Heaphy Track

The Heaphy Track is a popular tramping track in the north west of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located within the Kahurangi National Park and classified as one of New Zealand's nine Great Walks by the Department of Conservation. Named after Charles Heaphy, the track is 78.4 kilometres (48.7 mi) long and is usually walked in four or five days. The track runs from Kohaihai, north of Karamea on the northern west coast of the South Island to the upper valley of the Aorere River, inland from Golden Bay.

Māori tribes are known to have settled along the lower course of the Heaphy River as early as the 16th century. Evidence has been found that the area crossed by today's Heaphy Track had been explored in pre-European times by Māori seeking greenstone (pounamu) in the Gouland Downs sector.

The first visit to the area by persons whose names were recorded took place in 1846, when Charles Heaphy, Thomas Brunner and their Māori guide Kehu, supported by another guide Etau, explored the coastal sector of the track.

The first recorded crossing of the whole range approximately along today's was by a European gold miner named Aldrige in 1859. Another visit by James MacKay and John Clark took place the following year.

During and after the West Coast Gold Rush of the 1860s the area was extensively visited for gold and the track was definitely laid out by various prospectors and surveyors, among them JB Saxon in 1888. No gold was found in the area and after thirty years prospecting came to an end and by 1900 the track was virtually forgotten and became overgrown and seldom used except by an occasional hunter.

The creation of the North-west Nelson Forest Park in 1965, which became Kahurangi National Park in 1996, led to the rediscovery and improvement of the track.

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