Up the Waiau River

March 8

Christopher Hut - Waiau Forks campsite

KM 2017

Distance: 28.7km 

Elevation: ascent 557m, descent 200m

Steps: 38,000

Time: 7:30am - 4:30pm

Setting up our tent at the informal Waiau Forks campsite at the head of the Waiau River, 755m below the Waiau Pass, we both reflected on one of the most epic days on the trail so far. Longish, technical and breathtaking. The campsite alone is stunning, tucked into a stand of beech trees adjacent to the river, and surrounded on all sides by towering, rugged peaks. Ten other people think so too, guess you can't always have the beautiful places to yourself. We at least tucked ourselves in around a bend of the river, so we're not directly in with the others :)

As I'm writing this the sun started dipping below a peak and was completely gone in seconds. The temperature instantly dropped and light is fading surprisingly quickly. For your interest, dinner was macaroni cheese with biltong for protein and crispy onion. Dessert was a spoonful of peanut butter.

This morning, we said farewell to Christopher Hut, pleased to be reaquainted with it for a night, and set out to get back onto the TA which only took an hour (compared to the 2.5 hours it took to do the same distance yesterday - both a matter of having our "TA legs" on, and a slightly different parallel track that was just easier). From then it was simply a matter of following the Waiau River Valley for the rest of the day, sometimes along the marked trail, sometimes up the river bed. Our goal was this campsite, but we had options to stay at Waiau Hut (below) or Caroline Bivvy if our energy faded. 

But it held so we pushed on, encouraged by intel from a few people walking the other way that it was a steady but manageable climb. Some sections of the river felt like a return to the bouldering of Deception River, this side of Goat Pass. While we could have taken the route along the river bank and across scree faces, sometimes it looked like it would be easier (ok, more fun) walking up the river. Large boulders sometimes created an impass requiring some hand over hand scrambling and helping each other up. At one point we had to remove our backpacks to haul each other up.

And a bonus for the day for both of us, a pair, A PAIR, of kotuku (white heron) flew over our heads! No photo though, they flew too quickly and we were too stunned. 

Tomorrow morning we start the climb over Waiau Pass; 755m elevation climb over 2.8km. Then a similar descent to Blue Lake Hut.