Up then down then up then down then up.

January 28th
Rose Hut to Highland Creek Hut
Distance: 10km
Elevation: NOT flat - total 1090m ascent, 910m descent, the entire day was two major hills.
Steps: 22,700
Time: 8:00am-3:00pm

In today's match; The Trail 1, Eliza and Vaughan 0.

What was supposed to be an easier day by distance, was undone by terrain and duration. We shouldn't have been surprised because the trail notes described this section as "the most demanding section of the (Motatapu) track". Even after reading this we still thought we could complete it AND walk to the next hut. Again, the Trail scoffed at our intentions. 

One of the first views was of our next rest day destination, Lake Wanaka. Still at least 2, probably 3 days away. As you can tell it was another blue sky day. In 28 days on the Trail we've had only a few hours of rain. 
One of the track markers was adorned with this piece of tramping history. A pair of old leather boots with what looks like iron crampons and nails. 

Someone sharing the Highland Creek Hut with us described the terrain here as 'broken'. It's accurate. The steeply tilted geology makes the track steep, and in places crumbly. 

This was another day where we were able to see the hut from quite a ways away, and then it took us the better part of an hour to actually get there (a couple of "mini" hills that just about broke Eliza's spirit) (the hut is just right of centre, about midway up this photo).
No regrets though, check out our view from the hut!
For the botanically minded among you, here is the interesting plant that we encountered today. Lots of these along the trail, especially ones that are not flowering. But they still have very stiff, very sharp leaves. Both of us had run-ins with these plants, and bear the marks. One of the leaf tips managed to stab Eliza underneath a fingernail. Like how?!

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 31, 2022 at 6:34 PM

    That plant sounds vicious! PR

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJanuary 31, 2022 at 7:26 PM

    I wonder if the old leather boots with crampons and nails was left there during the winter? I'm guessing there's snow in the winter at these higher elevations? Makes you wonder what was on their feet after leaving these boots, especially with the sharp leaved plants. Bub

    ReplyDelete

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