January 29th
Trust Power Campsite(1377.2)-Lake Coleridge/Methven(1395)
Mileage: 17.8mi/28.6km
Elevation chart courtesy of Guthook Hikes Te Araroa App.
We got going early for the 18mi/29km mostly dirt road walk to Lake Coleridge. Yes, we were just in Arthur’s Pass and now we are reaching another town. This situation is a bit convoluted, so here’s a somewhat direct explanation. When we hit the town of Lake Coleridge, the Te Araroa goes right up to a large river that can never be forded, the Rakaia River. The official route is to hitch over 60mi/100km to get to the other side of the river. So yes, that’s a 60mi/100km hitch to go 1km of trail from one side of the Rakaia to the other. The first ~30mi/50km hitch takes you halfway from Lake Coleridge to Methven, which shouldn’t take too long to get if timed correctly. You don’t have to go all the way to Methven, but it is convenient for resupply and a town stop, so many do stop there. That was our plan for today. We were hiking by 6:30am, and the morning colors were great as we packed up.
With the way the restricted camping is in this area, and with no camping in Lake Coleridge, hikers abiding by the rules need to complete an 18mi/29km day before hitching. Most of it is an uneventful, scenic, quick dirt road walk. It was a great morning for it with a strong tailwind at our backs.
An actual sign warning of TA walkers!
Towards the end of today’s walk, there is a 3km track that goes along Lake Coleridge. Since this is the TA, we can’t go a full day with dry feet, and we had to walk in the lake a few times. Dang! We climbed up to avoid a deep part, but accepted defeat and walked in the water after that. So close to a full day without wet feet!
Dry feet…
Trying to keep dry feet…
Accepting the inevitable.
The funny part about this track is that it clearly asks that hikers stay on the marked trail that ridiculously takes you maybe just 5-20m away from the old road path to go through a swampy area or into tall grass covered in sheep. It’s really odd and even all the orange markers were written in by kind hikers that warn you of the upcoming useless obstacle and to stay on the faint road.
Orange marker says, “swamp, go around.” Someone also wrote on the white sign, “Seriously!? WTF!?”
The trail marker is in the middle of all those sheep.
The wind was so strong off the lake that it made waves like an ocean bay.
We hit Lake Coleridge to hitch out at 12:15pm, and nothing is there. We could see the Rakaia in the distance, but not as clearly as usual with a lot of dust in the air with the high winds.
We got lucky with it being Sunday and cars were leaving the lake area after weekend excursions. Our first hitch came within 10mins. A full truck that let us ride in the back partway down the road to a better intersection.
When we got out the wind was super strong and it was almost hard to stand up. Fortunately, we had a hitch within 15 minutes the rest of the way to Methven.
Super windy!
We were in town by 2pm and checked into the great Mt Hutt Bunkhouse. We thought about resupplying and turning it around without staying overnight, but there were enough things to do that we knew it would be good to stay overnight. We did town chores, and ate at an all you can eat Thai buffet with ice cream dessert. I got to Skype with my sister and Becky and Tom! An update on Becky and Tom is below…
All we can eat Thai buffet.
Skyping with my sister and her family. Aidan was asleep.
Becky and Tom!
Getting the ~30mi/50km hitch to the other side of the Rakaia can be an all day task as it is a rarely traveled direction on forking roads with not a lot of thru traffic. There are some options for paying for a shuttle from Methven to the other side of the Rakaia, and we decided to do that to make it simpler. So basically, it takes at least an overnight to go 1km of trail by hitching 60mi/100km to get to the other side of a river where there is no formal shuttle setup. What we will take tomorrow is the local school bus. At 6am, before his route, local school bus driver Don will pick us up and get us to the other side of the Rakaia, 1km from where we left the trail today. It’s the best deal at $20NZ/$15US per person. It’s already almost midnight here, so I need to get to bed!
My video chat with Becky and Tom was wonderful. They zeroed in Hanmer Springs today and celebrated passing the 2000km mark with the popular hot springs and sauna there. They are really having a great time at a more leisurely pace and are hiking in a nice group of 5-6 people.
Travers Saddle
Waiau Pass
All is going great, and they are just over a week or so back. This is perfect for our planning as Griggs and I will be doing a few days off trail at the end of this leg to do some things at Mt Cook, and visit a friend I have near the next trail town of Lake Tekapo. Little by little, as I do these side trips, we will eventually reunite. We have big plans hopefully coming up by the time Becky has her 21st birthday in a few weeks on February 17th. Here are a couple more photos from them.
Fritz caught up and the trail babies were together again briefly before he continued onward.
Becky has expanded the gummies to include pretzels, Skittles, chocolate covered raisins, and nuts.
Ok, so tomorrow we head out again. The big obstacle to note is that the day after tomorrow, we will approach the Rangitata River. A large braided river of many crossings that may or may not be fordable by the time we get there. We want to try to ford it, but if we can’t, there is a hitch around to the other side of it. It will all just depend on how low the water gets by the time we get there. Good news is that the first two days out look to be clear before some rain returns, but nothing major. Lots coming up!
where the trail runs close to or on private land, the landowners control where the trail can and can’t go. some of the landowners dont seem to want the walkers on their established roads at all, not sure if they think there’s going to be a constant stream of walkers but they make the decisions. they can say, you go along this path or you dont get access then the track has to take another detour somewhere else. its part of the reason the trail can wind around more than it has to. there a lot of landowners who wont have the trail go through their land.
Yes.. it can be like that in England too. Me, I think if you own fine countryside, you should see yourself as a temporary custodian only, and try to share it with everyone as best you can. (try googling Kinder Scout trespass!) I really like the Scottish law that gives everyone a right of responsible access to everywhere, except the immediate environs of a house. NZ being a tad socialist at times, I’m surprised they apparently don’t have a similar law yet.
Love the pic of you with the hiking sign. Needs to be on the cover of your picture book!
+1 on Siobhan’s comment. That figure on the sign should have been wearing a cap!
Lovely early light pics, and I hope you get to enjoy some of that dryer climate east of the Southern Alps
Yes! Such a fun sign! They only warn of TA trampers…not of whether they bite and what to do if you see them! Make yourself large and wave a large stick? Hold out a box of doughnuts?
Oh definitely, go with the doughnuts.. 🙂
and never run away from the Wild TA Trampers.. as they say about bears and down here where I live about the urban coyotes.
That figure on the sign shouls show hiking poles, allowing for easier identification.
?
A colleague at work has just returned from hiking around Milford Sound. Said it was colder than hiking to the base camp of Mt Everest!
Becky is leaving for Arthurs pass today.
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, straight forward climb over Stag saddle before the decent to Lake Tekapo.
any high winds could hold up the crossing of stag saddle.
I guess the trade-off for the long hitch aound was unlimited Thai food and the great Skyping with your twin and family and Tom, Becky and crew.
Just typing that made me flash to Mark Twain.. Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher..
Google Tom and Becky.. and get all those references, plus a pair of DJs on a country station on California’s central coast.
hmm
Hoping you can stay relatively dry and make those crossings coming up.
The morning light photo is beautiful.
Becky looks very happy and relaxed. Glad she is doing well and that you two will reunite soon for her 21st. That’s a great story line!
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.
Becky and I share a birthday!!! This makes me strangely happy hahaha