Mole tops

Anyone know what mole tops are like this time of year? Looking at doing a 3-4 day trip in November somewhere. Did consider the Leatham but my ute isn't set up for river crossings, my other option could be 1000 acre but am open to suggestions

Lovely up there any time of the year

Get up high
Animals will be on or just above bush edge and in the slips

No monkey scrub on Mole Tops just walk straight from bush edge to clear tussock

Good guy buster getting up there

Not too bad a walk if you go from the Murchison side

Mole tops is a great place. The walk to the Mole hut from Tutaki road up Jamisons is a really nice walk and not too hard.
You can get a reasonable way up the Leatham without crossing any major streams. It is a bit rough after the recent rain though and does get a lot of hunting pressure.
1000 acre is a magical place, not what I would call game rich though. I am going up there next week.
Any of those would be a cool places for an adventure.

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Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob

Not too bad a walk if you go from the Murchison side

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That would be the plan, its been on my list for a while

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Originally Posted by Happy Jack

That would be the plan, its been on my list for a while

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Take the ridge track not the valley one
It's a dry route but a lot easier under foot

Ridge track to Mole tops is easier. River track does require crossing and boulder hopping, I have shot deer and Chamios in the creek. Mole hut is a good shelter but it is better to tent in the bush. Some good sites on Jameson side or above Bull creek. The tops are lovely at this time of year.

Thanks Guys probably in a couple of weeks and yes will be tenting. I had heard the Jameson track was easier.

If you'd like to see some footage of the mole tops, the very first (very rough) video ever posted on the channel was up there in mid November 2021 :). Arved and I walked up Jameson, stayed in Mole hut for a couple nights and walked down the river. Shot a goose in the tops and saw a deer right next to the hut, not much else spotted from memory but we didn't really know what we were doing to be fair 😆.
https://youtu.be/knURyCTIRrE?si=h8eexxfTMxaCKYNj

Used to hunt up there 40 years ago :)

Thanks Tasman, I'll give it watch tonight.

My old man has a pic outside of the old mole hut. Him and his mate in a foot of snow beside the hut middle of January. Its a cool spot. Plenty of scope to do a loop track. Up Jameson ridge, along tops and then down another ridge to matakitaki valley before walking back to car park.

When I was a kid at Nelson College I went to Mataki Lodge a fair bit. There was a sign at the bottom of the Mole Tops track that said something like "Mole Tops, four hours steep grunt".

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Originally Posted by A-Bolt

When I was a kid at Nelson College I went to Mataki Lodge a fair bit. There was a sign at the bottom of the Mole Tops track that said something like "Mole Tops, four hours steep grunt".

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I took two Germans half my age up there hunting a few years ago.
We had plenty of water on board to go up the ridge track and get to the tarns just out of the bush and camp the night.

Well one wasn't as fit as he looked and it was painfully slow so we stopped at midnight well short of the tarns and now well short of water.
Slept OK but no water for breakfast so no COFFEE !
That's a bit of an issue with me.

Anyway at first light I just took off and got to the first tarn to make myself coffee and have a decent drink.
Eventually the other two arrived, filled water bottles, looked through their clear plastic bottles at little swimmers and silt and asked me " is this safe too drink ? "
My reply when I held up to my eye my alloy water bottle you couldn't see through, was " looks fine too me ! "

The next tarn 15 minutes up the track was nice and clean and cold and I did refill my bottle.

But it was a good joke at the time and we went on to have a great trip.
My mate Max shot a decent red stag ( for that area ), we had the entertainment of having a lightening bolt land within 100m of us, which is unforgettable and then getting a random text while walking along a ridge to tell me " come home urgent. Father in law has died. You need to make a coffin "

Anything can happen on The Mole Tops and it probably will

I broke out of the ridge track at 2030 in February, north island boy saw the sun on tusock for the first time, Wow!.5minutes later shot a yearling hind, x2 Wow.