DOC huts in West Coast

Tramping to DOC huts in West Coast

The West Coast has 140 DOC huts with 885 bunks, and more than half of them are basic huts or bivvies: 74, against 51 standard huts, 8 serviced huts, 4 serviced alpine huts and 3 Great Walk huts. Free and paid huts are almost level, 68 free and 70 with a fee.

The areas with the most huts are river catchments rather than national parks. The Kokatahi River - Whitcombe River area has 29, the Kelly Range – Styx River area 19, and the Ahaura River and Lake Brunner catchments area 12. In the Kokatahi and Whitcombe, Cedar Flat Hut and Frew Hut are standard huts with 12 and 10 bunks at $10. Dillon Hut and Grassy Flat Hut in the Kelly Range area have 10 bunks each at the same rate.

Welcome Flat Hut in Westland Tai Poutini National Park has the most bunks at 31, a serviced hut that shows a fee without a rate. The same park holds serviced alpine huts: Centennial Hut with 20 bunks and Pioneer Hut with 12, both with a fee, and Chancellor Hut with 12 at $25. Almer Hut in the Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere area is another, 12 bunks at $25.

The 3 Great Walk huts are in Paparoa National Park. Moonlight Tops Hut lists $50 to $78 a night for NZ residents and $50 to $117 for international visitors, the top of the region's $10 to $117 range. Pororari Hut lists $50 to $61 for residents, and Ces Clark Hut $50 for residents. In the Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve, Cannibal Gorge Hut and Kōhanga Atawhai – Manson Nicholls Hut have 20 bunks each at $10 to $25.

Nearly every hut lists mattresses, 135 of the 140, while heating appears at 94. With 71 huts drawing water from a stream, a way to treat or boil it belongs in the pack. DOC bookings are needed at 11 huts. The data lists 15 huts within 3 hours of a road, and the region also has 14 DOC campsites.