Young Wilkin Part 1 Young to Kerin Forks

On New Year’s Eve, we set off from Makarora with 9 days of food in our packs to explore the Young and Wilkin Valleys. The day before, we had driven two cars up the Matukituki Valley. We intended to head into Mt Aspiring National Park at Makarora, go up the Young Valley, over Gillespie Pass, visit Lake Crucible and then go up the South Branch of the Wilkin River. We had never been up the South Branch and wanted to do another side trip to Lakes Lucidus and Castalia before walking to Waterfall Flat and over Rabbit Pass to the East Matukituki. This would be our last big training trip before flying to Montana to start the Pacific Northwest Trail in July.
This Part 1: Makarora to Kerin Forks Hut via Gillespie Pass & Lake Crucible
Day 1: Makarora to Young Hut
We had a jet boat booked to cross the Makarora River at 8am but we had to wait for a couple of hours for the river to drop. This gave us time for another coffee and pie from the cafe and to weigh our packs in the jet boat office. After our efforts to go lightweight, it didn't feel like good news to have 18kg and 19kg packs! Although our gear and clothes were light, we had 20m of rope for the descent from Rabbit Pass and 9 days of food. The walk in to Young Hut didn't feel as hard as when we had done it the previous year. Even with heavy packs, the steep ascent out of the main Young Valley was ok. We were either fitter or shaving 2 hours/10km off the day by cutting off the walk from Blue Pools helped. The hut only had 5 other people which was quite different from the 30 packed into the 20 bunk hut on our previous visit. We regretted our decision to not bring port as it was New Year's Eve.
Day 2: Young Hut to Siberia Valley
Happy New Year! We enjoyed the early morning walk to the Upper Young basin. The sun was just coming up and lighting up the peaks, which were mostly clear. We had a quick snack at the river and filled water bottles. There may be some water running down the hill on the way up, but the Young River is the last reliable water source until you have dropped well off the pass on the other side and have reached the bushline. Then it was time for the steep, steep ascent of Gillespie Pass - not fun with 16kg+ still in our packs. The climb to the pass took us two hours. We're never fast uphill and we were loaded down. After a quick lunch on the top, it was time for the descent. The Siberia side is not as steep initially but as we neared the bushline it was increasingly tougher on the knees. Mt Awful dominated the skyline to our right and we could see the side branch of Siberia Stream below. Finally, after another hour of steep clambering down through the bush, we popped out onto the flats of the Siberia Valley. We decided to camp under the beech trees just where the track flattens. The wind out in the open kept the sandflies away. We had swims in the stream but the next morning fiund a lovely little waterfall and pool to the left of where the track starts the ascent to the pass, behind some bushes. Just as we were relaxing, we discovered that I no longer had the mic on top of my camera. After a fruitless search up and down the track, we concluded that it had been lost somewhere up the hill. We out our boots back on and went back up. Luckily, it was only 7 minutes up. There had been a place where I had scrambled through some bushes rather than clambering down a drop and had been pulled off. It was great to find it but it was damaged and didn't do the best job for the rest of the trip.
Day 3: Campsite to Kerin Forks Hut via Lake Crucible
We had a cold river crossing to start the day as we headed up the Siberia Valley for Lake Crucible. Another step ascent out of the flat valley, thankfully this time without heavy packs. Lake Crucible was very busy with day hikers from Siberia Hut. It is the most stunning glacial blue. There was no ice floating on the lake, but it is still stunning. I had a swim and then we started the return trip as we had to still walk to Kerin Forks. We shouldered heavy packs again and headed down, past Siberia Hut, on the very easy track to Kerin Forks and the Wilkin Valley. To get to the hut, we had to cross the Wilkiin. This is not an easy crossing. You can cross in front of the hut, but only with some experience and very low river conditions. We headed downstream about 1km to where the river splits. It was still waist deep to cross, despite there being half the amount of water. We had the final 1km walk back up to the hut, only to find Scott from Makarora Trapping had been watching our dithering on the other side of the river and progress down, across and up it. It was good to yarn to him and learn more about the trapping in the valleys in the area.
Camera gear: Sony A7C, Sony FE 2.8/24 lens, Sony FE 4/pz16-35 lens, Sony ECM B-10 shotgun microphone, iphone 12, Photos by Matt Suddaby Edited on Final Cut Pro

[@KhurshidsChannel]

Beautiful video. Thanks for sharing. 👍2

[@taniaroberts7759]

Thank you for sharing. I plan to do this one day!

[@erindunebuggy9772]

Excellent......Keep on rolling.....❤️🌎😎

[@onefootinfrontoftheothernz]

Always!