Lake Gault

A secret and very special place only known to true friends of the West Coast is the hidden lake, Lake Gault.

From the now popular and well trodden Lake Matheson scenic walk, there is a secret 'door in the bush' to the run down but still traceable scrambling one hour track, which leads up the ancient glacial moraine to the ancient world of podocarp forest and a lake left behind many eons ago when the glacier receded up towards the mountains.

Man did visit here, earlier last century when the lake and convenient slope were used to power the Fox Glacier power station, a tiny hydroelectric scheme, long since abandoned but with some of the equipment still in place.

Still a viable body of water, Lake Gault sits in silence atop the bush clad moraine, dark and glimmering with a depth and mystery even famous Lake Matheson cannot compete with. A couple of small clearings with fallen trees for seating are the only creature comforts for visitors to Lake Gault, unless they are introduced to, or stumble upon the secret rowboat.

The simple timber vessel which has long lost any sense of ownership or consideration of condition, is fit for two and no more, and may or may not be found stashed carefully in the undergrowth.

Bliss. But beware if the wind whips up, the lake is as fickle as any south island waterway and a swift norwester may push an unsuspecting boatie to the far end of the lake where there are no clearings and no track through the bush.

The return to the relative civilisation of Lake Matheson can be challenging as the rough track is easier to pick on the uphill, but there's no concern with being lost as the only way to go is down and if it is the right time of day Mike Brown's cows coming in for milking on the flat below could well provide an audio cue.

Despite it's obscurity, this lake featured on an equally obscure Fastway Postage Stamp.

In 2019 the 8km track was tidied up and officially re-opened.