Today I was hiking the Kepler Track. It is a 60km loop hike that climbs 5K feet right away and then wanders around the ridge for a while before dropping back down near sea level and returning to Visitors center in Te Anea.
I arrived at visitors center around 8am and parked my car in long term parking as I planned to camp out halfway through hike and finish up tomorrow evening. I really had to go to the bathroom and knew there were public restrooms outside. I struggled over to it in desperation and found them locked. Damn you! I had no options. Fortunately no one was around so I snuck behind a bush right next to the door of the visitors center. I got out of there fast. Someone is gunna come by to attach a hose and think maybe there are some large mammals loose on the island after all.
After that near disaster I gatherd my pack and headed a few hundred feet down the road towards the lake where I booked a water taxi to Brody Bay, shaving about 5km off the hike.
Myself and some day hikers disembarked and headed straight up a set of switchbacks towards the Luxmore Hut.
It was a slog up 5K feet. Just before I broke through the tree line I walked along a limestone cliff
Separating from the trees, I emerged in a dense eerie fog. You could hardly see in front of you, let alone the drops on either side of the path
I finally stumbled quite literally into Luxmore Hut. Each of the Great Walks have a Hut system. You book bunks in advance and spend each night indoors. These huts were booked month in advance but I was able to reserve a campsite outside the next one, approximately 10 miles ahead.
More of these Kea parrots trying to open my pack
I heard this loud sound, and out of nowhere a helicopter landed outside. I was amazed. That must have been some nailbitting ride ascending the mountain in this fog. A family got out with there bags to spend the night. Really roughing it I guess.
I was sitting with some of the other day hikers, eating lunch and sharing our disappointment in the view. I thought about yesterday and how the fog burned off in the sound for me. I told them hopefully the same would happened here. They chose to head back down with no views, and sure enough not 30 minutes later as I carried on the fog moved out almost instantly
I came to stop where there was a 30 minute climb to the summit. I elected to skip it because I had an inkling that I would need all the time I could spare and my strength as well. This proved to be the case.
Along with the clearing skies, the temperature began to increase. Prior till now I was removing layers everytime I starting hiking and putting them all back on each time I stopped. With the visibility the views were superb. I continued along the spine of the mountain range. I ran into a teacher from Boston and talked a little bit about how he ended up here. I always like to hear people's stories and find out what kind of career allows them to travel for months at a time. It turned out he was doing one of those teaching stints overseas, but heading back towards the states to enroll in a masters in education.
Below is my favorite shot of the trip with the 4 hikers walking along the ridgeline. It reminded me of scenes from the movie "Stand By Me" where the kids were following the train tracks in search of a dead body.
I would pass various groups along this route. I was making good time and no blisters so far. I feel like my strength was back and I could possibly push through my campsite coming up and make a charge for the finish.
Along the top of the exposed mountain there were no more full scale shelters, but there were a couple emergency shelters in case you got caught in a high wind or deep snow.
After this shelter it was all downhill and it was a nice change because my legs were starting to fade. The downhill brings its own challenges and I actually prefer uphill, but a mix is nice. It was rather steep and narrow and had to take it real slow coming off the spine
Finally getting down to the treeline again. I was moving fast. A sure sign of fatigue as you are not using your legs to arrest each step. It seemed to take forever to make it to the Iris Hut, my intended stop for the night.
I walked around back and found the campsite engulfed in flies. I sat on a step near the hut, examined my feet and wolfed down some protein. I still had no blisters. Amazing. This is unheard of with me. I guess it is true that a quality pair of boots does make a difference.
Here is where we stand. It was 3:30pm. I was at campsite and could easily stop, but it did not look too appealing and I thought it might be too cold for me overnight here. The sign said 8.5 hours to the carpark where I was hoping to hail a ride. I had a ticket for a bus from Rainbow Reach Carpark to my car at the visitors center but that was for 5pm tomorrow and it was the last bus of the night. So I would need to hitchhike. If I assumed I would hike at their rate it would be midnight by the time I got there. I felt confident I could slice their time in half and make it there by 730pm. Sunset was at 630pm so I was trying to make it but most likely I would not and that would make catching a a ride from a day hiker even tougher. If I ended up having to hike all the way to my car it might be midnight before I realistically got back or 4am according to their measurements.
I decided to push on
There was also one more hut in front of me, Moturua. It was roughly 6 hours but I figured I could reach it in 3 Hrs. I pushed hard and ran across a ranger at 5pm. He urged me to end at Moturua. I said I would just to get him off my back, but really was thinking of pressing on. It was not like I was on a cliff face in danger, I was at sea level right next to a big lake. I got to the hut at 7pm and it was already dark. I turned off my headlamp as I snuck by because I knew he radioed ahead to ranger at this hut and she would be looking for me. I still had 1.5 hours to Rainbow car park. My headlamp was pretty weak, only illuminating the path just in front of me. I went off trail a couple of times and had to double back. I was being followed by a small 15lb creature with glowing eyes. Or to be precise I was following him. He would run ahead on the trail and then turn around waiting for me to catch up. This was the same animal I saw dead all over the highways. It turns out they are opossums. NZ has no indigenous land mammals, so I am not sure why someone brought a boat full of opossums, but they sure seemed to thrive here with no natural predators. Anyway I had nothing to be scared of. It took forever to get to the carpark. It was 830pm and the lot only had overnight cars there. I could not have done that section any faster but was still too late. Blisters had finally taken hold of my heels. Each step was agonizing. I walked another km down the lot, away from the trail, towards the main road. I decided that I would try and flag a car if I got to the main road as opposed to pushing on for another 8 miles along the trail to my car. It was a risk because by taking the road, if no car came, this way was actually longer.
I was hurting and I had not made the road. I was not sure how far it was. I sat down, drank the last of my water and laughed at the situation. I half contemplated just curling up under a tree. In retrospect I should have stayed at the last lodge I passed but wanted to complete the hike. I finally made the road and started walking towards my car. I had about 3 hours of walking but I did not think I could make it. I saw no cars for a half an hour. Finally a car came around the bend and I did not try to thumb a ride, but rather stood like a flight controller with his light sabers making snow angels with my hands in the middle of the road. He stopped. A young kid and his girlfriend. They thought it was an emergency and reluctantly let me aboard. There was no chance I was not going to get a ride. If they said no, I would have rode on the roof like Aunt Edna in Vacation.
I made it back to my car and instantly realized that I left the internal light on all day. Depression set in. I got out, thanked them and prayed for 5 minutes before turning the keys. It's Alive! Thank you. It was not the hardest hike I have done but it was top 5. Nothing compared to Skyline, where my pack was heavier, I was hiking through snow, my feet were even more shredded and many more inclines and declines
I drove to a local bar, the Red Cliffe, and ordered a pitcher of water and 2 beers. The guy next to me was also traveling through NZ and actually went to highschool at Groves, a school 3 blocks from the house I grew up in. After a few beers I asked the waitress if there was a place around town I could hid my van for a few hours without getting harassed. She showed me a dirt road on a map. I pulled into the grass where she directed me and climbed into my emergency Sack for a nap. That was a 50km I was sure not to forget.
A shot of one of the blisters on my heel
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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