A simple, short day trip to a beautiful valley. Great trip for beginning packrafters, even after rain.
Want to experience this river guided? Packrafting Queenstown runs regular trips on the Rees.
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Rees Valley Track
Most 2WD vehicles with a bit of clearance can get up the Rees Valley Road, though there are a few stream fords which might be problematic for some vehicles. A good 4WD vehicle may be able to cross Muddy Creek itself, and drive to the River Flats.
After you cross Muddy Creek, you’ll descend a river terrace down to where it meets the river itself. This will be your take out point, so take note!
The way further up the valley begins up meandering 4WD tracks. There are lots of quite wet, swamp sections along the way, so its worth wearing your neoprene socks on the way in! At times the track traverses above small buffs where the river runs hard against the valley side.
Its about 1.5-2hrs to reach the 25 Mile Creek swingbridge, which is the normal start point.
Learn more about the Rees Valley track on the DOC website.
You could extend the trip by spending a night at Earnslaw Hut. 25 Mile and Big Devil Huts are privately owned by Rees Valley Station and are not for public use.
Rees River (I) from 25 Mile Creek to Muddy Creek
The braided river has a number of small wave trains between long flat sections. In normal flow, there might be a few shallow sections, requiring careful braid selection, or getting out and walking!
Depending on flows, its about an hours float back down. Take out just before you see the track climbing up a river terrace to Muddy Creek Carpark.
Gauge
Dart River at The Hilocks is the closest river to the Rees, which might help with assessing flows. Bear in mind that the Dart is a glacially fed river (unlike the Rees) so its flows will behave differently to rain fall.
After a good storm, its possible to float down from the Hunter Creek Confluence to Muddy Creek without any walking.
Below Muddy Creek, the gradient increases significantly: check out the info for the grade II/III run through to McDougals Ceek.