Old Ghost Road hiking guide: route map, stages & where to stay

The Old Ghost Road is an 85 km backcountry trail in the Buller District of New Zealand's West Coast, on the South Island. It runs from the old gold-rush town site of Lyell in the Upper Buller Gorge to Seddonville on the Mōkihinui River, near the Tasman Sea. It follows the line of a 19th-century miners' dray road that was never finished, and it was rebuilt as a single track for both trampers and mountain bikers by the Mōkihinui-Lyell Backcountry Trust, a volunteer charity. Most trampers walk south to north in 4 nights and 5 days. You sleep in booked huts, so you carry food and a sleeping bag but no tent.

The route

From Lyell the trail climbs steadily through beech forest on the old benched dray road to Lyell Saddle Hut at 875 m. Day 2 climbs through cloud forest onto the open tops and follows about 6 km of ridge to Ghost Lake Hut, the highest hut at about 1,200 m. Day 3 drops almost 800 m along the Skyline ridge and down the Skyline Steps, about 60 m of stairs, to Stern Valley. Day 4 is the longest: past the twin lakes Grim and Cheerful, through the boulder field called the Boneyard, over Solemn Saddle and down into the Goat Creek catchment, then through tall podocarp forest past Goat Creek and Mōkihinui Forks huts to Specimen Point. The last day follows the Mōkihinui River gorge on a firm, rocky trail to the northern trailhead at Seddonville.

This guide follows the route mapped on OpenStreetMap and splits it into 5 stages, about 15.9 km each, ending at the four huts the trust recommends for trampers. The mapped line is about 80 km, a little shorter than the official 85 km, because the zigzags on the Lyell climb are drawn smoothly. If 25 km is too long for day 4, stay at the free DOC huts at Goat Creek or Mōkihinui Forks and take 6 days.

Highlights

• Lyell: the gold-rush town site and the Croesus stamping battery near the start
• Lyell Saddle to Ghost Lake: the open tops and the view over Ghost Lake from the hut deck
• The Skyline Steps and Stern Valley: a steep, narrow ridge and a quiet valley floor
• Lake Grim, Lake Cheerful and the Boneyard: earthquake country in the Earnest Valley
• The Mōkihinui: podocarp forest, 21 main bridges and the long gorge to the sea

When to go

The trail is open all year, but the best months are October to April: the days are long, the summer sleepouts are open (September to May) and the Rough and Tumble Bush Lodge serves food. About 13 km of the trail is above 1,000 m. Snow can settle on the tops and block the trail, and snow, heavy rain and freezing temperatures are possible in any month. Winter is cheaper but only for experienced, well-equipped parties. Wasps are common in the lower beech forest from January to April, and sandflies are everywhere.

How hard is it?

DOC grades it advanced. The surface is firm and well built, but you need to be fit enough to walk up to 8 hours a day and to have some backcountry experience; the trust says it should not be your first New Zealand tramp. The hardest walking is the climb to Lyell Saddle, the Skyline Steps and the long day 4. You share the trail with mountain bikers, who can come fast round blind corners: listen, keep to one side and step aside where it is safe.

Booking and fees

Book all nights in the trust huts on the Old Ghost Road website before you go: Lyell Saddle (10 bunks), Ghost Lake (18), Stern Valley (10) and Specimen Point (14). Each also has two private summer sleepouts for up to 4 and one tent site for 2. Through-users pay a flat fee for 1 to 4 nights: $160 per person for a hut bunk, $360 per sleepout or $50 per tent site (2026 prices, NZ dollars), with a discount in winter. Trust huts have gas cookers, cookware, mattresses, rainwater and composting toilets. Goat Creek (4 bunks) and Mōkihinui Forks (10) are basic DOC huts: free, first come, first served, with no gas or cookware. Cancellations made less than 72 hours before your start get no refund.

Getting there and away

Westport is the base town: Lyell is 62 km away on SH6, about 50 minutes by car, and Seddonville is 50 km north on SH67. Murchison is 35 km east of Lyell. The two trailheads are about two hours apart by road, so most people use a shuttle or car relocation from an official partner such as HikenBike in Seddonville, Buller Adventures or Go Tracks. InterCity buses between Nelson and Westport pass Lyell, but the trust cannot guarantee them. Lyell Campsite (DOC) must be booked. At the northern end you can stay at the Rough and Tumble Bush Lodge at the trailhead, in Seddonville or at Mōkihinui on the coast.

Money and phone signal

There are no shops, ATMs or card machines on the trail or at Lyell. Buy food and fuel in Westport or Murchison. Seddonville has a small shop at the hotel. Mobile coverage is very limited or absent for almost the whole trail, so you cannot count on your phone to call for help.

What to pack

A warm sleeping bag; food for 5 days plus a spare day; full waterproofs, warm layers, hat and gloves even in summer; sturdy boots and walking poles; a torch; water bottles for at least 2 litres, because there is no water on the tops between huts and none on day 3 until Stern Creek; a stove, fuel and toilet paper if you might use the DOC huts or a tent site; sandfly repellent and antihistamines; an emergency shelter, first aid kit and a personal locator beacon (PLB); and your printed booking confirmation.

Safety

In an emergency call 111 and ask for the Police. The four trust huts have an emergency phone that connects to NZ Police; elsewhere use a PLB. Several creeks are unbridged and can flood after heavy rain, notably Irishman's Creek about 4 km from Lyell and Goat Creek beside its hut: never cross a creek in flood, wait for it to drop. Watch for rockfall and slips after rain or an earthquake, and stay behind the barriers at the Croesus battery, where the old workings held cyanide. Check the trail status and the Ghost Lake forecast before the tops, and be ready to wait a day in a hut.

History

Gold was found in the Lyell area in the early 1860s, and a dray road was built from the town of Lyell towards Lyell Saddle. A second road ran up the Mōkihinui River from Seddonville, and in 1886 a route was surveyed to join them, but it was never built. The 1929 Murchison earthquake and the 1968 Inangahua earthquake destroyed much of what remained. Work on the new trail began at Lyell Saddle in 2009. After Meridian Energy cancelled its plan to dam the Mōkihinui River in 2012, crews could finish the trail through the gorge. The name comes from that forgotten "ghost" road.