If you are planning a trip to Totara Flats Hut in the Tararua Range, you have likely seen the alert for the Waiohine Gorge Track. DOC notes that there is no longer access to pass above a large active slip about 1 km downstream from the flats. They claim that the only access past the slip to Totara Flats Hut now requires walking upstream on the riverbank, and that this will be impassable during high river flows. Because DOC warnings are generally conservative, I decided to head in and investigate the slip firsthand. If you are weighing the Holdsworth route against the Waiohine Gorge Totara Flats Track, here is my on-the-ground findings on what you will actually face.
Totara Flats Waiohine Gorge Track
There are two main tracks into Totara Flats in the Tararua Range: from Mt Holdsworth Road, and the Waiohine Gorge Road. DOC gives the walking time to Totara Flats Hut from Holdsworth as 5 to 6 hours, and from Waiohine Gorge as 4½ hours.
The Holdsworth route climbs 500 m up the Gentle Anne Track on an easy, well-formed track, before dropping 600 m reasonably steeply in places on a well-marked and maintained tramping track. The Holdsworth route is regarded as all-weather track with bridges over all side streams
The Waiohine track follows the river all the way to the hut with only short climbs, but the track can be muddy and slow in places. However, the Waiohine route passes under an active slip about 1 km downstream from the flats, and this can cause problems during or after heavy rain.
In fine weather and with a normal river flow this slip is easily passed by simply walking for approximately 100 m along the riverbank. However, with high water levels after heavy rain the riverbank will be underwater and impassable.
Until late 2024 there was a marked tracked that climbed mostly above the slip—and while annoying and requiring extra time it did provide a reliable means to bypass the riverbank section and so provide a way past the slip.
But as at June 2026 there is a DOC alert for the track that states this bypass track is now inaccessible, which means the Waiohine Gorge route to Totara Flats will be impassible during or after heavy rain when the river is flowing at a high level. Given that DOC is often (understandingly) conservative with its warnings I decided in March 2026 to go and take a look at the slip for myself and the following is what I discovered.
Getting personal with the Waiohine Gorge Totara Flats Track slip
I walked into Totara Flats via the Holdsworth Track (my preference, even if longer than the Waiohine Gorge Track, simply because there is more variety in the possible views available) and continued down the flats to the slip.
Walking along the riverbank under the slip to the downstream side was very straightforward even without a marked trail. Looking up at the slip gave me the impression that the scarp crest was unstable and recently active, and perhaps loitering on the riverbank would not be a particularly sensible idea.
I expected that the orange triangles marking the bypass track would have been removed by DOC and this seemed to be the case. However, with some sleuthing I found the downstream beginning (Waiohine Gorge side) of the track and followed it uphill, noticing that only the uphill triangles had been removed for about 100 m while beyond this all the markers were still in place.
I decided to follow the track and just see where it took me and why it was now deemed impassible.
Following the markers was relatively easy to begin with. It was an easy climb to gain 100m of height above the track. After this the track sidled across a small gully where there was a lot of treefall that slowed us down – climbing over and under the large trees before we got ensnared in dense supplejack vines that took a long time to untangle ourselves from. It was slow and very frustrating. We lost the markers after this but suspect the original bypass track had climbed higher around the edge of the slip before sidling across as we could still see a couple of track markers on posts, completely askew and clearly not marking any sensible trail now.
I was about 50 m below the top of the scarp and there were obvious signs of fairly recent rock slides. I believe the slip has increased since the map was last updated and has swallowed up more of the hill since.
We dropped down to the 260m contour line and crossed the slip there. It was easy enough to get onto the slip. Navigating across the slip required a bit of care as it could be easy to slide on it (mindful that the scarp crest looked even more unstable this close up) and I wouldn’t recommend it for inexperienced trampers, particularly in wet weather.
After climbing off the slip, we easily found markers on the other side amongst some toetoe grass. Again, there was more supplejack that required a great deal of patience before we started descending back to the river on a relatively easy and well-marked track. We did notice that there is still a track marker on a tree to indicate the start of the bypass track at the Totara Flats end, but it is easy to miss as it is faded and covered by moss so would likely only be found by people really looking for it.
So, clearly it was still possible to bypass a flooded riverbank and get past the slip—but would it be sensible on a tramping trip, in the rain with a flooded river, either by going my route, or climbing completely above the slip?
And my answer is NO to both.
- My route was okay in fine weather—but during or after rain the slip appeared to me to offer the very real risk of rockfall (as also noted by DOC) and not worth taking the chance. I would allow 1.5-2 hours for the route we took.
- Climbing completely above the slip—but this would be pushing an average tramping party to the limits given the difficulty I had bashing through a relatively short section of untracked bush, and my estimate is that it would add another 2-3 hours to the time to the hut.
So, I agree with DOC’s warning that there is now no access to safely pass the slip when the river is covering the riverbank—unless perhaps you are a hardcore Tararua tramper prepared to bushbash completely above the top of the slip.
The logical alternative to battling with the slip during or after heavy rain when the Waiohine River may be flowing over the riverbank is to simply use the all-weather Holdsworth route, or if heading to the flats via the Waiohine Track then turn around.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
[Last updated 16 June 2026]