular. They loam above you and really would not look out if place in Fiordland, Mt Aspiring or Arthurs Pass.
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| The magnificent Spencer Range.... |
Anne Hut is awesome...I know it is new and does not have a lot of character yet BUT a lot of thought went into the design and it shows. It is one of the finest huts I have stayed in outside of the Great Walks and will gain history as time passes.
I also love those wide grass plains you walk across in the many valleys you traverse. Interacting with the TaT tramper's was cool...they are an eclectic and interesting group of people and good value. Even spending a couple of days with them makes me want to hit that trail...
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| The DOC sign for the St James Walkway near BOEC |
The worst part was the 5 hours I spent walking around Mt Federation and up the Henry Valley: it was hot, dry and windy and sheer bloody torture. After walking 25 km's that day I was goddamn happy to eventually reach the hut that day.
What would I do differently next time?
I would love to walk this track again sometime in the future and there are a couple of things I might do differently next time...
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| St James Walkway: the Libretto Range from Anne Hut... |
1. Walk it in the opposite direction from BOEC to Lewis Pass...just for a different take on the track.
2. Stop at Christopher Hut for the night...walking from Anne Hut to Christopher Hut would be enough of a day for anyone. Walking all the way from Ada Pass Hut to Anne Hut is too far in one go.
3. Walk the track in Spring or Autumn as it was almost unbearably hot walking it in February...
4. Camp and not stay in the huts...you can camp anywhere along this track except near Ada Homestead...then you can walk a length of track each day that suits your own needs.
5. I would like to walk in from Boyle to Anne Hut and then traverse the rest of the Waiau Valley down to the St James Cycleway and over the mountains to Hanmer...
Why is this not a must do tramp for all New Zealanders?
Awesome trip and much recommended to all you Kiwis out there...it is a relatively easy 4-5 day tramp so put your boots on and give it a go!
Access: From SH 7 (Lewis Pass Highway, the track starts at Lewis Pass Tarns, southern terminus is at Boyle Village.
Track Times: Day three: From Anne Hut it is 6-7 hours to Boyle Flat Hut via Anne Saddle: Day four: From Boyle Flat Hut it is 4 hours to Boyle Village
Hut Details: Anne Hut: serviced, 24 bunks, water tanks, wood burner,
toilets, wood shed: Anne Cullers Hut: basic, 4 bunks, open fire, water from stream, toilet: Roxeby Hut: basic, 2 bunks, wood burner, water from stream, classic dog box out the back: Boyle Flat Hut: serviced, 20 bunks, water from
stream, wood burner, toilet, wood shed: Magdalen Hut: standard, 6 bunks, water tank, wood burner,
toilet, wood shed
Miscellaneous: Some un-bridged side streams. The walkway is in a high alpine area and as such is prone to extreme weather: snow, wind, heat and rain. Be prepared for extreme heat and cold at any time of the year.
