From the car park, the track quickly leaves the farmland for the mossy still of the beech forest. The 12 bunk Triplex Hut is reached within five minutes, making it a suitable base for those arriving late in the evening. For everyone else, it marks the beginning of a 650m climb.

The track is brilliantly graded, zigzagging more than the topo map suggests as it gently climbs the ridgeline towards Buttercup Hollow. The gradient is consistent, but never demanding, and there are interpretation panels to point out flora and fauna along the track.

The hut is reached within three hours, perched in a small tussock basin behind windswept trees which shelter it from the wild westerlies. It has a large covered deck, generous east-facing windows and a woodburner.