The track starts just off SH73 on the true left of Harrington Creek. Vehicles can be left off the highway on an old section of road in the paddock next to the creek. It is courteous to check in with the landowner (first house to the west).

At the end of the old road go through the gate and head up outside of the fenceline for around 800m to a permolat marker that points to the bush. The track follows the true left of Harrington Creek for 10 minutes then crosses it, and a steep climb begins. Fill water bottles here as this is the last water until the tarns on the tops.

Permolat volunteers have done considerable work clearing the route. At times it can be indistinct due to windfall but watch for the permolat markers and pink flagging tape. It’s a steady two hour climb to a track junction at a small clearing at Pt974. Turn right here towards Wilson Knob. As the bush is left, there’s a lovely dracophyllum arbor and then the first of the magnificent views down the Taramakau Valley with Mt Turiwhate ahead. Climbing a little further through more scrub reveals the Tara Tama Range and Razorback Ridge on one side and Hohonu Range on the other.

Veer left onto the tussock tops before Pt1126 and look for the pink tape colouring the way over easy-travelling tussock sections, which are interspersed by a series of short scrubby areas up to Wilson Knob. Generally, the best route is to the right. Nothing is too difficult, but the pink tape markers show the most efficient route, in particular the last steep scramble up to Wilson Knob. Keep a keen eye out for the cut branches and pink tape. The scrub through this section likes to claim any unsecured items from the outside of your pack. Beware.

From Wilson Knob, tops travel is undulating and easy, with predominantly low grasses and a good animal trail along the ridgeline. There’s a scrubby section where the tops narrow above a slip. There are several routes but the most efficient is alongside the edge, but not too close as the drop-offs are precipitous, and the scrub can disguise how close you really are to a fast exit. 

Once out of the scrub, angle left past historic mining relics scattered all the way to the rock outcrop. In 1912 this outcrop was claimed to be a kind of ‘King Solomon’s Mine’. Geologists had long thought there was a parent lode of greenstone somewhere in these ranges of the West Coast. Further investigation found the bulk of the available stone to be serpentine which was of great value for building purposes. Much of the stone was exported to Germany for use as building facades. The mine was short-lived as most of the principals in the mining company were German and were interned during the First World War.

You’ll pass steel rope from a cableway that sent huge blocks of serpentine 1000m to the valley floor, remnants of pylons and foundation stone, winches that used to drag cut slabs from the rock face and other mining relics.

After exploring the area, it is an easy 30min climb to the summit of Mt Griffin where the views are distracting.

This is a long day trip, so it is worth camping at one of the tarns along the route and  watching the sun set over Mt Turiwhate and rise over the Alps.