Roaring Stag Hut 18 th – 19 th July 2026
The forecast was for a dry weekend as 6 of us made our way to Putara Road end for a relaxed overnight trip into Roaring Stag Hut. The track into the hut along the Mangatainoka river is a little worse for wear following the April 2025 storm. A large slip and fallen trees damaged sections of what was a well-formed track but it’s still easy enough to traverse.
We crossed the swing bridge and headed up to the junction at point 770, where we stopped for lunch knowing we had done our climb for the day! The afternoon was a gentle descent into the Ruamahanga valley, crossing 4 streams along the way. Some fancy footwork meant that we still had dry feet by the time we got to the hut.
We arrived around 3pm, and whilst it was still warm, we went out to gather firewood and restock the wood shed, then it was time for afternoon tea. I had packed in the ingredients to make gridle scones and seeing as the fire was glowing nicely, I cooked them on the top. There was much anticipation at the thought of freshly baked scones - with raspberry jam too.
Whilst we were waiting for the scones to bake, Liz produced cheese and crackers then collectively we realised we had 3 large bars of Whitakers chocolate - afternoon tea was quickly turning into a 3-course meal! …. There were mutterings of ‘not having room for dinner’ but that didn’t stop us!
Once the scones were ready, we refreshed our mugs of tea and enjoyed the ambience of a warm hut, great views, good company and full bellies.
As the afternoon turned into evening, a few more folks arrived until we had 12 people for 12 beds.
The evening was spent enjoying good conversation, quizzes and crosswords. We turned in around 9pm and everyone settled down.
It was a mild night and the hut was still pleasantly warm in the morning. We had a lazy start to the day and finally left the hut at 9.30am. We had decided that on the way back we would go in search of Hidden Lake. We walked back along the track until we reached the start of the ascent, then stashed our packs and navigated our way to the lake. Having found the lake we returned to retrieve our packs and head up to the junction at point 770.
Not long after we started back uphill on the track Tony, a club member, caught up with us. Tony had been up to Cattle Ridge for the night. He had hoped to catch us on the way out and we couldn’t have timed our return to the track better if we tried. Once at the top of the climb and the junction, we stopped again for lunch. Then it was just a hop and a skip down the track and back to the carpark before sundown..
Those on the trip were Nathan, Liz, David, Michelle, Monty and Gail (Trip Leader and Scribe)
