It’s lovely at the top but it’s almost entirely covered by trees, which is fine but after doing a few walks here I would like a bit of a view ...

we started at the DOC campsite and it took 6 hours of back country bush bashing and dodgy hops and balances with no view to reach the sugar loaf pass. We followed a crystal clear river almost right to the top which was nice. We camped up the pass - not many hard spots but we found one - make sure to double triple check the weather first. It’s lovely and beautiful and silent! But I imagine the weather can be harsh - we woke to ice on our tent. Most people camp at theatre flat I think. Super quiet walk, only saw two people in the morning. The walk down was lovely, to the routeburn car park. Just a two hour amble down an easier track with luscious mossy green atmosphere and a beautiful river water fall spot. If it weren’t for the really difficult 6 hour beginning I’d recommend it - maybe start at the other end and walk to sugar loaf then theatre flat. We didn’t go to theatre flat because we were fed up of the path!

Reviewed almost 6 years ago