We’re always looking for an opportunity around this time of the year to head up into the Alpine and into the white powder. For this trip the Mole tops weren’t on our radar to start with, we were planning to head further up the Matakitaki valley and to try to get to the Summit of Mount Ella itself. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side, with only one mediocre clear day forecast for our 3 day weekend trip.
The Mole tops are already familiar to us as we spent a bit of time up there a year or so ago during summer with a friend from Australia as part of a longer trip in Nelson Lakes National Park.
Thursday evening we set off from Nelson to get to Gowan Valley Backpackers, our aim was to get to the immediate area early to give us loads of time to relocate the vehicle to the end carpark and then hike up the Mole stream and find a camping spot.
The weather forecast wasn’t looking ideal and it didn’t waiver when we hit Mole stream the waters of which were swollen by the rain and discoloured by a larger landslip upstream.. The Mole track is marked as track on the maps, but to be honest a fair amount of the track beside the stream has been washed away, so a good 4km is a route in the stream bed, which is reasonably hard going as you are walking mainly through flood debris. If the water is up significantly you’ll need to skirt around the usual stream crossing by taking short detours through the forest on either side.
We’d planned to camp somewhere up at the top of Mole Stream, but we were so soaked by the rain we decided to take refuge for the night in the Mole Hut. Mole Hut is a pretty basic affair with no fireplace, but still a welcome home for the night. The cool nighttime temperatures were countered by some winter-weight sleeping bags. Once warmed up and fed for the evening, we then drifted off for a sound sleep.
By Morning the rain had stopped, it was still quite overcast although not a breath of wind. From Mole hut there’s a couple options to get to the Mole tops themselves. You can wander gently up to Mole Saddle and then follow the prominent ridge up , or just go straight up through the beech forest at the back of the hut to reach the prominent ridge. The ridge up looks more daunting than it actually is , and it doesn’t take long to reach the top.
The weather was almost clear on the tops , with a low pall of low cloud lingering on the higher peaks. It’s pretty easy going once you are up high with a clear route following the crescent shape of the leading alpine ridge. We soon came across the tarn where my friend and I had camped in summer, its visage now different due to its frozen nature.
From here we crossed into the second Mole tops Basin , which still held a fair amount of snow on its slopes , this time instead of staying on the ridge we descended into the basin to visit the larger frozen alpine tarns. These slopes still have lots of winter visitors from deer and chamonix as the fresh prints in the snow attested to.
From here we had planned to summit Mount Watson , but the weather was still on the move and we would have probably not seen much from the top in the low cloud, instead we descended from the tops into Watsons creek itself. It was still quite early in the day, but rain was due in the afternoon and we were pretty keen to get an early camp set up on the edge of the bushline and get a fire going to warm us before the weather relegated us to the tent.
The campsite at the bushline on Watsons creek is a pretty idyllic spot that affords you views back up the valley towards the snowy alpine tops. Funnily enough the hut that used to be here ” Watsons Hut” was relocated and became Mole Hut.
The weather set in early and we were glad of our decision to abandon the Mount Watson ascent, after warming ourselves and cooking on the fire we settled into our sleeping bags as the rain increased.
Morning was very wet, which didn’t bother us too much as we have a larger pyramid style tent which allows you ample room to pack and cook inside the tent. All packed we said a quick thanks and goodbye to our awesome campsite and headed down Watson creek.
The 1st part of Watsons creek in my eyes is the best, Alpine beech forest is matted with moss and the stream tumbles relentlessly over larger boulders on its way down to the lower slopes. The middle section of the trail/route is a little bit trickier owing to a few slips that need bypassing there. The last pertion down Waysons creek is on the alluvial tailings on the creek and is a fairly flat affair through forest until you reach the Quad bike track that adorns the lower Matakitaki route. It was a reasonable plod from there to get back to the carpark. We sparked up the cooker under the info kiosk for a final hot drink and changed into some dry clothes before heading back to Nelson
A 3 day trip makes a lot of sense to knock off this route , in better weather you could easily spend an entire day visiting all the tarns on the tops, and also in better weather you’d be better off to camp up high instead of using Mole hut. There are 2 prominent basins on the Mole tops both affording great camping opportunities in good weather, I’d probably recommend taking a fairly sturdy tent as the tops are quite exposed in general. The uppermost tarn in the 1st Basin would be my pick, as it’s so close to the ridge that you can take a few steps from your tent and get great views back down the valley.
Watsons creek is another great campsite… hard to explain… just a super idyllic location between the mossy forest and the alpine tussock
I’d thoroughly recommend this as a great way to easily experience the Alpine tops of Nelson lakes National park. Due to its nature, it’s pretty easy to get back to your car doing the loop which makes it logistically easy.
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