I Would Walk 2000 Kilometers and I Will Walk a Thousand More

We left St. Arnaud the next morning and hiked an easy walking path down to a hut. There were about six people inside the 24 person hut so our group made 11 and we set up for the evening. I took a nap and when I awoke the hut was buzzing. A group of 12 plus two guides had come in and the place was getting crowded. We shifted around each other and were settling in when a man came to the door and announced that he had 24 high schoolers on their way to the hut and only tents enough for half of them. We jumped at the chance to get out of the chaos and set up our tents outside just as the rain began to start up again. It rained all night long and the field began to flood underneath us. The next morning we walked up the trail that had become a river overnight. We cut the day short and dried our gear out at the next hut. We had a large climb the next morning to get up to a saddle with some of the most magnificent views I have seen so far. The whole day felt like I was back on the Pacific Crest trail, tramping through the Sierra. That night we made it to blue lake, rumored to be the clearest lake in NZ. Unfortunately, after the rain, the lake wasn't clear at all. We had another big climb up to a saddle the next day and hiked down a river into the valley on the otherside. I got to camp early and took a dip in the cold river to combat the intense sun. The next day we finished walking out of the valley and decided to do some night hiking to save on sun exposure. We got to a hut late that night and slept outside in order to not wake up the rest of the people inside. Around 6:00am the next morning, I felt four tiny pricks on my face. When I opened my eyes we were all swarming with sand flies, more than I had ever seen. We scrambled inside to sleep a bit more away from the pests. We got up a bit later and hiked out to a road that would take us to our next resupply point. A friend I was hiking with knew a guy in a town nearby who had recently triple crowned (hiked all 3 long distance trails on the US) so we hitch hiked 230km to the beach town of Kaikoura. He fed us tons of veggies from his garden and let us camp outside. This morning we went down to the ocean, where he went diving for crayfish and abalone for dinner this evening. We'll take another day off here and then head back to the trail for a seven day section. And at over 2/3rds of the way done! 2057km.

Down with the Sickness

We woke up at a campsite near the lodge and hung around for the day before pushing on. It was a gorgeous hike and we ended the day by running into a good friend and chasing off the Weka birds. The next day was the superbowl so our friend ran forward to catch it at a lodge. We hung around making a slow, long day. As we ate lunch and checked out our maps, we noticed a small trail that would take us up and over a summit instead of staying on the trail. We decided to be adventurous and take the "shortcut" that would cut off a whopping 1.5km. As we started the "trail" it became more and more obscure until it dissappeared completely. Using our GPS we stuck to where the trail would have been but it had not been traveled for at least ten years. We were scrapping through sharp gorse and a wall of trees and sticks, sometimes resorting to crawling on our hands and knees. Once the gorse ended we were met with a blockade of thick vines that covered an unstable ground of rocks and leaves. I busted through a trekking pole, snapping it in half. Close to the end, I hung from a tree to take a step down when the step blew out from underneath me and I began to fall. As my body kept tumbling, all I could think was "stop, stop, STOP." Suddenly, fifteen feet down the slope, mt feet dug in and I caught traction. I quickly did a check in of my limbs. Nothing broken. Lots of scrapes, lots of blood, but I was okay. I got up and we kept moving. Three hours and 2.5km later, we made it back to the nice, well graded trail. Slightly kicking ourselves thinking we could have made it at least 15km in the time we took to take the "shortcut". Battered and bloody, we took a swim in the ocean before moving on. We got to a side trail and hiked up to catch the sunset before getting to a campsite where we ran back into our friend. We made dinner and chatted about the day before deciding to night hike a bit more to see the stars and the glow worms that lined the trail. As we hiked into the night, my friend broke his shoe to put a cherry on top of our incredibly tough day. The next morning, we got into town and I started to feel sick. A cold had been drifting through the group and after pushing too hard, it got to me. I took the rest of the day off and slept, hoping to feel better in the morning. I did not and little did I know, things were only going to get worse. We hiked out of town and I felt like I was breathing fire. My lungs and my throat burned with every, extremely labored, breathe. I got to a hut and gave up for the day. The next morning I still couldn't breathe so I stayed at the hut till some other friends came along. I left with them and took things extremely slow. I didn't make it to camp until after nine that night. I wasn't getting any better and hiking wasn't helping. I decided the next day I would take a side trail and get off for some rest. We took sometime and saw a movie before deciding to do another side trail. We wanted to summit Mt. Richmond but were not super clear on how to do it. Luckily, our first hitch used to live right across the river from the mountain and told us everything we needed to know. We got there and crossed the river before climbing up to a hut just below the summit. It was fogged out so we waited till the next morning when it cleared up. We hiked up the scree slope and 20 minutes from the summit a massive cloud came in and covered any view we would hope to get. We got to the top as our gear started to dew up in the clouds and the wind whipped us around. We headed back down and ran down the mountain trying to beat the wall of rain that we saw coming in. Luckily, we beat it and got a hitch back down to the trail where we met up with the rest of the group and decided to wait out the rain in a hostel. We head out tomorrow to a hut where we will stay until the weather passes. Having a wonderful hiker reunion! 1940km

Rivers, Rain, and the End of the North Island

That evening after leaving our new Maori friend, we hiked on up a large summit and over to a small shelter to get out if the weather that was coming in. It was tiny but cozy as the seven of us piled into the old shack that could be the home of Shrek. We woke up to cloudy skies that were waiting to open up and pour so we took a long morning before heading out into the rain. It was a very long 18km, filled with mud and a downpour. We finally got to another much bigger and newer hut and started the stove to dry out and warm up. The next morning we woke up to the sun and got moving. It was still muddy and there was a bunch of climbing but we got to a nice pasture and set up camp near a bunch of trees. The next day was a long road walk into our next town to resupply where our wonderful friend Tapper made us a great dinner of burgers and chips. We had another long road walk ahead of us the next day but ended up on a nice track camped just off the trail. We were excited about the next day because we would finally be heading into Tongariro crossing where Mt. Doom is. The views were incredible as we climbed up the edge to a hut that wasn't for overnight camping but we threw our bags down anyway. Early the next morning we went up to the summit and were completely amazed by the mountain. The wind was pounding us every which way and around every turn we found amazing ponds of the bluest water. We had gotten up before many of the tourist so we had the first part of the day to ourselves before the place became extremely crowded. Made it to a holiday park that night and slept near the bus stop. The next day our group split up to do a bunch of different things. I ended up doing some slack packing and running along the road walk instead of hiking it. That night I got into a town and took a few days off to rest up. After I pulled a 50km day to get to the start of our river trip and was completely exhausted but met back up with the group and was refreshed. We got on the river the next day and had the most amazing first day. We lounged more than paddled but when the rain hit we had to keep moving to stay warm.  It rained off and on all day and then poured all night harder than I'd ever experienced. Luckily my tent kept me dry and warm but there was some aggressive drying of gear the next morning. The river had risen considerably overnight so when we took off the next day we flew down the river at about 12km per hour. We floated down the river, mostly connected for the next few days and had an incredible time. On our last day,the river had gone down and the paddling was much more difficult against the wind so when a large boat came by, we tried hitching with it and amazing they stopped. They threw us the rope and we were flying down the river for a bit before it felt like my arms were going to be ripped off from holding the rope. We paddled into another holiday park and filled up on Chinese buffet. We took a zero the next day and went to a vintage festival in town before sleeping next to the river and then road walking out if town to a beach. The next few days were terribly hot and mostly along the roads which completely drained us and hurt our feet and joints. Luckily we made it to our next mountain range and were stunned by the beauty of it all. After playing some games while hiking, we got off track and really didn't feel like going backwards to get back on trail. We sat down and took out our maps and figured out a new route to meet back up with the track a little further down. It was a really great reroute and we ended up getting a hut all to ourselves. We made it back to the trail and crammed in a two person shelter for the evening. We climbed up to a nice spot to catch the sunset and read our books in peace. The next day is one of my favorites on trail so far. We summited a gorgeous mountain and got to walk along an open ridge for the day. We also took many breaks to play cards and enjoy ourselves. We ended to day with a swim in the river all together. We got into town the next day after hiking out of the mountains and slept next to a bike path before taking the metro into Wellington and officially finishing the north island of New Zealand. We spent a few days there, sending out some resupply boxes, cleaning/replacing gear, and celebrating. We even got to go to an amazing concert with a ton of other TA hikers. We caught the ferry that morning at 230 am and slept on the deck so we could catch the sunrise. Completely exhausted, we arrived at the south island and then took another water taxi to get to the trail head. We got to catch a seal playing with its kill and the clearest water I've ever seen. We got to the start and hiked on through the exhaustion until we found a camp spot and slept for a long time. We woke up to a swarm of sand flies and a Waka bird trying to steal our snacks so we packed up and moved on. We got to a resort on the island and heard of some live music going on later so we hung out for the day, soaking in the hot tub and laying in the sun. A bunch of other hikers showed up and we all danced and sung and played music until the sun went down. We heard about the plankton in the water that was bioluminescent so of course we went skinning dipping. The water all around us began to glow as we swam through the open ocean. One of the most incredible moments of my entire life. 1725km