The Copland Track is a

tramping Tramping may refer to: Travel *Hiking *Trekking *Tramping in New Zealand, a style of backpacking or hiking * Czech tramping, a Czech outdoors pastime Places * Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380, Saskatchewan, Canada ** Tramping Lake, Sas ...

track in the south

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila, ...

area of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, well known for the naturally-occurring

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

at Welcome Flat along its route. The main track is approximately long one-way from the trailhead at State Highway 6 to the track's inland end at the Douglas Rock Hut, and is usually completed in 2 to 4 days depending on whether the full distance is walked, with many opting to walk only as far as Welcome Flat. The track is the western portion of a longer path which historically connected the West Coast to

Mount Cook Village Aoraki / Mount Cook, often referred to as Mount Cook Village, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki/Mount Cook, in the So ...

via

Copland Pass The Copland Pass (el. ) is an alpine pass in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Known as Noti Hinetamatea by the indigenous Ngāi Tahu, the pass follows the route of the Makaawhio ancestor Hinetamatea and her sons Tātāwhākā and Marupeka. ...

, however erosion and the retreat of the Hooker Glacier has led to the eastern side of this route becoming increasingly dangerous to traverse.

History

The Copland Valley which forms the main route of the track has long been used by local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, who were aware of the pass at the head of the valley and would frequently visit the area to hunt

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recognize ...

and bathe in the hot pools. European exploration of the valley began in the late 19th century and was largely spurred on by development of

the Hermitage Hotel The Hermitage Hotel in Mount Cook Village, New Zealand, is a hotel located inside the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, north of Twizel. The current building is from 1958 and forms the main part of Mount Cook Village, being the only large buildi ...

. Explorers

Charlie Douglas Charles Edward Douglas (1 July 1840 – 23 May 1916) was a New Zealand surveyor and explorer, who came to be known as Mr. Explorer Douglas, owing to his extensive explorations of the West Coast of New Zealand and his work for the New Zealand S ...

and Arthur Harper were commissioned by the

Department of Lands and Survey The Department of Lands and Survey was a former government department in New Zealand that managed the administration of Crown land and its survey and mapping requirements. History Establishment The department was established in 1876 with the appo ...

to determine whether the valley would be a suitable location to develop a mule track between the village and the West Coast. Despite reports from Douglas and Harper both suggesting the conditions at Copland Pass and the Hooker Glacier made a trans-alpine crossing unsuitable, interest in the route persisted. Newspaper reports suggest that the route was "within 8 miles of the Hermitage" by July 1901, with the track open to tourists soon after. The discovery of natural hot springs along the route and photographic expeditions along the route added to government interest in the track, which was seen as a core aspect of opening the West Coast to tourism. Improvements to the track from the initial path continued to be made, first by the Department of Roads and later by the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

. By 1910, Welcome Flat could to be reached on horseback from the west, and by 1913 a hut was built at the Flat to accommodate overnight visitors.

Landslip Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

s in the late 1910s delayed the construction of further infrastructure on the track, and it was not until 1931 that the Douglas Rock Hut in the upper reaches of the valley was completed. Despite improvements to the track being made throughout the 1930s,

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and further adverse weather conditions caused it to fall into disrepair, with only infrequent use largely by deer cullers employed by the

Department of Internal Affairs The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), or in te reo Māori, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling law ...

. Following the establishment of

Westland Tai Poutini National Park Westland Tai Poutini National Park is a national park located on the western coast of New Zealand's South Island. Established in 1960 as Westland National Park to commemorate the centenary of the European settlement of Westland District, it ...

in 1960, maintenance and improvement to the track's infrastructure began on a piecemeal basis the bridge at Architect Creek was replaced in 1966, followed by upgrades to the swing bridge at Welcome Flat in the 1970s but it was not until the late 1970s that there was a sustained effort to improve the track's quality. Annual work on the track restored the original width and grade of the path, which in places had degraded to little more than a water course. In 1986 a new hut was constructed at Welcome Flat on the site of a former airstrip. The hut was soon moved from this site to a safer location, following a

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

which hit the hut just 13 weeks after it opened. The hut and facilities have continued to be renovated to cope with increasing interest in the track, with a booking system in place year-round to manage demand.

Route

Following the damage caused to the portion of the original track on the eastern side of the main divide by erosion and the retreat of the Hooker Glacier, the only entry point to the Copland Track is via the western trailhead at State Highway 6. Starting from this end, the traveller soon reaches a river crossing over Rough Creek which can be bypassed via a bridge roughly upstream, adding 1.5 hours to the journey. From this, the track continues for around in a south-east direction along the eastern bank of the

Karangarua River The Karangarua River is located in the west of New Zealand's South Island. It flows northwest from the Southern Alps, entering the Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situ ...

, before turning east to instead follow the

Copland River The Copland River is a river on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It flows for from its headwaters in the Southern Alps to its confluence with the Karangarua River. The headwaters of the Copland lie only northwest of Aoraki / ...

. As the track heads east, the terrain alternates between the riverbed of the Copland and tracks in the adjacent forest until it reaches the small Architect Creek Hut, roughly halfway between the trailhead and Welcome Flat. From Architect Creek, the track climbs along a narrow valley, reaching a high point of around shortly after the Shiels Creek bridge the highest point on the lower Copland Track. After this, the track continues in a gentle descent to Welcome Flat. In addition to the hut, Welcome Flat has a natural rock bivouac which is frequently used for shelter and a system of

which trampers frequently bathe in after walking the lower track. The upper Copland Track, which extends from Welcome Flat to the Douglas Rock Hut, is less well maintained and a tougher track. After crossing the Copland River at Welcome Flat and continuing on the south side of the river for the remainder of its length, the track passes through a series of grassy flats for roughly before a river crossing at Scott Creek. The track then progressively climbs again through forest with occasional crossings of

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

slopes, before reaching a swing bridge at Tekano Creek and the Douglas Rock Hut beyond. A difficult marked route to Copland Pass continues from Douglas Rock Hut, following the Copland River for a further before a steep climb up the Aroarokaehe Range to the pass.

Huts

File:Copland Track, New Zealand (37).JPG, Welcome Flat Hut File:Copland Track, New Zealand (24).JPG, Architect Creek Hut File:Douglas Rock Hut 60.jpg, Douglas Rock Hut File:Copland Shelter 0161.jpg, Copland Shelter, on the eastern side of Copland Pass There are three huts along the Copland Track, with a fourth day shelter just beyond the track on the eastern side of Copland Pass. Architect Creek hut is the first and smallest of these, roughly three hours into the walk. Built in 1975, it sleeps two and can often be damp. Welcome Flat Hut is the primary hut on the track, and is located near the hot pools of the same name. The hut was placed on this site in 1987 after being hit by a mudslide at its original location, just thirteen weeks after opening. Of all the huts on the track it has the best facilities, with a capacity of 31, solar panels, and a private room available. The Douglas Rock Hut is the final overnight hut on the track, situated in the upper Copland Valley near Tekano Stream. It has a capacity of eight people and is set in the upper reaches of the valley's forest cover.

References

{{Authority control Westland District Hiking and tramping tracks in the West Coast, New Zealand Westland Tai Poutini National Park