Kelly Knight Hut, Ruahine Forest Park
The western Ruahine Range offers some exceptional tramping country, including the Pourangaki River, which drains some of the park’s highest mountains.
One of the area’s most accessible huts is Kelly Knight, reached on a good track. You see the eight-bunk hut well before you reach it; a white-walled haven perched on a pleasant terrace above the Pourangaki River. The hut is named after a local hunter and is popular with deerstalkers, especially during the autumn when the stags roar.
The route starts on a track through private farmland and leads to the Ruahine Forest Park boundary, where a benched trail to the hut begins through the bush.
Other routes include a high-level traverse past Purity Hut, over Wooden Peg, and down a steep track into the Pourangaki Valley. From Kelly Knight Hut there’s also a track that climbs steeply onto the northern end of the Whanahuia Range or a river-route upstream to Pourangaki Hut.
Subscribe and save 61% for the first five months
$2.50/per month
Gain instant access to all stories, trips and gear reviews for the super low price of $2.50/month (normally $6.50/month) for the first five months. You’ll also get the Wilderness Wildcard, which offers discounts at more than 20 partners around New Zealand.
Just choose a monthly website-only subscription and use coupon code ‘2fifty’ to receive this special price.
Or view all our subscription options.
Already a subscriber? Login Now.
Discount applies to the first five monthly payments after which time the subscription price will revert to the current $6.50/month. Cancel your next payment at any time in your ‘My Account’ page. NZ subscribers only receive WildCard.
- Distance
- 7km
- Total Ascent
- 414m
- Grade
- Easy / Moderate
- Time
- 3.5-4hr to hut
- Accom.
- Kelly Knight Hut ($5, eight bunks)
- Access
- Mangakukeke Road end. Permission required to cross Kohunui Station (P: 06 382 5577) well in advance. No access during the spring calving season. A large slip on the track, near the Wooden Peg track junction, can be avoided using a detour route.
- Map
- BL6
GPX File
- Kelly Knight Hut (gpx, 17 KB)
GPX File
- Your device does not support GPX files. Please try a different device.