A 2.9 summit day

March 19

Old Man Hut to Starveall Hut

KM 1875.3

Distance: 13.3km 

Elevation: ascent 875m, descent 1001m

Steps: 25,700

Time: 8:15am - 3:00pm

Today we've decided on a two-hut day again; pausing at the first hut for lunch then pushing on to the second. There was a distant possibility of us pushing on to a third hut today, with some of the huts being a little closer together, but we are definitely too tired for that! So an "early" end to the day today.

The sun rose to a crisply cold but totally clear sky, and as soon as we were in the sun it made a difference to the temperature. It never got super warm today, but it was warm enough for Vaughan to be in short sleeves while we were hiking. Mainly because a lot of the hiking was going up hills, which definitely warms you up!

We started with a very steep ascent back up to the main trail, and then continued up to the peak of Old Man hill. This was one of those climbs that kept making you think you were at the top, and then just as you reached that "summit" you could see that the ridge line continued, and there was another summit yet to come. Our relatively fresh legs, and the fact that the views were absolutely stunning, kept this from being too annoying, though.

We took a break soon after, avoiding the shade still but loving the look of these stunted beech trees with the neverending views in the background.

The other benefit of these summits is we get just enough mobile phone coverage that we can check the weather forecast... and the winner of the 2022 Iditarod (congratulations, Brent Sass!). So we can plan around the expected day or two of rain coming up, making sure we won't have too many river crossings the next day.

We then summited Slaty Peak, before descending just a bit to Slaty Hut for lunch. Along the way, we saw a few of these barrels, strategically placed along the trail. We are not entirely sure what they are for, although Vaughan is convinced that they are there to light the signal fires for the beacons to call the riders of Rohan to the aid of their allies in Gondor.

Slaty Hut was a very cute little hut, same construction as Old Man Hut but having had a face lift thanks to Resene Paints a few years ago. This also made it visible from nearly 30 minutes away on the trail, which gave a bit of a lift to our feet to get us there for lunch. You can also see the path we got to take to get there, across this scree slope. It's shale (thanks, Ross!), and very "sticky" underfoot, so actually a joy to walk on.

After lunch, we had a "short" two hour walk to the next hut, although it still involved a reasonable climb or two, most of the way up Mt Starveall. (There is a side track that will take you up to the summit. We passed on the opportunity). We both just put our headphones in and kept our heads down on the trail for this climb, and for the ensuing descent, as we were both pretty tired. Not just from today; the last few days are catching up to us. That didn't stop us looking up every once in a while to enjoy the views though.

We got to Starveall Hut pretty much at afternoon tea time, which is also early enough to be able to actually wash our socks and some other clothes and have them dry in the sun. A rare but welcome treat!

 

We've had dry feet for a few days now, which means it's about time for us to get back into some river crossings, and that's exactly what the trail has in store for us. 

It's three or four more days walking (and likely one or two days waiting in a hut as a rain delay) before we finish this, the longest and second-to-last section on Te Wai Pounamou. It is with very mixed feelings that we near the end of the "first half" of our journey. Elation and satisfaction for sure; wonder and amazement at what we have seen; pride; sadness that we will be saying haere ra to these gorgeous mountains and views. And for that, we can only say that we are inspired to come back in future years for shorter visits in the Richmond Ranges, and to explore some of the many side-trails that Te Araroa does not traverse.