Bouldering

February 27

Goat Pass Hut to Morrison Footbridge... to Christchurch

KM 2169

Distance: 14km 

Elevation: ascent 0m, descent 760m

Steps: 25,000

Time: 8:15am - 5:00pm

We woke up early this morning, but all three of us (Vaughan, Eliza and Linsey) were waiting for someone else to make the first move to get out of bed. It was COLD at the hut, at the top of the pass, last night! And a look outdoors, where it was cloudy and foggy pretty much down to the roof of the hut, did not make us want to rush to put on our wet socks and shoes, and head into what we assumed would be a very cold river. 

But we finally got moving (and into those shoes and socks) (and raincoats, to help keep us warm in the wind) and got on the trail.

The track today consisted of three parts:

Very hard

Hard

Easy

"Very hard" was the first three km, which took us three hours to traverse. This was down a steep, bouldery river, where we were climbing up and over boulders, only to let ourselves down the other side. (Darla, you would have absolutely loved this part of the trail!) The other side of the boulder was, as often as not, river water.

Linsey took the first fall for the team, sitting down on a submerged rock. This was in lieu of falling over entirely, so she definitely made the right decision! Eliza took a fall later, luckily while on land, and ended up also sitting on a rock. Linsey, ever gracious, took this to mean that it was time for a packs-down break, which we all appreciated.

Later, about 2.8km into the trail, Vaughan found an easy-for-him way across the stream, but Eliza's and Linsey's shorter legs would not allow them this route. Their route took them just downstream of some rapids. Eliza managed to almost lose her footing just during this part, so while the river was only up to her knee, the water rushing off of the rapids was splashing up to her waist. For a good 5 seconds or so. Linsey, as mentioned ever gracious, made sure not to laugh too hard at Eliza until she was to the other side of the stream.

Lest you think that we were all regretting our decision to do Te Araroa at this point, here are some photos that give you some idea of the beauty we were looking at. Know that these pictures do not do the place justice, and we were all awe-inspired for much of the day. "Loving it" was said many times, especially during this 'very-hard' section.

After this first 3km, we made it to a small hut, and took a break for some food and to warm ourselves up. We also put on an extra layer each, because it was still very cold in the fog and the wind!

We were now into the 'hard' section of the day, which lasted for about 10km. Shortly into this section, we encountered some trail runners going the other direction, in shorts and short sleeves. They probably thought we were overdressed. If only they knew how cold we had been that morning! (The trail we did yesterday and today is part of the Coast to Coast, so trail runners regularly run it as training or for fun. Even walkers with light packs can do the whole thing in a single day. Apparently.)

The 'hard' section was still harder than many other days we have done so far on Te Araroa. Probably because it just kept going. We'd done sections like it before, for maybe an hour or so at a time, but this was around 5 hours of hard slog. The trail looks nice here, you can even see a trail marker in the distance, but this was a rarity. Much of the day was spent searching for the trail, or doing yet another river crossing, or otherwise navigating each and every footstep. Sometimes that was climbing over large boulders. Sometimes it was hopping from small boulder to small boulder or largish rock. Much of the time it was finding a place for your foot either on top of, or between, or otherwise so you wouldn't twist your ankle on the fist-sized rocks, tree roots, or slippery rock under the water surface...

It was during this section that Eliza had no energy for anything other than figuring out where to put her next foot - to the point that she kept forgetting to breathe, and had to consciously blow out a breath every fourth or fifth step. Yeah, the trail kinda won today...

Oh, right, it's still beautiful. Ok, we all won today!

When we got to the bottom of the trail (which is the start for most users) we saw this sign:

What happened to the 'easy' part of the trail, you ask?

Well, that was just the last one kilometer, between that sign above and the footbridge that took us to the state highway. 

We'll do a separate post with pictures of the gear, but:

A couple of days ago, Vaughan noticed a crack/tear in his boot. It got bad enough today that Vaughan decided he needs a replacement sooner rather than later. As in, it probably wouldn't survive the next 4 days on the trail (at least comfortably), we should replace it now. 

Also today, Eliza felt like she had a rock stuck in her shoe. When she looked at the sole, she realised that the soles of her boots under the balls of her feet are very very thin. Nearly worn away. So, raising the priority for new shoes for her as well.

Vaughan was trying to extend one of his hiking poles today and the lowest (of three) sections came out entirely. This is fine, they are made to do this. But when he tried to put it back together, he couldn't - one of the locking mechanism pieces had come apart a bit and wouldn't go back in, at least not easily. #3 on the list of things to talk to someone at an outdoor store about...

And finally, although for once this does not need to be replaced, Eliza has managed to tear one of the side pouches on her bag. She got caught on a tree branch, and apparently this was just too much for the mesh fabric here. The pocket can still hold what it needs to, though, so all this has done is make Eliza's pack look like it's as experienced as it actually is!

In any case, for reasons 1, 2, and 3 above, we decided to try to hitch into Christchuch tonight, so we can go do our gear-replacement shopping tomorrow. This unfortunately meant we had to say goodbye to Linsey, although we are all hoping we can catch up to her in Hanmer Springs, where she is taking a few days off the trail next weekend with friends.

We were successful in the hitchiking! After only about 10 minutes, a car pulled over - another Tesla! 

This was driven by a very nice couple out of Christchurch who had  been hiking on the West Coast over the weekend. They were wonderful and gracious, even when Eliza started to get carsick, and Vaughan's wet boots smell started to waft through the car. (Eliza's boot smell was probably well mixed in there, too). 

Thank you so much to our Trail Angels! I hope you get your chance to hike the TA (or the best parts of it) soon :)

Tonight we are staying at the Amber Kiwi Holiday Park in Riccarton, a suburb of Christchurch. We are hoping this will be a very short stay in the city - all things going great, we will be back out to the trail tomorrow. All things going just ok, it'll be the day after that.