Days 118-124: Tussocks, River, Tussocks, Mountains!

7 more days down! This last stretch from Lake Coleridge to Lake Tekapo was interesting, beautiful, and pretty tough in some places. Along the way we went through chest-high tussocks, across a 10 km wide river valley, and took a highly recommended detour off the marked track for possibly the best afternoon on the trail so far. From here we have "only" 650 km to go until we reach Bluff!

We ended up paying for a ride around the Rakaia River, which is either extremely dangerous or impossible to ford where the trail crosses it. A lot of people try to hitchhike around, but in the end I think we were happy we shelled out the bucks. The road back up the other side was completely empty - gravel for most of the way, with only a few farms. Reading the hut books, it sounds like some people got lucky and caught rides, while others ended up walking 35+ km without seeing any cars. While the ride was expensive, it was worth it, in my opinion, to skip a day of road walking.

From there, we headed off on the Clent Hills Track. Most of this section was trailless - marked with poles, but no actual trail to follow. The first day, up to Comyns Hut, mostly followed an old 4WD track, so this wasn't an issue. We were happy to have a relatively easy trip up to the hut on what would have been a day off if we'd had our way (the ride from Lake Coleridge was only available that day).

A spider with a prize catch (a cicada) outside of Comyns Hut

All of the huts through Clent Hills and Two Thumbs were a bit more rustic than what we've seen up until now. Most were built in the 50's, and one was as old as the 1890s! The trail notes describe them with words like "tired", "in reasonable condition", and "provides adequate shelter in bad weather". We actually liked them quite a bit though. Most were made from hand-hewn lumber, but had interiors that had been upgraded in recent years. So we got the charm of an old looking hut, but the comfort of real mattresses.

Comyns Hut (left), and the old, derelict version of Comyns (right, rusty)

The inside of Comyns Hut, with our stuff scattered everywhere

Day 2 from Lake Coleridge was a tough one. The first half of the day was spent walking up a tight river valley. We counted 45 stream crossings. Liz wants me to mention that there were also 2 side stream crossings, and 2 half crossings where we had to walk up the stream for a bit without actually crossing, bringing us up to 49 total. Early mornings, cold water, and feet do not mix well.

The second half of the day, which brought us over Clent Hills Saddle, was full of "tussock bashing." For most of the next 8 km or so, we walked through fields of chest high tussocks without a trail in sight. They're pretty tiresome to walk through - you can't see where you're stepping, and you can't walk in anything resembling a straight line. Towards the end, we had the added bonus of Spanish sword plants and 7 ft tall speargrass thrown into the mix. Both plants are as unpleasant and pokey as their names make them sound. Liz spent the afternoon alternating between singing "Everyday I'm tussocking" (to the tune of LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem) and saying things like "more like tus-SUCKS". We got some nice views from the saddle though, and ended up enjoying the day.

Clent Hills saddle, marked with an antler. Oddly enough, we went
over Stag Saddle, with no antlers, several days later

Believe it or not, the "trail" went through this. Dark patches
are spanish swords, light green is speargrasss 

Spanish swords. Not nice plants.

This really highlighted how much our expectations for a day impact our enjoyment of the day. We knew in advance that the river valley and tussocks would be a bit of a slog, and were mentally prepared for it. Because of that, we ended up enjoying it, even though some parts weren't that great. On the other hand, we've had much easier days that felt worse - mostly because we were expecting easier terrain than we actually encountered. Now, if we can somehow trick ourselves into believing that every day will be insanely difficult, the rest of the trail will be a breeze...

That night, we reached Manuka Hut. Another cool, old hut, but unfortunately it was filthy. There was a wide variety of non-flammable trash in the fireplace, food smears on the table, and mouse poop all over the floor. This hut is only a few kms from a trailhead. Maybe the less you have to work to get there, the less you care about taking care of your destination? Liz left a rant in the hut book about the conditions, but then felt guilty and went on a cleaning spree.

Our next day was long, hot, flat, and fairly uneventful. We walked across flat, tussocky land for 35 kms. For the most part, the tussocks were small and sparse, so the walking was pretty easy. Unfortunately, tussocks do not provide shade. Really, there isn't much that we like about tussocks at this point. Maybe we just need some time apart.

A field of pink flowers made the flatness more interesting

Suuuun. So much sun.

Lake Clearwater, with the Rangitata River valley off to the right

We ran into another northbound tramper, Adam, and swapped notes on the upcoming trail. We both recognized each other from the TA Facebook group, and it continues to be a little strange to run into brand new people that already know quite a bit about us.

It was nice to see someone else on the trail though - we seem to have worked our way back into a little bit of a dead zone of TA people. There's no one within 3-4 days ahead of us, and, while there are probably a good number of people within a week behind us, no one has caught up with us in a while. We do expect to see Jason again soon though, once he catches up from his days off in Christchurch.

Not a bad campsite near the Potts River

Day 4 from Lake Coleridge was exciting - we forded the Rangitata River! This is another river that the trail notes warn against fording. However, in late summer with not much rain, it is possible to get across. We'd heard reports that many TA trampers ahead of us had successfully forded, and weren't excited about another long, tough hitch around, so we decided to give it a try. For the most part it was pretty easy for us, although we can see why the notes warn against it if you don't have river crossing experience. We had to travel upstream a bit to find a safe place to cross the widest braid, and even in the knee-deep spot we found, the flow was strong enough that it required some care. 

Approaching the Rangitata River, which was ominously covered in a low cloud

The view up the valley from halfway across

For future trampers, my main advice is to respect this river, and not take any chances - if you're going to attempt to ford it, then leave plenty of time, be cautious, and be prepared to turn back if you can't find a crossing you're comfortable with. You also might want to check with some locals - most of them could tell you whether the current conditions are favorable for a crossing.

We ended up at Crooked Spur Hut that night, and had views all the way back across the Rangitata River valley. Pretty awesome - definitely a recommended stop.

Almost to Crooked Spur Hut - you can see all the way back to the Rangitata

Note the change of outfit for me. My blue Merino wool t-shirt
made it through almost 120 days of continuous wear before
suddenly developing a dozen holes where my pack sits.
It's been transitioned to a sleeping shirt, replaced by the inferior synthetic green shirt.

Day 5 was another shortish day, with more tussock bashing. We ended up at Royal Hut, which sounds fancier than it actually is. It was nice, but very much in line with the rest of the huts from the section. Apparently it got its name because Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited it at some point.

TUSSOCKS!

We thought the trail seemed a bit light on markers...

Impressive goat skull outside of Royal Hut

That's a lot of blue sky

Day 6 was a new high point on the trip for us. We woke up to much colder weather than we've had the past few days. The mountains around the hut had even gotten a dusting of snow overnight. We climbed up to Stag Saddle, the highest point on the trail at 1925m. It was cooold and windy up there. Even with our gloves on, our fingers were going a bit numb. There were small patches of snow and frost everywhere. But the views were amazing. Lake Tekapo was visible in the distance, along with some pretty impressive mountain ranges on all sides.

From whence we came, atop Stag Saddle

A cold but beautiful snack spot

From here, we detoured from the marked trail, and cut over to a ridge instead of descending through another tus-sucky river valley. This route is not exactly a well kept secret though - apparently pretty much every other person that comes through here takes this detour. For good reason. The walk down the ridge was our favorite walk of the entire trail so far. The walking was easy, there was a worn path, and we had views down to Lake Tekapo the whole way, as well as views of the Godley River Valley and (we think) the mountain ranges surrounding Mt. Cook, the highest peak in NZ. When the worn path disappeared I got to navigate for the first time using only landmarks and a paper map. There is a 4WD track that you can walk down to from the ridge and follow to the hut, but we chose to continue along the ridge and come down closer to the hut.

View from the ridge. Impossible to capture the awesomeness in a picture.

Godley River valley

The trail down the ridge, with Lake Tekapo in the background

While pictures never do justice to spots like this, I think it's even more true here than in most places we've been. The scenery was breathtaking (or was that the freezing gale blowing in our faces?). There were snowstorms rolling through the ranges to our right, scattered clouds casting beautiful shadows over the river valleys, and such a range of colors and terrain that we couldn't walk for more than a few minutes without stopping to look around. 

We reached Camp Stream Hut that night, which was built in the 1890s. It's been updated a bit since then, but is still pretty rustic and neat.

Not a bad sunset on the hills from Camp Stream Hut

Day 7 from Lake Coleridge was another long cruiser - 35 long, dusty, hot kms into the town of Lake Tekapo.

Long dusty road to Lake Tekapo

When we arrived in town, there were a dozen tourists pulled over on the road to take this picture. While it's a nice view, we couldn't help chuckling a little.

When we arrived, we were dismayed to find that just about everything in town was booked solid. It was a weekday, and we weren't expecting any problems finding a room in a hostel, but apparently Lake Tekapo is a popular spot. After spending the entire day looking forward to a shower, comfortable bed, and day off, we almost lost it after having no luck at our first few stops. Luckily, we ended up finding a pair of affordable beds at the Lake Tekapo Scenic Resort. The proprietress was super friendly, and managed to somehow turn her one available bed into two beds in the same room. If you're planning on staying in Lake Tekapo, book in advance!

From here, it feels like we can almost see the end! We have 2 days to our next town, Twizel (70 km of gravel road walking - we're looking into renting mountain bikes to make it go a little faster). In a little more than 2 weeks, we're meeting up with our Boston friend, Karen, in Queenstown, where we'll take a 4 day "vacation" to do the Routeburn Track and spend a day kayaking in Milford Sound. From there, we'll have less than 2 weeks left until we reach Bluff! Ahhhh!