Departing from the Alps 2 Ocean cycle path, the TA and I headed over a saddle, towards the Ahuriri River.
Breakfast at the lodge this morning was at 7:30; I got there just as the server took orders (which was only a yes/no on whether or not I wanted the eggs, bacon, and sausage). Besides that, there was a simple continental breakfast, consisting of three kinds of cereal, milk, and fruits. There were fewer people this morning than last night, though that could just as well have been people showing up early and leaving before the cooked portion. Either way, it was much quieter. The WiFi still didn’t work, though.
After breakfast, I repacked my pack, including finishing organizing the food I bought in Twizel. Then I checked out, which took a little while since I had to complain about the laundry list of broken or weird stuff in the room. There was so much I forgot to mention all of it, partly because I got interrupted by some other guest who just had to chime in that he thought the place was great, and had character. To which I agreed that the lodge (but definitely not my room) had character, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook deficiencies.
I left the lodge, heading back to the trail shortly before ten, and continuing on the Alps 2 Ocean Trail. Following that for about 4.5 km brought me back to the TA, which continued on the A2O for a little while longer.
For most of the way, there were views to Lake Ōhau to the east.
I stopped for a break where the TA departed the A2O. This was fairly early, but I wanted a break before the long uphill climb alongside Freehold Creek began.
The weather so far was mostly overcast, with occasional breaks in the clouds to blue sky. Earlier, when the sun was lower, it was able to poke through those holes. As it grew later, the sun rose too high to shine through the gaps, at least in my direction. The lack of sun accentuated the cool breeze blowing, and every now and then, a few raindrops fell, threatening that it might rain once I got higher up the mountain.
On the climb along Freehold Creek, the trail was initially very nice, mostly clear dirt or leaf tread, though a little steep. After days of not being in forest, this was a nice change of pace.
Trail continued to be fairly nice, with even a few decent campsites along the way, until it climbed above the tree line. This gave views to some nice multi-cascade waterfalls on Freehold Creek as the trail and the mountainside got steeper.
There were also nice views back to Lake Ōhau. As I continued climbing, I could see more of the lake, but it also got more hazy; it was unclear if the haze was clouds descending over the lake, or my hiking up towards the cloud (or both).
Near the top of the climb, the trail traveled next to a swamp, and I was clearly in the cloud. I would say it looked a little spooky, but, you really need trees for that. Rather, the small lakes in the swap just looked miserable in the fog.
Descending the far side of the saddle, the trail became a bit haphazard, traversing through thick tussock that occasionally obscured the true path. I went off-trail a couple of times because it wasn’t obvious which way to go. Getting back on trail one of those times was a bit of a pain, since I’d descended down the hill in the wrong direction and had to cross a scree field to get back on course.
As slow and strenuous as the ascent was, the descent was moreso, thanks to being steep with somewhat slippery rocks.
I reached, and began to follow, the Ahuriri River East Branch, crossing it a few times before the trail peeled off beyond the river’s right bank. The trail stayed a bit higher than the river, largely following a plateau that made for easy hiking. The clouds ahead gradually lifted, revealing blue sky.
As I proceeded further down the plateau, I passed by two huts on the far side of the river. There was no reason to go to either of them now, especially since they were a long way down from where I was (and would require crossing the river), but it’s nice to have options in an emergency.
The plateau started going through a bit of a marshy area, crossing several small but fast-flowing creeks that seemed to have greatly spilled out of their channels. I worried that this might bode poorly for tomorrow’s crossing of the Ahuriri River, which is supposed to be the TA’s largest unbridged river crossing on the South Island.
With no small amount of effort, I was able to keep my feet mostly dry. But then I reached the clearing where several of us at breakfast had decided to aim for, and was blocked by a creek that was deep enough and wide enough that there was no choice but to get my feet wet. I suppose I could have taken the time to swap my boots for my crocs (which, honestly, I did anyway once I got my tent set up, so really, I should have), but I was tired enough that I just plowed through the water the three steps it took to cross the creek, and set my tent up while I had wet boots on my feet. At least there was a water source very nearby my tent, so I didn’t have to go far to collect water for dinner.
Also at the campsite were Nikki and James, and another tent I didn’t recognize. Whoever was in the tent never came out after I got there, so I guessed it wasn’t Isabella, whom we were expecting there as well.
Once I was done with dinner, I turned in relatively early. I have a long day planned for tomorrow, an estimated nine hours (and 28 km) to Top Timaru Hut.
Sometime after dark, a mouse climbed up the outside of my tent door. It fell into one of my crocs when I batted it off, then ran around to the other side of my tent and tried to climb up that door as well. It went away for a while after I batted it off again, but after that I occasionally saw shadows run past, and I hoped it wouldn’t try to eat its way into the tent to try and get food.