Fenian Track

Fenian Track starts a short distance north of Karamea. From Market Cross, head north on Ōpārara Road. Turn right onto Fenian Road, pass the quarry, and continue to the parking area at the road end.

From the car park, Fenian Track climbs the valley side on the true left of the Ōpārara River. The track originated as a bridle track constructed during the gold rushes of the late 1860s, and it’s still in good condition, for the most part being fully benched and well-graded. Passing through mixed beech and podocarp forest, the track sidles along the valley side, with the tannin-stained Ōpārara River tumbling through its boulder-strewn course some 50 m below.

After passing beneath Maloney’s Bluff, an exposed section with views up the valley, the track reaches the turnoff to the Fenian Caves Loop Track (see below). Shortly afterwards, it swings away from the Ōpārara River Valley, crosses Cavern Creek, and reaches the opposite end of the loop track. A bridge crosses Fenian Creek near the turnoff to the Fenian Creek Workings Track, before the track reaches its junction with the Ōpārara Valley Track (the Ōpārara car park is approximately 4 hr from here).

The Fenian Caves Loop Track is a 1.3 km loop track providing access to three caves: Miners Cave, Cavern Creek Cave, and Tunnel Cave. Be aware that the track is a much rougher grade than the main track. The 80 m-long Tunnel Cave forms part of the loop and can only be traversed with a torch. The loop track rejoins the main track a short distance further along from where it started. As Tunnel Cave descends from west to east, the loop is generally easier to complete in an anticlockwise direction.

An out-and-back side track follows Fenian Creek to the remains of historic gold workings established during the late nineteenth-century gold rush. Although Fenian Creek experienced a gold rush in 1869, the diggings proved only moderately productive and many miners soon moved on. A small mining community nevertheless remained, with intermittent activity continuing into the 1930s during the Depression-era revival of gold mining.

Beyond the Fenian Track-Ōpārara Track junction, Adams Flat Track continues through a relatively flat area for 2 km to Adams Flat, a small clearing that features a replica gold miner’s hut called Adams Flat Hut.

Adams Flat is named after Irish gold miner John Adam, who worked the area in the late nineteenth century. After several days complaining of headaches, Adams died in his hut on 2 March 1882, aged 49. His grave remains in the bush beyond the clearing, marked by a totara post, which is reportedly the original. Adams’ original hut is long gone, but the replica hut was built in 1999 and now stands at the edge of the clearing. Relics of the mining era survive beyond the clearing, including sluicing, a dam and water race. Allow an extra 1 hr 30 min to explore these features beyond Adams Flat.

Return the way you came.