Day 100: Blue Lake Hut to Waiau Pass Track (1990-2017)

Thursday, March 9

I wanted to start early today. I knew I'd probably have to camp tonight, but if I somehow made amazing time I thought there was a chance I could make it to Anne Hut and not have to use my tent. I don't mind sleeping in my tent, but I prefer a hut if at all possible. I left a little after 7 and made it to Lake Constance in about an hour. It was beautiful. The trail takes you steeply over scree from one edge of the lake to the other. It was a little weird because it would have been much easier to just walk around the edge of the lake, but I guess then I wouldn't have gotten a good overview look at it from above.

When I got down to the far side of the lake, I saw two people by the water taking pictures. They said hello as I got closer and happened to be two TA hikers I had met at the Taumarunui Holiday Park right before I left on the river trip, Nadine and Karolina (hopefully I spelled those correctly but I may not have). I told them the French hikers were behind me and they weren't overly thrilled. I wasn't quite sure why.

They pointed out where they thought the trail was. It definitely looked nice and steep. They said they'd watch me go up since their tents weren't packed up yet. The Waiau Pass is a 500 meter climb over 1.5 kilometers. Then pretty much the same thing down to the river on the other side. I stopped part way up to take off a few layers and snacked on some tiny patches of white snow as I went. It was a good substitute for a popsicle while on the trail. Eventually I made it over the top and knew it was all downhill from there.

As I was climbing down some steep rocks I met a guy hiking up in the opposite direction in Tevas. We quickly bonded over hiking in sandals and kept going. A few minutes later I passed another northbound couple. Then John passed me, we ran into another northbound couple and then a group of three more people heading northbound. It must have been a camping party at the Caroline Creek Bivy last night.

Once I was over the pass the river crossings started. The water was so clear! That fact still hasn't changed. I also reached the 2000-kilometer mark. I'm now two-thirds of the way done with the trail. It's hard to believe!

A few kilometers after the 2000 mark was Caroline Creek Bivy. I had planned to eat lunch there but it was tiny, creepy and inundated with sandflies. I managed to get the handle-less door open and quickly signed the hut book. As sandflies feasted on my legs I stuffed snacks into my pocket so I could eat while hiking. Sandflies usually leave me alone once I start walking.

I had made it to the Bivy around 1:30 or 2, so I knew unless I hiked faster than I had ever hiked on this trip I wouldn't be making it to Anne Hut. I'd hike as far as I could today and make it to the hut for lunch tomorrow. Although I heard it's a really nice hut and wanted to stay there, I also wanted to hike as little as possible on Saturday since it's supposed to rain all day.

The trail was really flat and nice the rest of the day. It was pretty much a four wheel drive track in a grassland-like valley all day. There were mountains stretching as far as I could see on both sides and it was nice not to have to climb up them. There were a few river crossings and a few patches of little tiny trees. But the vast majority was flat grassland.

I ran into a few more people going northbound and got water at a river crossing since I knew I'd be camping at some point. The sun started going behind the mountains around 6 so I started looking for a place to pitch my tent. Almost anywhere would have worked. It wasn't close to being dark yet, but it was getting a bit chilly with the sun hiding. It was probably 6:15 when I set up camp. A few minutes later, as sandflies were once again nibbling at my legs, John walked by. I have no idea where I got ahead of him, but we didn't talk long. He wanted to hike a bit further and the sandflies were getting him too.

As soon as my tent was up I threw my backpack inside and crawled in. The sandflies were crazy and I didn't want to leave my tent. They swarmed the vestibule and I easily killed all the ones that managed to get into my tent before I zipped it shut. I didn't want to worry about killing any more, so I poured water into my couscous dinner before I did anything else. I heard you can cook couscous and ramen by soaking it in water for an hour. Now I finally get to see if it's true! Warm food wasn't worth opening my tent to cook or running my stove inside my tent.

Once I got my tent set up just the way I like, my couscous had been sitting for about 45 minutes. It looked perfect. I added a tuna packet and tried it. Even the dehydrated veggies were rehydrated. It wasn't hot, but it tasted fine and I avoided the sandflies. I was happy.

After dinner I looked over my notes for tomorrow, watched a West Wing episode and went to bed. It wasn't pitch black out yet but it was too cold to hold my phone, so I buried myself in my sleeping bag and went to bed.