Twig Adventures

February 10th Blue Lake Hut (km2025) – Anne Hut (km2067) Mileage: 26.1mi/42km I have an illness. It makes me want to walk for 14 hrs straight, soaking up as much of the most spectacular scenery that I can pack into one day. And I may have passed this illness onto others, who, truth be told, were probably already infected. We all have the Walking Fever. It’s not quite the same as the Walking Dead, because we’re pretty good at crossing water. And we feed off chocolate, granola bars, and caffeine, not brains. But I felt just about dead by the end of this day. I did one of the hardest climbs on the trail, then walked another 26 kms in[…]

February 9th Upper Travers Hut (km2009.5) – Blue Lake Hut (km2025) Mileage: 9.6mi/15.5km plus 3km walking to and from Lake Constance. I found the motivation to get an early start today…anxious to get away from a noisy hut. People were apparently up talking until 11:30 pm, at which point one TA hiker asked them to kindly shut up. Thru-hikers almost always go to bed early since they are always tired. I was thankfully asleep through all this since I had wisely donned earplugs and taken a benadryl. But the snoring roused me in the morning, by which time I had to get up to alleviate my bladder anyways. I was happy to see it was already 5 am…I had slept[…]

February 7th Hunters Hut (km1941) – St Arnaud (km1980) Mileage: 24mi/39km Today was another day of great weather so I decided to make the most of it by putting in a huge effort. Yes, I was already feeling a bit worn from the 4 previous hard days. I probably should have just stayed at the last hut but some rain was forecasted for late Saturday through Sunday and I am already thinking ahead to the next section. There are a couple of big passes and river crossings that would be great to get through while the weather is so nice. I left the hut around 7:40 am, even though I swear each day that I am going to get an[…]

February 6th Tarn Hut (km1917) – Hunters Hut (km1941) Mileage: 15mi/24km Well, I got one perfect day in the Richmond Range, so I am a most happy and grateful camper. It looked like it might be another mixed bag when I set off from the hut at 7:40 am. I was flying solo, as everyone else was taking different routes or paces. The wind was still a bit strong and it was partly cloudy. A short climb warmed me up right away. The route called for a descent into the Wairoa River valley, then following the river up to the headwaters below the red hills, then a traverse over another alpine section. I made it down to the river in[…]

February 5th Slaty Hut (km1896) – Tarn Hut (km1917) Mileage: 13mi/21km This day involved a little bit of everything these rugged mountains have to offer. I was first surprised when I went outside early morning to use the bathroom. The moon and stars were out…clear skies! They held until dawn and I was quite excited when I left the hut at 8 am. It was also quite cold…low 50’s and maybe into the 40’s overnight. Everyone left around the same time and I matched Brian’s pace, since his pack is even smaller than mine. He is from Seattle, WA and did most of the PCT. He is just doing a quick stop in NZ on his way home from Asia.[…]

February 4th Rocks Hut (km1871) – Slaty Hut (km1896) Mileage: 15.5mi/25km It was one of those mornings where I didn’t want to get out of bed. It was quite cold and drizzly. We all left the hut kind of late around 8:30 am. I started out in my rain gear, then popped the umbrella. I stay so much warmer when I can leave it up. One of my clips got ripped off during the ferry ride but I am still able to rig it to my pack. We went through an open section of tussock but got nothing but “inside-of-a-ping-pong-ball” views. At the bottom of the trail, Dan had decided to walk out towards Nelson. He is missing his mate[…]

February 3rd Pelorus Bridge (km1839) – Rocks Hut (km1871) Mileage: 20mi/32km It was a great day where I felt my energy levels were really high. It probably just had to do with the temps being so much cooler. When I woke up, I actually put my down puffy on. It was hard to strip to my hiking clothes…and this was in town. The mountains may reach the single digits…celsius. That is into the 40’s…cold. What was I just saying about not needing my warmer quilt? I set off to get a ride back to the Pelorus bridge around 8:30 am. I waited about 10 minutes as there wasn’t much traffic. I started working up my positive thinking. Today it would[…]

February 2nd Havelock (km1818)- Pelorus Bridge (km1839) Mileage: 13mi/21km Several factors made my decision to slack-pack today an easy one. One, my package of extra food had not yet arrived but was likely to come today. Mail is apparently only delivered 3 times a week here: M, W, F. Second, the forecast was for some more unsettled weather. Third, WhyNot did a version of this plan in order to wait out the weather, so I got the inspiration from her. I would leave most of my stuff at the backpacker and do just a 21 km road/farm section to the Pelorus Bridge, then hitch back. I woke up early as usual and tried to go back to sleep. It didn’t[…]

February 1st Up from Torea saddle (km1781.5)- Havelock (km1818) Mileage: 22.7mi/36.5km As I feared, the wind came up through the night. My site at the top of the ridge was pretty protected but not enough for the strong gales. You sleep pretty poorly when your tent is constantly shaking or the trees above you are waving wildly. There were some branches banging together all night, like wooden wind chimes. I was ready for the dawn and already packing up before it was light. I felt a sense of urgency and wanted to beat the rain while my tent was still dry. I was on the trail by 0630 am, which was good, because I just got a glimpse of the[…]