01/04/2016
Sleep was a bit elusive las night. Hopefully my CPAP didn’t bother anyone. It worked ok I think, and chatting to people later nobody was complaining about my snoring. I got up eventually at 5 am and headed into the main hut to make breakfast.
The Clinton at dawn
It was raining lightly and is expected to increase during the day – at least that is what the ranger has written on the whiteboard in the hut. He doesn’t want anyone to leave before 7 am so that he can get word on if the rain has closed the track. Apparently that is a thing.
Breakfast was edible: freeze dried bacon and eggs with baked beans. In an effort to reduce dishes I cooked it according to the instructions . . . I don’t think I will do that tomorrow. The beans were still crunchy. I served it with a piece of toast with butter and was then ready to go before most everyone else were up. I still had to pack, but as that is noisy I want to wait until people were already stirring.
So I ended up heading out at about 7:45 am, it was still dark for about the first 30 – 45 minutes of the walk.
Looking Down the Clinton
Today was a day that I was worrying about a fair bit when I thought ahead about the journey (ok, everyday was a day I worried about. I worried about this walk a lot). It is about 16½ km and uphill all the way. Not a steep uphill, but up none-the-less.
The rain cleared up fairly early in the day but it remained misty and cloudy all day. However the scenery remained amazing. The track continued along the Clinton river and starts into steeper and steeper gorges with waterfalls everywhere – endless. The bird life is phenomenal as well. I stopped for my first rest after about 2½ hours at a shelter at Hirere Falls. I got to share my lunch time with a weka that was hanging out there . . . and the sandflies. The sandflies are endless as well.
My next stop was at Prairie Shelter which is in a area of flat open land with two forks of the Clinton River branching on either side. There were no Weka there, but still had sandflies for company. Prior to the prairie I had gone off onto a side track to a place called “Hidden Lake” . . . it wasn’t really hidden, there was sign pointing it out.
Waterfalls on Bluffs
Waterfalls on Bluffs 2
Besides weka, I saw kea, kereru, kakariki, NZ Falcon, riflemen, south island robins, tomtits. Although I didn’t see and whio, which was a shame.
So I did lots of walking – soaked by the scenery.
Hidden Lake
Waterfalls on Bluffs 3
First View of Pass (notice how you can’t see it)
The last 1½ was pretty hard going. It was steeper than the preceding 5 hours (the rangers call it the practice hill for the MacKinnon Pass), but as I was at the edge of my fitness by then it was challenging. I did start to resort to a break every 10 minutes to keep me going, but still it was hard. When I finally got to Mintaro hut I was wasted.
I had to force myself to have dinner (Spaghetti Bolognese – freeze dried) as my appetite had deserted me, and I was feeling slightly nauseated, which happens when I am exhausted. Physically I am otherwise feeling fine. My feet are good (only one big toe blister and small one on the outside arch of my left foot), and my knees are good. My lower back hurts a bit, but I will deep heat it so will hopefully be good.
Mintaro Hut Sign
The Mintaro hut is interesting. There is just one larger building (with a helicopter pad) with two bunk rooms downstairs, and a bunk room upstairs. There are kea here, so we have to hang our boots up as they will carry them off.
I am very very anxious about the day 3 walk over MacKinnon Pass. Specifically the 1000 odd feet descent on the other side. It will be brutal.
I finally went to bed at about 9 pm.
Leave a Reply