January 28th
Lagoon Saddle A Frame Hut(1360)-True Power Campsite(1377.2)
Mileage: 17.2mi/27.7km
Campsite Elevation: 1683ft/513m
Elevation chart courtesy of Guthook Hikes Te Araroa App.
My foot seems to be something that I will be tolerating possibly the rest of the trip. It starts off stiff when I first start off each day until it accepts that I’m walking. Then it basically hurts like a bruise on top most of the day and makes walking less enjoyable with consistent pain. It’s the same foot that has the bad ankle and an ankle surgery many years ago, so it tends to yell at me from time to time anyway. At least the pain isn’t getting any worse. It is tolerable to walk on, and nothing that is going to prevent me from hiking, but it does impact the enjoyment a bit to have pain. From here on, you can assume it’s the same and feeling bruised and stiff with slight swelling unless I say otherwise. More of an inconvenience than anything else. To be expected after 7+ months of hiking I guess…
Once we got down to the Harper River, we were happy to find the upper crossings to be quite shallow. I was surprised by how much wooded hiking we had in the upper part of the valley, but after an hour or two, when we passed the junction to the Hamilton Hut, it opened up more and we were along the river. The layers came off pretty quickly, and it turned into quite a warm day.
We’ve been told that this side of Arthur’s Pass is the warmer and drier side, and it is! Today was the total other end of the spectrum from the last few river valleys. It was dryer, less mud, more rocks, sunnier, and much warmer. It’s hard to imagine this is the same trail compared to what we were walking through just two days ago.
Since there’s been so much rain, we were concerned about the Harper River crossings. We crossed it many many times, and some of them were swifter and deeper than I would have liked, but doable. Not sure I would have done it yesterday and I’m glad we gave it an extra night to go down some.
The track notes mention an option of staying on the left bank to avoid all the crossings, but when we tried that, the bushwhacking was too frustrating to make it worth it. Back into the water we went.
The trail isn’t marked much, and follows a faint four wheel drive track that continuously crosses the river. The only person we saw all day was at a random spot in the middle where a 4WD vehicle was parked and the person was camped. It seemed so out of place to just walk by a car in this setting out of nowhere.
We took a longer lunch since it was a short day, and I made one of my extra dinners for lunch. It was rice that I wrap up in the most awesome tortillas ever. I keep meaning to mention probably the most popular NZ hiker food that most hikers carry. It’s the Farrah’s soft tortillas and the Sealord’s tuna packets. Both are sold in a ton of flavors. Theses two items will be what I miss most in food that can only be bought in NZ. Especially the tortillas. All other soft tortillas will pale in comparison to Farrah’s. They never crack or dry out and are so delicious. They are expensive and heavy, but most hikers still use them. As I mentioned before, it’s Griggs’s main meals. He has two tunas a day and 5-6 of the kids sized tortillas. As for the tuna, I don’t know how I’ll react going home to unflavored tuna. It’s been so nice to have a variety and there are also salmon options sometimes. I’m forever ruined by these two great items I have for lunch everyday.
After lunch, it was more of the same and the afternoon seemed to drag. We both put on headphones and did our best to cruise.
Once done with the 20-odd crossings, we hit a thin path just outside private land that was seemingly new and not very worn down. The track notes say we cut through that land continuing on the 4WD road, but there seems to be a new electric fence and a hand written sign telling TA Walkers to take the grass outside the fence instead. It was in the upper 80sF/31C, so it felt longer than it probably was.
Then it was some cruising on a more used gravel and dirt road, and we arrived at camp at 4:45pm. It was a short day, but it is clearly stated that this is the only camping between here and town another day’s hike away. It is a grass and gravel field with a toilet, water spigot, and picnic table provided by the Power Trust Company. Although not the most wonderful spot, at least it’s something, and we were happy to have an option, which wasn’t always the case up north. Really, this all we need, and more spots like this is preferred to all the privatized camping on the North Island that we paid for almost nightly. Hopefully, more options like this will be developed up north to solve some to camping difficulties with so much private land, residential areas, and towns. When we arrived Angelynn, Sylvan, and Tane were there.
Sylvan and Angelynn. Tane is not a photo person.
Ok, it’s now 9:30pm, and I’m going to sleep. We now have 7 hikers here as Jeff and Lee arrived about an hour ago. There have been some cars come by as well because there are lakes nearby and this seems to be the designated camping area. It is a Saturday night, so there’s been some come through, but I’ve been too lazy to look out and see if any of them stayed. Thankfully, the wind is dying down a bit. It’s not a sheltered camping area and it was pretty windy today. We plan on getting an early start, so it’s nice to get to sleep early.
awesome,
cracks me up when you see near identical gear like the shelters together.. especially from a relatively small company like Zpack, they’ve taken off in just a few years, gone from operating out of a garage to a small warehouse… factory
one of the last huts I was at, there was almost a full range of a couple of dozen German deuters packs to choose from, nothing but Deuter…. and germans….
Nice to see Angelynn again…any news of goofy heartbreaker ?
Sunshine is back wouhouuuu
Heartbreaker is still behind Becky and crew, but near them. He’s decided to go by Torte, a nickname that Matt and Laurel gave him since so few have trail names out here. Still chugging along.
I have a Zpacks Duplex and I’m very happy with it .. as you say, a lot of space for the weight. It’s a bit tricky in windy conditions but otherwise brilliant
Sunshine & no rain. Wahoooo!!!
Zpacks makes some great gear. The Solplex is definitely on my wish list.
SPOILER ALERT
so we’re heading back into the hills after the Rakaia River, along some river valleys and climbs to a couple of passes, nothing too epic, around 1300m should take a day or so to get through there and then its back into the wide river valleys for a day then assess the Rangitata to see if it’s worth having a go at crossing,
its a braided river and theres a lot of braids to cross of varying difficulty… its that or take the 100k road diversion and that gives a chance to get into town for a bit as well.
Let the action begin..heart beats going stronger has Griggs and Wired are approaching the 1st ford above the Potts. Once finally arrived to the first ford of the mighty Rangitata..Griggs and Wired stopped and looked at each others…small grin on their faces… Let’s do it dude
SPOILER ALERT
if she goes directly across the Rangitata, then we’re unlikely to hear any more from Erin for a couple of days as she heads back into the mountain valleys and makes her way over the high point of the TA, Stag pass at over 1900m.. this isnt a difficult climb, high winds are the only potential issue then its another day or so down and out to Lake Tekapo and Tekapo town…
SPOILER ALERT
the first mountain range was cleared yesterday. long flat road bash west today, then decide on whether to cross the rangitata River or try and hitch around and possibly into town, before heading back into the next mountain range, the Two Thumb range and the 1900m Stag saddle before the decent to Lake Tekapo
Becky is leaving Hanmer Springs for Arthurs Pass today in a party of four that are travelling together
SPOILER ALERT
Erin is past the Rangitata River and up into the Two Thumb range at Crooked Spur Hut.
She could cross Stag Pass tomorrow, but high winds are forecast for Wednesday, NZ time. they are strong enough to prevent crossing the pass for the morning at least, they will ease but remain strong throughout the day.
Next is the descent out of the ranges down to walk the length of Lake Tekapo to the town. that should still be a couple of days walk away.
Wow, thise are some yummy sounding tuna flavors. I wish you hadn’t posted that phito. Now I’m going to be disappointed in the plane old tuna her in the US too. (Thoigh not as much as you will be)
Laughed today at WinCo when I stumbled upon Starkist flavored tuna packets for $1/ea. While they were not the awesome flavors you seem to be getting, they looked intriguing: ranch, hot Buffalo style, sweet and tangy, lemon pepper. ~ Chris
Haha! They are so not as good!
In reference to the photo (https://dakqy2cb9n-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_0966.jpg). Still not a photo person but just met up with Silvan in Appenzell last week. Married Angelynn after TA and she and baby return from the US on Wednesday. She says you are happily in love as well. Much happiness to you both. 🙂
Oh hi Tane! I’m so happy for you guys! I had heard from Angelynn about the marriage and baby <3. I do wish you guys would post on social media so I can see the wonderful family you've created!
Not really keen on posting pictures of him on social media but he does have his own private website so if you have Angelynns email send her a message and we will send you the login details.
I’m totally on it! Yay!