Cone Hut
Tararua Forest Park • Wairarapa
Alerts
NIWA weather risks
NIWA's Parks Weather site lists daily weather risks for the forecast point below.
Sorry, we can't show NIWA weather or alerts on this site. NIWA doesn't permit paid apps to do this.
Forecast point: Kime Hut (1400m) · 7.9km away
Check the DOC website for current alerts and conditions before you go. This site gets current alert info from DOC, but is not an official source of information.
- About
- This is a basic six-bunk hut in the Wairarapa region and is the second oldest hut in the Tararuas.
- Facilities
- Heating
- Toilets - non-flush
- Water from stream
- Water supply
About this hut
Cone Hut is the second oldest hut in the Tararuas. Built by New Zealand’s first tramping club, the Tararua Tramping Club, it is one of the best surviving examples of a ‘slab hut’ in New Zealand.
People have been visiting the Tararua Forest Park for a long time and the huts they built and used are an important link to the park’s history. Cone Hut was built using local totara timbers, adzed into framing and split into slab walls. This was a very rare form of construction by the 1940s.
By the early 1980s the hut had fallen into a state of disrepair. After assessing the heritage importance of the site and developing a plan, it was decided to rebuild the hut using the same construction method and materials as was done in 1946. The hut was restored by the Tararua Tramping Club with the assistance of DOC.
Situated in picturesque, mature forest adjacent to the Tauwharenīkau River, this rustic hut continues to be used and enjoyed by trampers and hunters.
Fees and bookings
Fees
Free
Getting there
Cone Hut is best accessed from Waiohine Gorge Road end.
Approximate times from nearest roads and huts
- Marchant Road end: 8–9 hr
- Waiohine Gorge Road end: 2 hr 30 min
- Tutuwai Hut: 1 hr
- Totara Flats Hut: 4 hr 30 min
- Alpha Hut: 3 hr
Tracks to this hut
Location
NZTopo50 map sheet: BP33
Grid/NZTM2000 coordinates: E1797244, N5459973
Nearby
Weather
Forecast at the hut