The Greenstone and Caples Tracks form 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 ...

(hiking) circuit which is located in the South Island of New Zealand. Each track can be completed by itself and are linked by the McKellar Saddle while the loop also links to several other tracks including the

New Zealand Great Walk The New Zealand Great Walks are a set of popular tramping tracks developed and maintained by the Department of Conservation. They are New Zealand's premier tracks, through areas of some of the best scenery in the country, ranging from coastline ...

of the

Routeburn Track The Routeburn Track is a world-renowned, 32 km tramping (hiking) track found in the South Island of New Zealand. The track can be done in either direction, starting on the Queenstown side of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, a ...

as well as the Mavora Lakes Conservation Park tracks. All of these areas are part of the Te Wāhipounamu/South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area.

Ownership and access

The Caples Track follows the Caples River up the privately owned Caples Valley while the Greenstone Track follows the

Greenstone River The Greenstone River is a river in the Otago Region of New Zealand. It arises as the McKellar Branch in the Ailsa Mountains and as the Pass Burn in the Thomson Mountains, and joins the Caples River to flow into upper Lake Wakatipu. It is prob ...

in the Greenstone Valley which is also privately owned. Much of the area is owned by the local tribe of the

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...

while most of the tracks are in the Greenstone and Caples Conservation Areas with some also being a part of the Fiordland National Park around Lake McKellar. The whole track is open to public access as long as stock is not disturbed.

Huts

Image:Greenstone-Hut-in-the-morning.jpg, Greenstone Hut Image:McKellar Hut 4.jpg, McKellar Hut Image:Upper Caples Hut 2.jpg, Upper Caples Hut (private) There are three public huts on the tracks, the ''Greenstone Hut'', the ''McKellar Hut'' and the ''Mid Caples Hut''. There are also several private huts as well as some hunters huts: The ''Mid Greenstone Hut'' and the ''Upper Caples Hut''. Access to the Mavora Lakes Conservation Park is from the ''Greenstone Hut''. Access to the Routeburn Track is near ''McKellar Hut''.

References

External links

Department of Conservation
Hiking and tramping tracks in Fiordland Protected areas of Southland, New Zealand {{Fiordland-geo-stub