Image: Baptiste Maryns | ©
Person on Lake Daniell Track.
Lake Daniell Track

Located in Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve in the West Coast region

This is a great walk for families with young children or those people new to tramping. The track is a well formed bench track that can also be completed as a day walk.

Lake Daniell Track begins from the shelter at Marble Hill Campsite. From the campsite shelter, the track enters the trees and soon crosses the Maruia River over a deep, narrow gorge called the Sluice Box. From the Sluice Box the track continues up the Alfred River. The track passes through spendid red beech forest until it reaches the lake edge and the Kōhanga Atawhai – Manson Nicholls Hut.

The track starts at Marble Hill Campsite, 5 km east of Springs Junction on the Lewis Pass Highway (SH7). Turn off the highway onto a gravel road and drive several hundred metres till you come to a shelter on the left hand side.

Note that the 4WD track and hut on Station Creek/Sherriff River, 1.5 km north of the head of Lake Daniell, are located on private land. Access to this section of the track is only possible via Station Creek with permission from the landowners.
  • Mountain biking is not permitted on this track. 
  • Wasps can be common between December to April. Carry antihistamine if you are allergic to their stings.

On the track to the lake you may encounter tomtit, rifleman, robin, tūī, fernbird, silvereye, grey warbler, bellbird, and even kākā or kākāriki.

Lake Daniell is within the Maruia Waka Huia special biodiversity area. Keeping the many rare wildlife and plant species of the Maruia area safe from introduced predators requires a massive conservation effort.

You may encounter some of the many predator traps along the way that are part of this effort.