Nice chamois BC. There are still a few bits of helicopter near that saddle too.

tramper wrote on Sep 18^th, 2010 at 12:18pm:


Haycock is the other direction

Just remembered,  I left the Jam Hut in August for a bit of a trip up the Clarence. Wasn't meant to go beyond the Haycock saddle but being young and impetuous I got as far as Bluff Dump, and came back via the heads of the Limestone and Dubious,[just tents there back then]  Anyway cruising down the Jam and just about in sight of the hut and I thought to myself,hello the hillside looks pretty green. Then a sudden thought ,oh no I've burnt the bloody hut down. Round the bend,and phew,it's still standing, all around greenery and burnt manuka. hang on there is a thin column of smoke leaning out of the chimney, I approached the hut.
At the doorway I encountered a bewhiskered and rather irate field officer. ''And where have you been?'' he demanded. ''aah, flycamping between here and the Fidget Bill"' I said.  "' For six bloody weeks'' he replied, '' don't bullshit me, and  you put the fire out properly before you left?''  And so on and so on. I always put the ashes out and pour a few billys of water on them, guess I was one billyful shy. A good lesson.  [ I came very close to being sacked over that, only thing that saved me was I'd run into a few animals during my wander about]
For punishment I had to shoot the Clarence the following summer

Nice place was their much chamois there?

Nice to see some older memory's pop up, Bon, can you tell a few more please, and cooch i don't see you around here much any more, you must have a few stories with BC to tell   

Haycocks Bivy

2 Days Later

The Jam hut has a bit of history in that it was the first Forest Service hut to be located in the Kaikouras. About 1959[I think] The materials were dropped from the bomb rack  of a Cessna 180,I know it hadn't hadn't been there for long when I first used it.The windows were perspex and bunks  scrim sacking. Glen Alton Station were still grazing sheep out there at the time [about 3 or 4 hundred wethers], and also used the hut,although there was tentage rolled up and stowed on site as the location had been used by musterers,rabbiters,Gvt hunters etc for many years. Those who know the area will agree that there are not lot of options for hut sites in the Jam,as consideration had to given for fix wing airdrops which can be quite exciting in some of those tight watersheds.  There was/is a pack track out to the Jam and although it may be hard to follow now,as air dropping of supplies became the norm horses were no longer used. There were a surprising number of deer, right through the area. Surprising because it was  supposedly a winter goat block. We got ten bob for deer,but goats and pigs were 3/6. So no prize for guessing where my priorities lay.I heard later that one of the local runholders was less than thrilled  with the goat tally in comparison to the number of deer shot. I was  We had an airdrop  at the Point hut, the old Gibson hut,Calf saddle, and at the Jam.Four bags of food were dropped from a Domine at each hut, their terminal descent marginally slowed by  two WW1 army surplus officers hankerchiefs. A case of 303 ammo[750 rounds] and a bag of flour was free dropped at each location,and in a feat of pinpoint bombing accuracy in  the Jam, a bag of spuds and onions was also free dropped,closely followed by the case of ammo,and then by a bag of flour.The local  possums pigs,kea,rats etc had a week of feasting fun and frolics.