Hawdon-Edwards Classic

A popular 2-3 day tramping route that crosses the main divide (twice) albeit briefly, and is a rewarding run in fine weather, with plenty to see along the way: rivers, low alpine passes, tarns, mountains, bush and two huts. There's a 22km bike ride back to the car.

Have run this several times (in both directions), and it's debatable which way around is best. But the bike ride is best from the Edwards end, especially if it's north-westerly, so it's described that way here.

Drop a bike at/near Greyney's shelter, and drive to the Hawdon valley car park. A trail leads north from the car park through a short section of bush and down to cross the Hawdon. Follow the marked trail (which crosses the river twice more higher up) leading with little fuss to the new Hawdon hut. The trail then climbs steeply up through bush then scrub to a scenic viewpoint well above the Twin Fall Stream, and then drops down to it in a scrubby hanging valley and leads up to the tarn at Walker Pass (this section is fairly slow going, keep a eye out for markers). Once you leave Walker Pass you're on the West Coast following the upper Otehake River, but only for a short distance (1km at most) where you turn left up the long gently sloping side valley that leads up to Tarn Col. The views from the tarn near Tarn Col are superb, especially of Mt Franklin. To descend Tarn Col there's a steep scree descent just to the south of the Col; in the reverse direction climb steep scrub by the waterfall. This brings you down to Taruahuna Pass, a large expanse of broken rock that fell off nearby Falling Mountain, and which requires some care till you pick up the faint and runnable cairned trail. From here, begin the long and pleasant trip down the scenic Edwards Valley to the Edwards Hut. The track then continues on the left of the river before making a grunty traverse in the bush above the river. Once you've dropped back down and passed the Edwards River east branch it's all plain sailing and cruisy running out to the road.