The majority of the track is in river valleys and under forest cover, with small sections in tussock land at Stag Flat and the Little Wanganui Saddle.

In 1887, the Public Works Department constructed a packhorse track with grades suitable for carts, from Kiwi Stream to the Wangapeka Saddle.

He inspected the rest of the proposed route to the West Coast, and estimated that a packhorse track could be completed from Wangapeka to Little Wanganui for £3,500.

However, further work was completed, cutting a track through open tussock to the area now known as Stag Flat, and then in a zig-zag up the steep section to Little Wanganui Saddle.

[1] Settlers in the Little Wanganui area wanting to graze livestock inland requested the construction of a track to open up the interior for farming.

A route inland from Little Wanganui was surveyed in 1894 and 3 mi (4.8 km) of packhorse track was cut, using unemployed men from the Mohikinui mine.

Work progressed slowly, but by 1899 there was 4.5 mi (7.2 km) of cart road, and a pack track up the north bank of the Little Wanganui River to the gorge.

[1] The Murchison earthquake on 17 June 1929 was a magnitude 7.3 event that caused widespread damage across the upper half of the South Island and led to 15 fatalities.

The earthquake created large and widespread landslides that caused severe damage to the track,[5] and destroyed the sections of the route across the slopes of Mount Zetland to the west of the Little Wanganui Saddle.

The work was funded from a government scheme established during the economic depression of the 1930s to subsidise unemployed men to revisit old gold mining areas.

Along with some other miners, in 1935 King built a small slab hut near the junction of the south and north branches of the Wangapeka River.

The Forest Service started on a programme of work to promote recreation in the park, including cutting new tracks and building huts.

[16] In 1915, a deputation from Nelson lobbied William Fraser, the Minister of Public Works, about the need for a Wangapeka–Karamea road to enable stock to be moved between the regions.

[19][20] In 1968, the idea was proposed again, but the Minister of Works stated in a letter to the South Island Publicity Association: "The cost of constructing and maintaining a road over the high passes on the Wangapeka route and through badly faulted earthquake shattered country would be prohibitive".

[22] The idea was raised again in 2015 by the mayor of Buller as a means of boosting the West Coast economy in response to the decline of the coal industry.

The majority of the track is in river valleys and under forest cover, with small sections in tussock land at Stag Flat and the Little Wanganui Saddle.

The eastern end of the track starts in the Wangapeka River valley 84 km (52 mi) south-west of Nelson, close to a campsite known as Siberia.

The track ascends steeply to the Wangapeka Saddle, under forest cover at an elevation of 1,009 m (3,310 ft), before descending into the Karamea River headwaters.

[10] The track is rated as medium difficulty by Barnett (2006),[28] and is described by the Department of Conservation as challenging, requiring backcounty experience, above-average fitness and survival skills.